Hello! I am fairly new to the craft and am just starting to paint my plastic models. I am putting together my first resin plastic kit and find that I am having a b_____ of a time getting paint to stick and run evenly. Either air brushed and hand brushed.
I washed the pieces with soap and water and I think I may have brushed them with alcohol. I did not use a primer. Is that my mistake? Any ideas on getting coverage with <4-5 coats of paint would be gladly appreciated. [banghead] [:)]
Yeah, you missed the primer. I usually use a cheap auto primer on resin parts, red oxide as primer and sometimes final color for brick, grey for most other parts. I also spray the inside withflat black as a light block. Acylics apply nicely over the primer.
Couple of things…resin is NOT plastic, most plastic kits are styrene, they may have some resin parts, but the they are two distinctly different materials. Resin is a totally different beast from styrene and most types don’t take paint easily like styrene.
I have built a\c models with resin parts and had trouble getting any kind of paint to stick as well, the use of a primer is advisable when painting any resin parts, and it’s a good idea to make sure it’s a good quality primer that will bite into the resin. Painting styrene doesn’t usually require a primer, the only time I have had to use a primer for styrene was when I used acrylic paints. If you wash the styrene before painting you shouldn’t need a primer.
I have used Testors enamels [not the new acrylic paints they are trying to market], and Floquil paints on resin with good results.
Give those parts a nice even coat of primer and try again, make sure you don’t put the primer on too thick or you’ll lose surface detail. Good luck.</
Many resin kits advise you to use a particular solvent to remove the mould release agent, which is the main reason that paints don’t adhere to these models. Sylvan recommends their own Mould Prep, or Diosol, and Funaro & Camerlengo suggests the use of a good grease-cutting detergent. These are usually used before assembly, and the completed model should be washed with detergent and warm water before painting to remove skin oils accumulated during construction.
Wayne
Quote from jake9:
“Couple of things…resin is NOT plastic, most plastic kits are styrene, they may have some resin parts, but the they are two distinctly different materials. Resin is a totally different beast from styrene and most types don’t take paint easily like styrene.”
Actually, the resins like polyurathane,polyester and fiberglass are in fact all plastics. Most mass produced kits, (Walthers, DPM, etc.), are polystyrene plastic. Smaller run kits are often produced with resin plastics using silicone molds to keep production costs down. The molds and dies for styrene are expensive and the costs are recovered by producing thousands of kits. On the other hand, the molds for resin plastics, while only good for 100 to 200 castings, are cheap to make and therefore cost-effective for making relatively small quantities, (under 1000). Resin cast parts are usually an off-white in color, whereas styrene parts are usually cast in appropreate colors for the kit.
I guess I was lucky. My only resin kit was Scale Structures Ltd Victoria Falls Hotel. After washing it thoroughly, I sprayed the inside with flat black as Jay suggests, then painted the trim around the roof and the storefront windows with a cheap Sargent Acrylic. I didn’t use a primer and the paint went on fine with a brush and looks good. The rest of the outside walls were the exact color I needed so I didn’t bother painting them.
Jay - thanks so much for the tips! I will certainly be using primer from here on as I do work in acrylics so far.
Cheers, Jake [bow]
Glad to be of service. [:)]