Being forced into brush paint acrylics I guess...

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

The other day I was looking to add some of the small bottles of enamels in various colors to my “next order” wish list. Gun metal, chrome silver, a few others. They are getting near impossible to find in anything but acrylics. These are a couple of many the colors I use to hand paint smaller parts and it almost looks like they are being phased out.

I see the acrylics are plentiful and much cheaper but having never used them, from what I understand you have to thin them with water and you must apply them over an acrylic primer. THat primer bit is something I never had to do with enamels.

Am I correct in the primer part?

2

I’ve used Tamiya acrylics more-or-less exclusively for almost two decades now. Pretty much the only times I bother to prime are a) over puttied or filled/sanded areas; or b) white primer under areas to be painted red, yellow, or similar tones.

Can’t say for other brands of acrylics because – other than the ancient, ancient Pactra ones, I haven’t had much experience with them.

If you’re brush painting, it’s sort of “six of one, half-dozen of the other” as to whether you prime first or just do an extra coat of your color for uniform coverage. I’ve never noticed much difference either way.

BTW, I’m not hung up on necessarily using acrylic primers; Tamiya works just fine over enamel primers, with about a 12 hour (or sometimes less) drying time.

Cheers

3

I suppose the best thing is to just try a color on something. I get why primer helps getting the right color with less coats, I’m just more concerned about it adhering and not flaking off a couple years down the road. It’s not the end of the world putting down an extra coat on a sledge hammer handle for want of primer. These are the small things I’m talking about.

4

You can still buy most of the Testors square bottle enamels from Hobby Lobby, and it looks like they have Gun Metal as well. Not sure about which of their stores have a good selection, but you can order them from Hobby Lobby’s web-site. Its what I have been doing because I like brush painting details with them on models that have already been airbrushed with lacquers. The great thing about the enamels is that any mistakes can easily be removed from lacquer paint with a little paint thinner, and neither the enamel paint or paint thinner will damage laquer paint. If you do the same with acrylic paint, the only thing that removes that after it dries is either alcohol or windex, and both of those will attack pretty much any kind of paint which might already be on your model.

If you decide to go the acrylic route, they work just fine over lacquer primers like Tamiya Surface Primer. No need to go acrylic on the primer too…not a big fan of acrylic primers, so I don’t use them.

5

I use mostly Vallejo Model Air and Model Color . I use Rust-oleumUniversal Bonding Primer either straight out of the spray can or decanted out of the can for airbrushing. I use the primer whenever I have some filling of seams to cover. Haven’t had any problems.

Stay Safe.

Jim [cptn]

6

As was mentioned,for small parts I have used Tamiya acylics,Vallejo Model Color is excellent for hand painting,and I also like Mission Model.Yes, I miss the Modelmaster Enamels,but you do what can do,adapt or die.

7

Ah!

The primer just helps it stick better with No Chipping! I got a new Compressor and A/B from my last client and pushed some acrylic primer through it.(Mr.Color Glazing primer.) Geez! the model looks like it was molded in the color I painted it, with no Orange Peel!

Some Acrylics CAN be thinned with Lacquer thinner or Alcohol. As well as their dedicated Thinner /Cleaner, I am sad Model Master is gone, But now I have so much to choose from in dedicated sets as well, I have even gotten back into figures! So Acrylics was a course changer for this old Captain!

8

Thanks for the helpful comments

9

Hi, Glenn -

I was strictly an enamel user for years after acrylics entered the scene, I had read several remarks of how difficult they were for use, hard to get a good finish, dried in the airbrush, next to impossible to clean, etc. After seeing models painted with acrylics and looking great I thought wait a minute, at least try them, then judge.

I had an old Badger 200 single action airbrush, bought some Tamiya acrylic and their X-20A thinner, mixed up a small batch and sprayed some test patches on plastic sheet. I did experience some tip dry, but that’s easily easily corrected with Q-tips dipped in alcohol, I was soon liking the paint really well.

I found cleanup to be remarkably simple and fast, their thinner works well, as does lacquer thinner, alcohol, acetone, etc. As to thinning primarily I use IPA 71%, but any of the other agents just mentioned work, I prefer the alcohol due to less unpleasant fumes and odors, and it’s dirt cheap.

There are many advantages in using acrylic, fast dry, smooth finish, the model can be handled in just several minutes, but I still wait for at least an hour or so to be sure. It seems less likely to be affected by surface contamination, (skin oils, etc,) it sticks really well and I never experience lifting by tape removal as masking.

Vallejo sprays very well and looks great, my only issue with them is slow drying time and CLEAN UP. Alcohol causes Vallejo Model Air to form a gel, use that paint thinned with alcohol in your airbrush and be sure to have some food handy near your bench, you’ll be there for a while cleaning up the mess. Even lacquer thinner is slow to clean up an airbrush when that occurs, but eventually it gets cleaned.

For thinning I start at a 50-50% paint to thinner ratio, then adjust it as needed following testing. Commonly I end up at 60-70% thinner to paint ratio, and the majority of my paint sessions are at 15-20 psi.

I’ll bet once you give acrylics a try, you’ll quickly be a convert.

Patrick