Well, I’ve been using bEach Sand mig pigments mixed with Isoporpyl alcohol into a paint like mixture. I’ve noticed the light tan pigments turn almost dark yellow when mixed with the alcohol, so I tried painting them onto the bottom of the vehicle I was working on as a test, let it dry about 15 minute suntil it was clearly dry, and then brushed them off where I wanted, the effect was perfect. So I applied he mixture all over the place, let it dry again and tried to brush it off. It just stayed that dark yellow color and wouldnt come off at all even though it was clearly dry. I applied it with a brush both times. I can’t fgure out the difference. Does the paint finish have anything to do with it? Maybe I forgot to flat coat the bottom, so it worked fine on the bottom, but on the rest of the paint, which was flat coated with Tamiya Base and future mixture it stuck? Any thoughts? It was a test model, so no harm done, but I still want to figure it out.
Pigements will never come off of a flat base coat once applied. End of story. (Unless you want them to stay on, in which case they fall off quite easily it seems…)
Flat paints have a much rougher texture (which is what makes them flat) and they will hold onto the pigments real good.
I suspect that the alcohol you used as a carrier for the pigments has “etched” into your flat coat mix (Future can be dissolved by alcohol) and at least partially turned the pigment mix into a crude form of paint.
If your base coat (ie. underside) was enamel based, the alcohol carrier for your pigments would simply have evaporated without affecting the paint, allowing you to brush off any excess.
I agree wityh both of you guys.
Firstly, pigments will hold alot better to flat surfaces.
Secondly, if you paint your model with acrylics or if you spray an acrylic base protective coat, you should not use alcohol or amonia to mix with pigments. Turpenoid or turpentine woudl be of a better use and will make the pigments to stick better anyway. At the same time, it will still be easy to brush it off. If you use alcohol, it will make the acrylic to disolve and the pigments will mix with the paint and dry with it.
The opposite is true too, if your model is painted with enamels or oil base paint, do not use lacquer thinner to apply with the pigments, it will then be better to use alcohol in this case.
Thanks guys, good answers, and thanks for saving me the hassle. I’m using GW acrylics, thinned wih Isopropyl alcohol, and airbrushed on with a couple coats of future and a flat coat of Tamiya flat base and future. So I should use terpentine or turpenoid? Don’t think I have any. Will water work? Or how about paint thinner? it’s some generic paint thinner called thin X and comes in a ginormous can.
That paint thinner should do it good. Water is not a good idea.
Thanks! You guys just saved me about an hour of experimenting and half a bottle of insanely priced colored dust.
One other thing to be aware of, depending on the Mig pigment (and other brands as well), if they are applied wet (either with water, alcohol, or thinner) they can stain the underlying coat whatever it may be and not come off entirely no matter what you do short of stripping the entire paint coat. The darker brown colors in the Mig line seem to be more prone to this than others, perhaps due to the pigment ingredient, being more finely ground, or combination of both. Pigments are a wonderful tool to play around with, can achieve some very spectacular results, and sometimes the best results come about entirely by accident in the process. [;)] Always remember though that they ARE pigments and will behave accordingly to varying degrees depending on the carrier, the surface, and the pigment type.
Looks like these guys have covered it Ian the only thing i have to add is if you have a flat (as in dull not horizontal) surface you dont always need to mix them with anything i like to take a tiny amount on a small brush and scrub them here and there into corners and tracks and so on then brush off the loose leaving a dusty dry dirty look, theres many ways to use them and most we probably havent thought of yet heh so experiment with them and dont forget to share if the figure out the meaning of the universe [:)]