Airbrushing brand new kits


P

Psapple83

Member
Hey everyone,

I hope this isn't a repeat topic, I searched for a while but nothing answering my questions. So if you don't mind, I have a few.

1. What kind (meaning acrylic, oil, etc,) of paint do I use to paint structures?
An example would be, I purchased the Atlas Passenger station kit and platform kit- I think I can work with it, but everything is this ugly green and obviously needs paint.

2. Does any of this ever need priming? Some of the parts seem quite shiny and therefore slippery?

3. Given that that is one paint type you are suggesting, what is the paint to water ratio for a syphon feed airbrush? Psi?

4. Is it always better to paint prior to assembly or does this create building issues later?

5. I picked up some Hobby Lobby acrylics for about $2-3 each, are these cruddy paints I would not want to use?

6. I have heard some people talk about a dull-coat - does that apply here or is even necessary when using flat paints?

Thanks in advance for your expert advice- I am glad I'm a part of a forum with such helpful people!

Silas


Edit: I just realized there is a painting sub-forum and I'm not sure how to move this, sorry for that.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
On plastic I always lightly sand then primer. I usually use a gray sandable primer. From that point I use the cheapo acrylics. I squeeze out a drop and add water until it looks sprayable. No real science here. It is usually pretty thin. Experiment to see what your airbrush likes.

As for when to paint, I try to assemble pieces of like colors then paint them as an assembly. Small details I paint before installing. It is best to let these details dry for a day or two because working with them will rub off uncured paint. After assembly I touch-up where needed.

Dull coat if necessary. It depends on the look you are after. You don't need to spend the outrageous amount of money for the Testors Dull Coat. Krylon Matte Finish is much cheaper and can be bought anywhere.
 
For plastic kits I wash my parts first in warm water with a little bit of Original Dawn Dish Detergent. Rinse them and lay them out to air dry. I do any sanding or clean up on the parts then give them a coat of gray primer. I've been using Ace Hardware primer and I've been really happy with it. It works fine right out of the can. The red primer looks good for brick color too. When I spray acrylic paint, like Folk Art or Apple Barrel craft paints I thin them with blue windshield washer fluid. My method is to mix it in a small cup with a Popsicle stick until I get 2 drops that drip off the stick. Make sure you have proper ventilation the windshield washer fluid is harmful if you breath the vapors. Acrylic craft paint seems to spray better at a fairly high pressure.

I agree with Kevin as far the Dull coat. Krylon Matte is just as good, if not better.
 
Very nice tips there Dave. Windshield washer fluid huh? I sometimes put a drop of dish soap in. But I never tried windshield washer fluid. I will though because I have a couple gallons in the garage.
 
Just a by the by question here ... what is the dull coat that has been talked about? Is that just another term for matte?

Cheers,

wombat457
 
wombat457 said:
Just a by the by question here ... what is the dull coat that has been talked about? Is that just another term for matte?

Cheers,

wombat457
Click to expand...
DullCoat is a flat clear. It's good for getting a flat finish and sealing weathering powders. Too heavy a coat will turn turn white. If you spray it over metallic paints sometimes it will dissolve it and make a mess. I don't use it as much as I used to. I like other brands of flat clear better.

http://www.testors.com/product/0/1160X/_/Dullcote_Lacquer
 
Ok guys so I took your advice, I went out and got some primer. Here is what I picked up:
ezazahas.jpg


Bad news. This must be an oil based primer- I did the 80-20 ratio of acrylic to water with a drop of dawn- it wouldn't even stick to the plastic a tiny bit-
So- I already had the airbrush out, all I could do is grab some old testors from my modeling days 20+ years ago and use that- added a thinner and it seems to stick but the grey still shows a little and it's definitely not a flat white.
Hopefully this was the right decision.

etaje6a6.jpg
 
What I do when I get a new kit is I take all the sprues and lay them out give it all a (1) light coat of dull coat (outside in the yard) on both sides. Then as the building process goes along as I need to paint it is all airbrushed with acrylic craft paints, Folkart, Americana etc. Its thinned with water in small batches and can be sprayed in my work room in the house with no fear of fumes spreading and stinking up the house. You can mix colors to any you want or need and you can also start on the weathering with it too.
Here is a recently finished building I just did for my layout.
DSCF8334_zps70f4f61d.jpg

I probably should use primer but so far have not really needed it to cover anything,
i just use a couple of light airbrushed coats.
 
Is it normal that plastic glue will make even dry paint run? Where I put the doors onto my model, there seems to be a small amount of white running onto the grey now.

photo (87).jpg
 
Davidfd85 said:
What I do when I get a new kit is I take all the sprues and lay them out give it all a (1) light coat of dull coat (outside in the yard) on both sides. Then as the building process goes along as I need to paint it is all airbrushed with acrylic craft paints, Folkart, Americana etc. Its thinned with water in small batches and can be sprayed in my work room in the house with no fear of fumes spreading and stinking up the house. You can mix colors to any you want or need and you can also start on the weathering with it too.
Here is a recently finished building I just did for my layout.
...
I probably should use primer but so far have not really needed it to cover anything,
i just use a couple of light airbrushed coats.
Click to expand...

What does the dull coat do as a base layer? is that your primer essentially?
 
Psapple83 said:
Bad news. This must be an oil based primer- I did the 80-20 ratio of acrylic to water with a drop of dawn- it wouldn't even stick to the plastic a tiny bit-
So- I already had the airbrush out, all I could do is grab some old testors from my modeling days 20+ years ago and use that- added a thinner and it seems to stick but the grey still shows a little and it's definitely not a flat white.
Hopefully this was the right decision.
Click to expand...

The right decision is the one that works ;)
I use sandable primer only on the bigger flat panels. I don't always use it. But if I want to change the color of something it works well to get a nice gray shade that is easy to cover with any color. It goes on almost like a dry film if you spray it lightly enough. Then I lightly sand it. I use very fine scotch-bright to get tough to reach areas. Scuff everything up. Then a very light dusting of Krylon Matte Finish. Your acrylics will adhere then. You just need some "texture" for the paint to grab onto.

Oh, and the Testors stuff is way overpriced in my opinion. I bought a can and didn't even look at the price til I got home. I felt like a sucker. $5.55 for 3oz of paint. The Krylon was $8.00 for a can at Kmart which works out to be less than half the price of the Testors stuff. And it I cannot see much of a difference. How much did that can of primer set you back?
 
NScaler said:
The right decision is the one that works ;)
I use sandable primer only on the bigger flat panels. I don't always use it. But if I want to change the color of something it works well to get a nice gray shade that is easy to cover with any color. It goes on almost like a dry film if you spray it lightly enough. Then I lightly sand it. I use very fine scotch-bright to get tough to reach areas. Scuff everything up. Then a very light dusting of Krylon Matte Finish. Your acrylics will adhere then. You just need some "texture" for the paint to grab onto.

Oh, and the Testors stuff is way overpriced in my opinion. I bought a can and didn't even look at the price til I got home. I felt like a sucker. $5.55 for 3oz of paint. The Krylon was $8.00 for a can at Kmart which works out to be less than half the price of the Testors stuff. And it I cannot see much of a difference. How much did that can of primer set you back?
Click to expand...

The primer was $6 from hobby lobby but I may have used a 40% off coupon.

When you say a sandable primer- is that something you buy in a spray can from wal-mart or something?
Maybe that's where I got confused- I was looking for a primer that could be airbrushed on- ended up going with that oil-based primer, not even sure if there is such thing as water-based primer?
Man I feel so dumb.

so on the smaller pieces- you just spray the acrylic right onto the shiny plastic? or krylon & sand first?
 
And yeah, most glues don't play well with paints. Use glue very sparingly on painted parts. I use a toothpick to apply glue to just about anything. You can also buy precision applicators for certain types of glue. Woodland Scenics has a very good video series on building DPM kits on YouTube covering assemble, painting, weathering, etc beginning here...
[video=youtube_share;1wd_ZI56xU4]http://youtu.be/1wd_ZI56xU4[/video]

If you watch this on YouTube (click the little YouTube button in the lower right of the video) you will see links to the following videos in the series. There are 21 in total. Definitely worth a look.
 
Psapple83 said:
...so on the smaller pieces- you just spray the acrylic right onto the shiny plastic? or krylon & sand first?
Click to expand...

Use the matte finish first. It will give the water based paint something to adhere to.

The sandable primer is always called "sandable primer". It is similar to a flat paint. And it sands easily with "dry" sandpaper. I like Dupli-Color and Krylon. I don't much care for Rustoleum products because I think it goes on a little thick. Maybe not so much any more. But I haven't used it in years. Regular primer goes on like a plastic coating. The best way to sand it is with "wet" sandpaper ie you dip the sandpaper in water (I usually add a drop of soap). The water keeps the primer from gumming up the sandpaper. It has to be sanded or scuffed up to get the next layer to adhere to it.
 
What does the dull coat do as a base layer? is that your primer essentially?
Click to expand...

If you spray or apply acrylic paint to just a plain plastic surface it will bead up because basically your putting water on plastic. The dull coat give the plastic a layer for the acrylic paint to bite and hold so it won't just bead up.
 
Very welcome. They have a lot of other videos in their profile there. I think I have watched them all.

Sent from my SPH-D710BST using Tapatalk
 
Things I have had success with:

I like to spray plastic with a flat finish. Mostly light gray but can be red, white or black depending on what the final color will be. This gives me a base color that can be brush painted easily. The solvent based paint goes on first and is allowed plenty of time to dry. Everything after that will be water based.

Major assembly using solvent based cement is done before painting. Glue and paint don't mix well. I just have to plan the spray angles ahead so I don't block myself.

I use superglue to attach painted parts to other painted parts. It reacts less with the paint.

I like to experiment. No single technique works for everything. What someone else has had great success with doesn't always work for me, and vice versa.
 
Just a few of my own observations:

Krylon can be a bit thick, but I'm also dealing with N-scale. That may not be so noticeable in larger scales. Testors spray cans put out a thinner paint, but they put it out much quicker so you have to use very short and/or quick passes and that makes them tricky to use anyway. I've gone to using an airbrush even for base coats. Again, that won't matter as much in larger scales where details don't disappear quite so easy.

I find acrylics actually adhere much better, dry faster and are easier to airbrush than solvent-based paints, but I guarantee you that for every one who says that there's another who thinks you're crazy to use acrylics. Do some experimenting and find what works for you.

If you glue (even using CA instead of styrene cement) over paint, bad things happen. With styrene cement, the paint melts along with the plastic. Because that's how styrene cement essentially works: It melts the plastic together. Even then, the paint will still interfere with the process and weaken the joint to some degree. If you use CA, you're actually just gluing ONLY the paint together (the glue won't go through the paint, just adhere to it), and the bond will only be as strong as the paint is. If you have a really good paint bond and/or there's no pressure that's put on the joint that works fine. If I have to glue something together with either method after it's been painted, though, I always try to scrape just a tiny bit of paint off the actual contact point so that the plastic can actually be fully bonded together.

Of course, these are just my experiences and opinions and yours may vary :)
 
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