Paint Questions

[zerobxu]

How do you clean them when your done??

They're really, really cheap (like, around 10 for $1.00). As such, they're usually easier to replace than to clean.

[kaixa]

Guys, what's your ratio for paint:solvent for acrylic paint ?

i use gunze (mr. color) paint with water as the solvent. (It works)

i usually do something like (paint:water ratio) 60:40 or 70:30.

Well, any thoughts what's the best ratio. How can you tell by just looking at it ?

Thanx :)

[zerobxu]

Guys, what's your ratio for paint:solvent for acrylic paint ?

i use gunze (mr. color) paint with water as the solvent. (It works)

i usually do something like (paint:water ratio) 60:40 or 70:30.

Well, any thoughts what's the best ratio. How can you tell by just looking at it ?

Thanx :)

You didn't say whether you're hand-painting or using an airbrush. Your ratios are closer to hand-painting, though. I'm using Tamiya acrylics and 91% alcohol as thinner. And the problem is usually that the consistency of thickness between color is pretty bad. Un-thinned, "Gunmetal" is more like a syrup, and it seems like "Flat Red" barely needs to be thinned at all.

I usually try to run a 60:40 ratio for hand-painting (again, depending on the color). I can tell by moving the paint around on the mixing "tray" if it's too thick or too thin. And then I just try to either add more alcohol to thin it out; or give it a few minutes to burn off some alcohol to thicken up. For hand-painting, you don't want the paint watery, but you still want it thin. Probably somewhere around the consistency of chicken broth--or my mother's Thanksgiving gravy.

[kaixa]

ah, i am sorry. I use the paint for airbrushing.

well, when i use ratio like 1:1 with gunze, the paint is too thin. Hardly useful :|

[donovan]

Is there any way to make fluorescent paint? I'm guessing probably not.

I need a fluorescent pink. Tamiya makes a decent fluorescent pink, but it's only for polycarb R/C bodies and only in a spray can.

I looked around at my LHS for some other acrylic that is fluorescent, but didn't find anything. I looked online and didn't find much either.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Donovan

P.S. - Sorry, thought this would go outside the paint sticky.

[Mindless]

Is there any way to make fluorescent paint? I'm guessing probably not.

I need a fluorescent pink. Tamiya makes a decent fluorescent pink, but it's only for polycarb R/C bodies and only in a spray can.

I looked around at my LHS for some other acrylic that is fluorescent, but didn't find anything. I looked online and didn't find much either.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Donovan

P.S. - Sorry, thought this would go outside the paint sticky.

You have any local shops that deal with painting cars? I bet they have some, and as you would probably only need a few drops of it shouldn't cost you much. It's worth a shot in my opinion.

As for the Tamiya paint, correct me if I'm wrong but it shouldn't matter if it's supposed to be used on polycarbonate R/C bodies. As long as you have a good primer and there are no strange solvents in the paint that can dissipate the primer there shouldn't be a problem.

[GlauG]

Gunze/Mr Colour do a very bright flourescent pink, I have some somewhere I'll be using on a Meer Zaku sometime.  Number 174.

[tehmarken]

So I went through my first session of airbrushing today, and I learned some things.

I learned that the Vallejo acrylics I bought are like some sort of acrylic concentrate >_< . I had to keep thinning them over and over, and to get them to spray properly through my airbrush (which runs at 15psi) I ended up with a ratio of about 70:30, thinner:paint (isopropyl 91% for thinner).

This ended up working out ok for my first few parts, but then when I went to switch colours disaster hit. The "camouflage green" I picked up did not want to mix with alcohol. It ended up more like a suspended solution (like lemonade or bad tea), and would spurt out of the airbrush, and then clog it up horribly. No amount of thinner or rigorous mixing was working for the stuff.

So, after some rigourus dismantling and cleaning of my airbrush, I gave dark green a shot. At first I had some clogging problems, but I cleaned the airbrush again and thinned the paint more. I think I ended up at least 70:30, if not 80:20 thinner:paint. I finally got some consistent painting done, and coloured a few pieces of my Zaku's skirt armour painted.

So, I'm wondering if there are any better thinners I could try using? I think Vallejos are water-based acrylics, so would water work as a better solvent than Isopropyl?

The only other paint locally available for me is Games Workshop / Citadel paints. Have people had good experience airbrushing with them?

If I can't get a good system down for using Vallejo or Citadels, I may end up just ordering Tamiya's from online somewhere. There aren't many hobby shops around here, and the few I've found have cruddy selection for paint =\

[FichtenFoo]

You just got the thinners confused. Not all acrylics thin with Alcohol. In fact Tamiya is the main one that does. For others, use their thinner or water. I put "Tamiya Acrylics" on my tutorial, but every so often I get an email asking why their Gunze or other paint gummed up with 91%. :oops: Try water instead... that should help.

[tehmarken]

You just got the thinners confused. Not all acrylics thin with Alcohol. In fact Tamiya is the main one that does. For others, use their thinner or water. I put "Tamiya Acrylics" on my tutorial, but every so often I get an email asking why their Gunze or other paint gummed up with 91%. :oops: Try water instead... that should help.

I should have figured that water based meant I should have used water as a thinner   :oops:

Does that mean for cleaning the airbrush I should use just water? Or what sort of cleaning solution would be best?

[FichtenFoo]

If you have a spraybooth then use lacquer thinner occasionally. Wear a good mask too. For general clean-up between colors some water mixed with detergent then plain water does the trick.

[Zoccoli]

Could someone please run through the different paint types (e.g. acrylic, enamel, laquer) and briefly describe which paints do and don't play well together? I finally got some Alclad paints, but I'm afraid to spray them on any pieces that already have acrylic paint on them. Is a coat of Future enough to protect the acrylics from the thinner in the Alclad, or will masking be enough protection?

Specifically, I have two situations in  mind: 1) spraying the Alclad on a small area of an acrylic-covered piece as a trim color; 2) replacing an acrylic color with the Alclad by respraying and not stripping the acrylic first. Will I damage the plastic or get a poor finish in either case?

[zerobxu]

Arcylics and enamels tend to not play together at all. As to your specific question with the Alclad, I don't know. You might try testing it out on a piece of sprue to see what happens (and then post the results, of course).

[tehmarken]

So I'm having some trouble trying to figure whether to mix my paint thicker or thinner. I'm using these vallejo acrylics, and mixing about 70:30 water:paint. The paint goes on ok, but the first few coats tend to go on like water on a waxed surface (beads up a lot). And I'm noticing it takes a long time to dry, which is leading to paint buildup in some spots.

I don't want to waste paint by thickening it up and then finding out it needs to be thinned more, so I'm asking here first.

Also, I ahve a pack of Gundam Color paints, are those lacquer or water based, and what sort of thinning ratio should I use for those?

Anyways, thanks for the help so far, hope I'm not being annoying with so many questions.  

[Zoccoli]

You might try testing it out on a piece of sprue to see what happens (and then post the results, of course).

Gladly! I went for the gold (so to speak) and tried it on my in-progress kit.  :oops:

These parts were all primed with Mr. Surfacer 500 and then sprayed with Tamiya acrylics. The base coat was flat black, and gold titanium was the original intended final color. (It turned out to be too silvery for what I needed.) This was my first time spraying with Alclad paints, but I'm very, very pleased with the results. The lacquer paints do not seem to have mixed with the unprotected acrylic undercoat at all! The gold in the pictures is Alclad pale gold, and the outsides of the thruster bells are Alclad steel. I think I'm in love with these paints.  

http://imagesocket.com/view/DSCF1499s3b7.jpg
http://imagesocket.com/view/DSCF1501s79e.jpg
http://imagesocket.com/view/DSCF1502sacc.jpg
http://imagesocket.com/view/DSCF1504s0b6.jpg

[Chibs]

Is there any other option besides airbrushing to use alclad paint?

[FichtenFoo]

Is there any other option besides airbrushing to use alclad paint?

No. It's airbrush only.

[beertax]

Hello,

This is a very basic question from a modelling noob :)

When mixing two colors to create a custom color, what tool is best for transferring the paint from bottle to bottle? I tried using a brush which did a reasonable job, but I find the extraneous paint left over on the brush to be wasteful. There must be a more economical, exact approach. Can anyone recommend a better way?

thx in advance for any replies

[zerobxu]

When mixing two colors to create a custom color, what tool is best for transferring the paint from bottle to bottle?

The answer can be found in this very sticky, in this very post: Pipettes.

[AJL]

Hi,

Not sure if this question belongs here or elsewhere ....

In reading a lot of descriptions of model painting, people refer to washes and pin washes.  I'm not certain on what the difference between the two are. Can someone explain the difference please?  

I'm guessing that a wash covers the whole area, whereas a pin wash is done using very thinned paint, i.e. in wash consistency, to only paint the nooks and crannys of a model, i.e. panel lines, corners etc rather than across a whole panel.

I've tried searching for an explaination but nothing clear has come up.

Cheers,
Ant.