Painting section...HOW TO?!?!

[Jack-Swiss]

Ok mates...

this is the section where you ask/share/tell/know everything about paints and related stuff...



Basically there are

ACRYLIC, ENAMEL and LAQUER



but then it comes to

HUMBROL, MODEL MASTER, LIFECOLOR, TAMIYA (enamel or acryl), GUNZE'S laquer or acryl, WHITE ENSIGN, ALCLAD, ZERO PAINTS, VALLEJO, CITADEL, REVELL....etc....etc



and when clear coating you should consider

ACRYLIC, ENAMEL, LAQUER and....oh yeah, also URETHANE (whaaat?!?)


which I can

BRUSH PAINT OR AIRBRUSH PAINT (with like a 30/40 possible/available airbrush around the market)



using a mask and a great paintbooth.....and this and that and this and that
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WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?







got confused?!?
here's what this place is made for!
post whatever concernes you about paint and painting process stuff!
we are here to help each other and share techniques and knowledge and this is valid for pro's and also for rookies (and intermediate guys as well)!
if not, what would be the modelling for?!?


PS: I've made a bit of experience around, catching infos and people talkin about this and that, trying this and that. I personally tried lots of paints so I can pretty much say that if you need I'm here and I can share all I know!!!


Cheers mates

 

[Shark]

Is it the enamals that you really have to be careful when spraying because it can really hurt your lungs? You should always have a well vented area, but I heard with one of them you really should wear a mask and also.

 

[Jack-Swiss]

Dude, wear a mask also with the acrylics that are not water based...laquer and enamel are very harmful!
My advice is to wear a mask everytime!!!the better the filter the better your health!
I mentioned also acrylics because the most of them are solvent-based...that means that yeah, they are acrylics but in the mix there are solvents for the pigments cause otherwise there wouldn't be the mix!!!
Only Vallejo if I remeber well are purely water based...

My advice is to use enamel or laquer 'cause you have to use the mask anyway,thus the choice of these colours because of their quality!!!

Cheers and hope it helped!

 

[WhiteLeopard]

Dose anyone use windex to clean their brushes? does that work? ???

 

[Dano1945]

For acrylics I bought a big bottle of cleaner from my art store. It wasn't that expensive and it's made for airbrushes, Badger Air-Opaque 16 oz. I use Model Master paint with Testors Universal Thinner no 50496 4 oz. I also use a small bit of retarder from Createx. I figure if you invested in a $30 plus model, nice airbrush $80 - $?? and hours to build it then spend a couple of bucks on the right cleaner and thinner.

Here is a good article,
http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips3/airbrush_tips.html

 

[Carsenault]

Dose anyone use windex to clean their brushes? does that work? ???

I've used Windex for quick cleans of the ab between colors when using acrylics, or after spraying Future, but I never do a final cleaning with it. I did once and what was left in the ab dried up and gummed things up. I had to do a full tear down and clean it out thouroughly. Now I do my final cleaning with rubbing alcohol if I ws painting with acrylics, or lacquer thinner if I was using enamels or lacquers.

hope this helps

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Straight lacquer thinner will clean just about any kind of paint out of an airbrush.

If I am using Vallejo (or any acrylic for that matter) I clean with Vallejo's Acrylic Cleaner...does a bang up job.

Enamel or Lacquer, I use good ole lacquer thinner from CT.

Lacquer will clean out Acrylic as well, as I have run lacquer through an airbrush that I thought was clean using the acrylic cleaner and have gotten more out of it when when the lacquer was run through it.....I think just a case of I need to be cleaning my ABs better in the first place.

I will break down my AB and run it through a sonic cleaner with a bit of the acrylic cleaner in it....does a great job!

 

[Dano1945]

Sonic cleaner, cool I hadn't thought about that. Off to Harbor Freight. Nice tip on the laquer thinner for when you run out of whatever acrylic cleaner you use at some odd hour when everything is closed.

 

[WhiteLeopard]

Thanks Dano for that article it was very informative. I bought some auto thinners very strong stuff, It even brought back some paintbrushs from the dead. Would using the lacquer thinner be harmful to O-rings?

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

It could eat your O rings, depends on how hot it is....I usually flush my AB with either water, or Acrylic cleaner (which is safe on O rings) after I used the Lacquer thinner to clean...just to make sure

 

[Exarkun77]

Quick question on this type of paint job, don't want to create a topic just for that, so sorry if i'm in the wrong place.
http://www.hobby-show.info/tokyo2010/0088.html

(For practical reasons, i work with tamiya acrylics at the moment)
Could i reproduce this kind of effect by having a flat aluminum (or any metal color) and then a clear blue over it?

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

You could, but is twice the work. That is probably just the Tamiya Metallic Blue in the rattle can. Mind you it is a lacquer instead of an acrylic.

Vallejo makes a metallic medium in their line, which can be mixed with any of their paints to make a metallic out of it.

Metallic Russian Green T34 anyone?

 

[Exarkun77]

huh... lacquer... i have to know what this means, now

Thanks for the answer.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Just that the Tamiya spray cans are a lacquer based paint instead of an acrylic.

Smells bad, but is a great looking and harder finish. But would mean you would only have to paint it once.

However.....going the acrylic route, laying down a silver or aluminum basecoat, and then spraying the transparent blue over top, you can control how blue it looks, as it will darken down with multiple layers. The downside....is a little trickier to make it look even.

 

[Exarkun77]

Got it.

 

[FW190A-8]

Dose anyone use windex to clean their brushes? does that work? ???

Some time back I stumbled upon a recipe from a well respected guy going by the name MikeV. He suggests this brew;

1 part Simple Green
1 part Windex
2 parts distilled water

I tried it and I won't use anything else now. It works a treat for me. Others may not like it but I found that it cleans my Airbrush very well. Of course I am talking about cleaning Acrylic paint - not enamel. After running this brew through the Brush I finish up by shooting distilled water only. Occasionally I will squirt some Medea Airbrush cleaner through before finishing with the H2O. The H20 is probably overkill, but so-far-so-good.
Remember - This is not my recipe. I just read it on another forum and I tried it for myself. It works for me (and many others out there) but not everyone will agree. There is much debate on squirting ammonia through an airbrush. My personal view is that it works for me and that is all I can go by.
cheers,
FW190

 

[Junkie]

Great recipe. Will make a great tip in resources too!

 

[RocketSilo]

wow....

I like the createx airbrush cleaner ,I notice alot of modelers have mentioned using it for general acrylics cleaning on some other model forums , I use it because I got big a bottle long ago.
not only is it a cleaner but just as important, a conditioner.

lubing the airbrush is important, especially when using backyard brews containing ammonia !
it is not kind to o rings<<< it can/will dry them out.
I figure this way ,, I bought the best airbrush I could afford, I spent a ton of money on paints ..
I'm using the best cleaner/conditioner I can find. I may be cheap but not with my airbrush.
The $5.00 was worth it

 

[FW190A-8]

Hi RocketSilo,
I would like to use Createx Cleaner through my Airbrush as well. Unfortunately, it costs $72 per litre here in Australia ($72 per 34 ounces). Yes, I can buy it in smaller bottles but the price goes up accordingly. The cheapest way to buy it here is per litre.

I don't suppose you guys can send me some?

cheers,
FW190

 

[RocketSilo]

wow ,, that's insane!..I had no idea it would be so costly out your way.
scrap my post and go for the recipe.
you have to do with what you have ,you might still try to pick up some lube for your AB if possible.