If I thin my Floquil enamel with lacquer thinner as I have seen recommended (apart from using the Floquil thinner which is not available to me), will I not eat into the plastic shell of my loco with the airbrush?
Or is it such a minute amount that no problem exists?
I am following the instructions for weathering a steam loco that were published in a model railroad mag some months back. The exact thinner for painting was not mentioned…though I know I can use the lacquer thinner to clean the airbrush later…
Floquil itself can eat some plastics. I guess it generally is OK with an airbrush because it’s nearly dry when it hits the surface - brush painting would be different. That’s part of the reason they came out with Polly-S (Pollyscale) - that and so they had an excuse to use a parrot as a mascot. Since it’s all discontinued now, it’s basially use up what you have - but they used to have a primer called Barrier that was plastic-safe and then you could spray on regular Floquil with no worries.
Test, definitely, but it should be ok unless you lay it down too wet and heavy.
You will not have any problem’s using Lacquer thinner, for thinning, Floquil paint for air brushing, I use it all the time. You can also use, Testors, # 1159 Lacquer Thinner/Brush Cleaner to thin, costs more though, for the same results.
Only once did I have any issue w/ “craizing” the bare plastic using 50/50 Floequil and lacquer thinner. I did allow the paint to lay on quite heavy. I wasn’t sure if it was that the paint was too “wet/ heavy” or that there was a reaction from the previous stripping w/ Poly S stripper.
I do miss the airbush application and drying from that old DioSol, the paint could lay down perfectly flat yet dry quite fast, Lacquer thinner is much slower in drying but sprayed lightly should have no problems. If unsure, use a barrier or primer first.
I have been using a 70/30, Floquil mix with Lacquer thinner,with 25 to 35 psi, with a air-brush,with great results. The only time I have ever experienced problem’s with old formula Floquil paint, doing anything to the plastic,was when it was brushed on,right out of the bottle, many moons ago.
I’ve always used lacquer thinner for airbrushing Floquil paints, but it’s not suitable for the latest version of Floquil, which seems to use mineral spirits as its vehicle. Others have commented that there seems to be a paucity of pigments in the newest version, too.
I usually thin Floquil about 40/50 or 50/50 thinner-to-paint for painting, but use up to 90% or 95% thinner when weathering. This makes it very easy to build-up light applications, as they dry almost instantly.
Lacquer thinner also works with Scalecoat I, Dullcote and Glosscote, Testors Model Masters, SMP Accupaint, and Humbrol enamels, is a good airbrush cleaner regardless of what kind of paint you use, will strip paint from all-metal models, and is an excellent bonding agent for styrene.
For brush painting, though, lacquer thinner can damage styrene.
Yes, worked fine. Just gave a couple of K4s a light going over a few times with a matte finish and lacquer at about 70/30 and they look fine.
The idea is to give the shells some bite for the weathering powders to get onto.
I have had the airbrush for several years now, but have only used it for sand blasting shells and side frames etc. to get various surfaces to hold paint or blast off previous finishes in weathering. This was the first time I used the painting airbrush rather than my other blasting airbrush…and it worked well. Up to now I have only painted by hand with a variety of tools. Perhaps I will now try some actual painting with the airbrush.
This is good advice but be aware that there seems to be many variants among plastics called styrene (you might recall a few years ago some anguished postings on these forums from guys who used some paint removers that had always worked on any and all plastics on the then-new Kato business cars and it simply made that particular styrene plastic go brittle and nearly disintegrate - the cars were ruined) so what a a “similar” plastic is can be tricky to determine. I’ve known guys who for years never once experienced the much-warned about crazing, orange peel problems with using traditional Floquil on plastic – and then suddenly a prized car or engine got crazed and softened. Indeed sometimes I notice Floquil-like “problems” in the excellent close up digital photos that are now commonly seen in the magazines and the internet that I suspect are not readily visible to the naked eye. Even some of the photos of Cody Grivno’s MR&T “heritage fleet” engine projects in the January issue show those signs, at least to my eye they do.
Yes, I am sure there is nothing so surprising as an unknown change in product properties, and a sudden situation that threatens to turn a nice paint job to crap.
Interesting to me was the effect of the lacquer thinner on various containers/materials I had at hand. I had not planned so well (I am only doing a couple of locos at the moment) so I did not have a glass pipette. I experimented with syringes I had picked up from the pharmacy. Luckily the thinner had no effect on the syringes or the rubber (synthetic) plunger, but began to eat right through the shaft of the plunger.
It also had no effect on an unused tube from an can of expanding foam. Both of the items I imagine are made from nylon or some material unaffected by the lacquer thinner.
Happily I could use both the syringe and the nylon pipette for the thinner and paint transfer. The shaft of the plunger was isolated from the fluid.