GMTrainNut
Member
Hey all! Another question on my journey to custom painting nirvana..
I've switched over to water based paints, Pollyscale for the most part. I had some initial issues (see recent thread about surface prep) but am past that and have come across my next obstacle.
I like to add depth to grills on locos by using a dilute wash. In the past that wash was usually Floquil solvent based, and was used over a shell that was painted in a solvent paint.
I did some experiments with a water based wash, and the results were less than stellar. I first tried a wash using distilled water with a few drops of dish soap. The soap failed to break up the surface tension of the water enough and the results were splotchy looking.
I then tried another mix using an acrylic flow enhancer, sold in art supply stores (I believe the brand was Liquitex). The results were okay but still did not behave as well as the solvent based washes.
So I've thought about the next move and here's what I've come up with:
1) A wash using strictly 91 percent alcohol and paint. My fear with this is that the alcohol will cause fading like it does with Testors Dullcote. I'm not sure that the same "whitening" effect would happen with water based clear coats from Pollyscale or Model Master, and maybe I have to do yet another experiment to determine this.
2) Go back to a solvent based wash, but give the water based undercoating enough time to dry so that the solvent doesn't attack the paint.
I've read about folks using solvent based paint or clear coats over water based paints, but that seems dicey. How long would you have to let the undercoat dry before safely applying a solvent based wash?
3) Mask and paint the grill areas with the gray/brown mix, then dry brush the body color on the raised grills.
I've done this, but it's never been my favorite method, no matter how careful I've been it tends to come out uneven looking.
As always many thanks in advance for any advice, input, etc!
I've switched over to water based paints, Pollyscale for the most part. I had some initial issues (see recent thread about surface prep) but am past that and have come across my next obstacle.
I like to add depth to grills on locos by using a dilute wash. In the past that wash was usually Floquil solvent based, and was used over a shell that was painted in a solvent paint.
I did some experiments with a water based wash, and the results were less than stellar. I first tried a wash using distilled water with a few drops of dish soap. The soap failed to break up the surface tension of the water enough and the results were splotchy looking.
I then tried another mix using an acrylic flow enhancer, sold in art supply stores (I believe the brand was Liquitex). The results were okay but still did not behave as well as the solvent based washes.
So I've thought about the next move and here's what I've come up with:
1) A wash using strictly 91 percent alcohol and paint. My fear with this is that the alcohol will cause fading like it does with Testors Dullcote. I'm not sure that the same "whitening" effect would happen with water based clear coats from Pollyscale or Model Master, and maybe I have to do yet another experiment to determine this.
2) Go back to a solvent based wash, but give the water based undercoating enough time to dry so that the solvent doesn't attack the paint.
I've read about folks using solvent based paint or clear coats over water based paints, but that seems dicey. How long would you have to let the undercoat dry before safely applying a solvent based wash?
3) Mask and paint the grill areas with the gray/brown mix, then dry brush the body color on the raised grills.
I've done this, but it's never been my favorite method, no matter how careful I've been it tends to come out uneven looking.
As always many thanks in advance for any advice, input, etc!