Revell Aqua colour. Water down or not?

[Spiny]

You should be fine with the aqueous paints without primer. But you want it before spraying the colour coat as 1) it will help with paint adhesion to the plastic, and 2) spray paints can be quite 'hot' (in other words they can eat into and react with plastic) and the primer gives a barrier to that.

[Roy-Adam]

Ok, thanks.  That's a relief!

[dbostream]

Instead of thinning what you are going to use on a palette everytime are there any downsides to putting aqua color mix directly into the paint jar the paint came in from the store? I don't remember how much room there is for thinner in a new jar though. 

[Roy-Adam]

Good question. I have no idea, but hopefully somebody will chime in.

[JeroenS]

I brush with Vallejo Model Colour but the Aqua colour must be about the same. I put a few drops of paint in a milk bottle cap and add water, usually around the same amount. I was about to recommend Plastix's paint video from which I learned the brush painting technique which works very good, but that video was already shared Thinner is better when brushing. 

 

Also, about the spray cans, I too started with a quite challenging model a couple of years ago but I did practice spraying with rattle cans quite a bit on some cheap kits first. If you stay in one place too long you'll get runs for sure. It takes a bit of practice to get the swing of it. Don't keep the spray can going all the time but move from left to right and back, stopping the spray when you're at the outer end of each sideways movement. Well, this is my method anyway. Build the layers up as you go and don't try to paint it all at once. Do a couple of thin layers, wait for a bit (the paint from these cans dries fast) and then add some more layers, moving the object around a bit so you get good even coverage. Good luck!

[Roy-Adam]

1 hour ago, JeroenS said:

I brush with Vallejo Model Colour but the Aqua colour must be about the same. I put a few drops of paint in a milk bottle cap and add water, usually around the same amount. I was about to recommend Plastix's paint video from which I learned the brush painting technique which works very good, but that video was already shared Thinner is better when brushing. 

 

Also, about the spray cans, I too started with a quite challenging model a couple of years ago but I did practice spraying with rattle cans quite a bit on some cheap kits first. If you stay in one place too long you'll get runs for sure. It takes a bit of practice to get the swing of it. Don't keep the spray can going all the time but move from left to right and back, stopping the spray when you're at the outer end of each sideways movement. Well, this is my method anyway. Build the layers up as you go and don't try to paint it all at once. Do a couple of thin layers, wait for a bit (the paint from these cans dries fast) and then add some more layers, moving the object around a bit so you get good even coverage. Good luck!

Many thanks JeroenS. I've used rattle spray cans over the years for DIY repairs. It took a while but it was something I got some success with every so often so I should be ok🤔. Thanks for the thinning advise too.

 

 

Roy

[Alan R]

My experience with rattle cans is variable.

I used to use Halfords' grey primer an awful lot in the past. Lovely stuff. Goes on really smooth and really durable. Just don't overload the paint, runs will be inevitable.

When working models, if I have a small area to re-cover in primer, I'll use a can of Citadel Grey primer. Seems to work really well.

Personally, I wouldn't hand-brush the red paint on such a large model (I have one in my stash, started but stalled...). Find a suitable red in a can and use that.

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[Roy-Adam]

Hi Alan R,

I've pretty much decided to spray the body shell and brush the rest. 

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

Roy

[Dermo245]

I started brush painting with Revell Aqua Colour because they were readily available, easy to use/cleanup and low smell (handy when you're modelling at the kitchen table!)

 

Some of the colours needed a little thinning - Revell's own product works well as does a drop or two of acrylic flow improver. But I found some of the Revell Satin colours hardly needed thinning.

 

I think the biggest improvement I made was getting good quality, wide flat brushes - I bought Winsor & Newtown "One Stroke" Artists' Water Colour Sable.; they weren't cheap but have lasted really well and made the brush painting much easier.

 

@PlaStix video is really great - he gets awesome results.

 

I also found priming with an automotive plastic primer helped - the kit 'took' the paint better and the primer was great for the base white colour on the Albatross below - all these were brush painted.

 

Revell_04921_Red_Arrows_Hawk_Done (9) crop by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr

 

Revell_1_72_USCG_Grumman_Albatross (7) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr

 

Hasegawa_1_72-F18-A_Hornet_VFA-127_Done (1) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr

 

Take your time and lots of thin coats always better than one thick one!

All the best,

Dermot

[Roy-Adam]

Thanks Derno245 for the help.  Pics are amazing!

 

Roy

[Spiny]

10 hours ago, dbostream said:

Instead of thinning what you are going to use on a palette everytime are there any downsides to putting aqua color mix directly into the paint jar the paint came in from the store? I don't remember how much room there is for thinner in a new jar though. 

Not that I've found. I just add some of the thinner (or water) to the pot, then some more when it starts to get thicker again. No problems so far except for with 302 Satin Black which has eventually clumped (that's on two separate pots) - no other colours have been affected like that so I guess it's something to do with that specific paint formulation.

[Roy-Adam]

Thanks👍