Enamel on Acrylic, Acrylic on Enamel, Laquer on ??

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Way back when I painted a 1:1 circle track car ('78 Monte Carlo, a future 1:25 project) and inadvertandly used Laquer on top of enamel, which made for a really effective paint stripper. I am working on a 1:35 M151, which I started painting with Tamiya Acrylic with a brush. Unsatisfied with the results, I sealed the model with acrylic sealer, and overpainted with Testors (ok, Model Masters) spray enamel. So far, it looks A-Ok. Can I now seal this with the acrylic sealer and weather with acrylic’s? Or, should I stick with enamels now? I do not have a AB yet, so if I’m going to coat with Future, it will be by brush.

Speaking of AB’s (nice segue, eh?) I have it down to either a Badger 200 or an Iwata Revolution SAR; both internal mix single-action. The Badger comes in a small-cup gravity (200-G) or a siphon feed (200-20), while the SAR only comes siphon feed. If you only had ONE AB, which would you choose?

Thanks, Ken

2

Rule of paint-covered thumb: Weather with the opposite. If your last coat is enamel or lacquer, weather with acrylic (water solvent if over some lacquers). If your last coat is acrylic, weather with enamels or oils.

The idea is to use a solvent that does not affect the underlying coat.

You can weather with acrylic over acrylic, but it’s not recommended—very finicky and difficult to get the results you want.

3

Thank you, that makes a lot of sense!