Painting plastic models

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Soon I will be painting many of the new plastic buildings on my HO layout. With the exception of railroad colors, I have accumulated many cans of left-over latex house paint over the years. These house paint colors are the same colors I will be painting the model houses.

Spending $4.00 per ounce for white model paint when I have a half gallon of the same color seems foolish. Has anyone used latex house paint on plastic model houses and what are the results?

2

Haven’t used it but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. A couple of thoughts though:

  1. I would take something like some dixie cups and try thining it until it is too thin. Latex paint is pretty thick and could hide details
  2. clean the buiilding before painting and don’t touch them before painting them with bare skin so it adheres well.
  3. I would suspect that liek acrylics it would pay to use a wet brush dipping it in water before beginning and frequently when paiting. Don’t know why but it just seems like the thing to do.
3

I’d think that household latex paint would be WAY too thick to use on models. If you try it, definitely thin it down, and practice on scrap stuff first!

A good alternative to “model paints” is the inexpensive craft paint found at most craft shops and Walmart. For between 50 cents and a dollar, you end up with twice as much paint as in a standard Polly Scale bottle, and the stuff works great on plastics. I wait until my local Hobby Lobby has a 50% off sale (this time of year) and then stock up! I use craft paints for everything except painting rolling stock and vehicles, and I do weather with them.

4

The colour pigments are ground more finely for paints designed for models than they are for regular “House” paint. As a result, the regular paints don’t scale down very well and the result could be lost detail or a surface that (depending on the scale eg. HO or N) looks like it was covered with golf balls and then painted. On larger scales like O or G you might be able to get away with it.

It sure is worth a try though! I would try it out on some left over parts or casting sprues first.

ndbprr’s advice about thinning and cleaning the surface is a must in any case.