Beginner level brush painting questions

[Croftona]

I want to use it to smooth a couple of thin layers of acrylic paint before a 3rd and final coat, but I'm worried the moisture will smear the camo pattern and leave me back at square one.

[Mitch K]

No. If it's fully dried, water alone shouldn't lift the paint. You'll need something else in there, detergent, solvent or alkali, to shift it. This assumes a decent primer etc so it's keyed to the plastic. Go slow and gentle and you should be OK, but there's an element of judgement/practice/experience involved.

[Croftona]

Thanks Mitch, so how wet should the stuff be exactly? Slightly damp? Soaked through? Wet but not so wet that it's dripping?

[robvulcan]

I use micro mesh wet or dry but then I don't just use it for polishing up paint I also use it to tidy up plastic surfaces too and remove glue marks etc

[Mitch K]

Wet but not dripping was how I was taught. Everything seems to work smoother and there's less dust. Wash off with a bit of sponge with some detergent, then dry it off. Clean up with a toothbrush to get any crud out of panel lines, tack off and away you go!

[CedB]

Thanks Mitch, so how wet should the stuff be exactly? Slightly damp? Soaked through? Wet but not so wet that it's dripping?

No expert here Croftona but I think the idea is that the water carries away the particles so that the pad doesn't clog. The manufacturers say "Only use enough water to provide lubricity to the surface, but not so much that poor contact is made with the work piece." I dip mine in a small tray of water and have kitchen towel / tissue ready to wipe away the fluid occasionally, and then wash the pad afterwards.

HTH

[Nick Millman]

Sounds great. I get frustrated when painting white aircraft and atthe final stage applying the varnish there is nearly always tiny little flecks of dust accompanied by loud swearing to deal with. I am convinced the dust is in the Varnish.

Must be something im doing wrong

Have a close look at your brushes. Dried paint at the root of the hairs close to the ferrule will often resist cleaning in thinner but be 'released' when the brush is next used to apply paint, appearing as tiny particles in the paint strata. A similar problem can occur with jars of thinner used to repeatedly clean brushes. The paint particles drop to the bottom and coagulate but when a brush is cleaned they re-circulate and can lodge in the hairs, re-emerging with the paint. Using the same brush for dissimilar media sometimes exacerbates that so it is a good idea to use separate brushes for varnish, acrylics and enamels.

I use enamels and find that lacquer thinner always cleans brushes more thoroughly than paint thinner (white spirits).

Nick

[robvulcan]

Have a close look at your brushes. Dried paint at the root of the hairs close to the ferrule will often resist cleaning in thinner but be 'released' when the brush is next used to apply paint, appearing as tiny particles in the paint strata. A similar problem can occur with jars of thinner used to repeatedly clean brushes. The paint particles drop to the bottom and coagulate but when a brush is cleaned they re-circulate and can lodge in the hairs, re-emerging with the paint. Using the same brush for dissimilar media sometimes exacerbates that so it is a good idea to use separate brushes for varnish, acrylics and enamels.

I use enamels and find that lacquer thinner always cleans brushes more thoroughly than paint thinner (white spirits).

Nick

Thanks for that that's helpful although I failed to mention I varnish using spray cans not brush varnished.

Cheers Rob

[steelpillow]

Thanks Mitch, so how wet should the stuff be exactly? Slightly damp? Soaked through? Wet but not so wet that it's dripping?

As wet as feels comfortable. I just go, "It's feeling a bit stiff and awkward, I think I need a bit more water" or, "Oops, that's running off a bit much, I'd better mop some up." Enough to stop the dust clogging but not so much it runs everywhere you don't want it, I suppose.