Hey!
My name is Taha, im 16 and im new to this forum. I recently bought a some of MiGs Pigments, and applied the smoke on to the exhaust of my tamiya F-117A. I applied it in its powder form and got the result i wanted, so i applied thinner to set it in. Applying the thinner totally ruined the effect and made the whole exhaust just a shade darker, instead of only selected parts having a blackened effect. Any of you guys have any suggestions on how to get the powdery effect and making it stick?
[#welcome] Taha. You’ll love it here. You can get an answer for just about any question you can think of. As for your question, I can’t help you but am sure someone on here will know. That’s whats nice about this place. With all the members, there will be someone with an answer for you.
Taha,
Have a look at the Mig site on the web. It will explain in great detail what the differences in pigments are, and in particular will say that Mig pigments need turpentine to make them work in the way you want. The gallery on the Mig site is great - look and be inspired! I suggest you have a go on an old model first to see how the system works. Experiment with sealing finishes on an old kit before trying it on your newest model. Good luck.
I used thinner for acrylic paints to set the pigments in. Maybe i was using the wrong thinner? I used quite a bit of pigment on the exhaust to really give a used look, and i did a quick spray of lacquer-based Testors dullcote over it. Neither the thinner not the dullcote worked to set it in. I will check the website…thanks for all your help!
Are acrylic thinners and turpentine completely different things? they smell the same lol. I checked out MIGs website, and it says that one only needs to apply the smoke pigment with a dry brush. but after doing so, its not that hard to remove nearly all the pigment with your fingers…
Yep! those are two very different things. acrlicthinner is often alcohol based, while turpentine is an oil product. They react very different to paints/pigments.
Hmmm… all paints (or anything affixed to the paint) must be compatible with each other or frustration awaits you. ie: enamel/enamel… acrylic/acrylic… lacquer/lacquer. Testors Gloss Coat/Dull Coat reacts bad with Silver paint and clear parts, alternatively, “Future” floor polish enhances their appearance.
There’a another good way of replicating exhaust stains and panel line shadowing, that isn’t quite as delicate as the pigments… Graphite (as in #2 pencils).
Shadowed panel lines: Sharpen a couple pencils real good, and holding them parallel to a piece of paper, blacken about a 4" x 2" section… rub your finger tip in it… then on a clean section of the paper… then rub that finger along the panel line. (practice first to hone the technique)
Exhaust Stains: Just behind the exhaust pipes, make a few short marks with a sharpened #2 pencil… put your finger tip on that mark, and rub back along the area you want the exhaust stains to appear in one motion (doing this, has the natural affect of making the stain darker at the origin and getting lighter as you go back). If you want a massive stain, make the initial marking heavier or simply repeat the process until the desired hue is achieved. For a lighter stain, just one rub will do.
It’s cheap, easy, and since it’s not a loose powder, will react good with whatever coating you apply. (Just remember to wash your fingers real good before touching any other part of the model or you’ll have a bunch of dark spots to deal with!) [;)]
Just some idea’s… as I said, practice and see what works best for you.