Having a real hard time hand painting some acrylics

[planehazza]

I've tried vallejo and tamia flat yellow, and they're both a nightmare to hand paint.  It's like they're too thick and too thin and the same time?  They don't cover well, but dry to a thick, sticky mess very quickly.  I'm trying to paint some AIM-9M seeker covers yellow (grey primer) and this is the result I'm getting

 

 

Any tips, guys?  Airbrushing is no better. Is it something about the pigment used for yellow or something?

[Space Ranger]

In my experience, yellow and red ALWAYS require a white undercoat regardless of type of paint used. And if they are drying too fast, Tamiya makes a paint retarder that slows drying time. It might also work for Vallejo, but I don't know.

 

Edited June 19, 2018 by Space Ranger

[PhoenixII]

Evening planehazza,

as space ranger has said yellow and red are ********** (insert expletive of choice!) either to spray or brush paint. Undercoat required.

If you use a retarder, use the one either by the company who produce the paint your working with, or if it's acrylic, use an artists retarder,

bigger bottle = more for your money!

DO NOT use Tamiya with genuine acrylic, as it's a hybrid, being spirit based, as are all Tamiya paint products.

You'll finish up with a gloopy (Tech. term....honest!) mess that'll only be fit for the bin.

Best of luck, keep on with it and you will succeed.

 

Paul

[Mike]

I've actually had a bit of luck adding a smidgeon of white to yellow, which seems to help with its opacity for brush-painting as well as airbrushing.  A light/white undercoat will also make things easier, and with some yellows (Lifecolor amongst them), adding a lot less thinner than usual when airbrushing can result in better coverage.  Just some general yellowy advice

[Steve Noble]

White primer all the way for yellow. Never had anything but bad results with Tamiya acrylics when hand painted, but much better result when airbrushed. Vallejo Model Color I found was pretty decent with a brush, Model Air good for airbrush. Personally, I would have painted the whole missile grey, airbrushed the tip with white, followed by yellow. Then masked the yellow and painted the finned part behind with the metallic grey. Then added the stripes of silver from chrome foil strips and the yellow stripe from decal. 

[sapperastro]

Revell Aqua 15 or Humbrol 24 acrylic. Give it thin coats. Could take a few, but so long as each is thin, it will look fine. Don't try to cover it with one thick 'glop' of paint.

[Darby]

What about a yellow from the Citadel range? 

[sapperastro]

Unless the paint is defective, it will cover eventually. The problem is when you become too impatient and try to lay it on thick. White, Yellow, some Reds can all be dogs. But it isn't as if acrylic paint takes a long time to dry. Thin, thin, thin. Don't overload the brush, and paint those coats on, one after the other. Eventually the colour will build up. If you want something a bit quicker, try laying on one or two thin coats of orange first. Yellows and reds general go over orange a lot easier. It all depends on how much time you want to take.

[AdriaN (MLT)]

On 6/19/2018 at 8:18 PM, planehazza said:

I've tried vallejo and tamia flat yellow, and they're both a nightmare to hand paint.  It's like they're too thick and too thin and the same time?  They don't cover well, but dry to a thick, sticky mess very quickly.  I'm trying to paint some AIM-9M seeker covers yellow (grey primer) and this is the result I'm getting

 

 

Any tips, guys?  Airbrushing is no better. Is it something about the pigment used for yellow or something?

Yes many times! When ever i needed some yellow to be brush painted I would.. brush on a layer. Let it dry. Brush on another layer.. let id dry.. until its all yellow. Make sure the yellow is not being applied thick. It has to be thin coats that are spread nicely. Also make sure the brush hairs are not thick and stiff!

[godzilla]

I am having similar problems with Tamiya semi gloss black. Ideally I would have airbrushed but it has been needed in many small annoying areas of my car model so the only option was to brush. The only way I have so far been able to get a good finish is to just be patient and do many coats as thin as possible. 

 

I tried adding thinner to the paint but that just made it so watery it didn't work very well.

 

From what I hear, vallejo paints are supposed to brush better so I might give it a try.

[sergant-san]

For some reason, yellows work best with pinkish base-coat. Also, as Adrian said : multiple thin coats.. 

 

Edited July 10, 2018 by sergant-san

[azureglo]

I have some experience of spraying yellow, did a whole airplane in it once...As @Mike said, undercoat in white  + lots of thin coats (3 to be precise) was my way forward: That said i now use Mr Hobby acrylic or Mr Color lacquer (both thinned with Mr Leveling) airbrush only and they work a dream. When I did touch ups on this build I used both straight from the bottle with a brush briefly dipped in leveling thinner that might work for you.

 

On the rare occasion I brush paint, I use Revell acrylic which is pretty amazing stuff and did the detail painting , in yellow, on this 1/72 ejector seat with my trusty Windsor & Newton no 7 sable. You can get Revell acrylics from Hobbycraft