Terrible terrible terrible results brush painting Revell Aqua

[FrankMasta]

Hello,

I've tried brush painting with Revell Aqua White (36105) and, as you can see, I have terrible results.

 

Top left is 1:1 ratio with water, middle is 1 paint to 0.5 water, bottom right is no thinning.

 

I did stir well the paint in the box before use.

 

I've read others having great results, some use a few drops of water, some distilled water, some tepid water, some wodka, some Revell thinner.

Everyone is happy!

 

The famous PlaStix guide did not help.

 

 

[Casey]

How many layers did you made? Were they relatively thin and smooth before drying?

[FrankMasta]

3 minutes ago, Casey said:

How many layers did you made? Were they relatively thin and smooth before drying?

Just one! I'm just trying to understand the correct ratio with water.

[Casey]

For brush painting, you use the undiluted paint with minimal amount of water to act as a primer layer first. This layer will look extremely ugly, but don't fret - it is exactly what you want - a thin smooth layer for the further layers of paint to latch on, not something that covers the plastic or looks good. This will come later.

 

Then, after it is dried, use a bit more diluted paint (not much more, just wet the brush) and apply more layers, and let them dry. Generally, the additional layers can use a bit more thinning to make the paint flow better and self level so it'll reduce brush strokes.

 

Try adding one more layer and see! Don't worry too much about the ratios, try to 'feel' the paint. Since pigments differ, each paint color will behave a bit differently.

 

And as @jenko mentioned before - wash the sprues. Paint you are using is miscible in water, but water + oil don't mix

Edited February 3 by Casey

[jenko]

Did you wash the plastic with soapy water first and let dry?

 

I always add a little flow enhancer, and only dilute with water if necessary. With some tubs the paint can be quite thick.

Several thin coats are better, leaving a good time between coats.

Try using another colour, ie. a dark grey as white is always a pain. ( This is just for testing the paint to see if you are happy with the range).

 

Please persist as I have found these to be one of the better brushing paints that can be found in the hobby shop.

 

To answer your last post (the one that came up while I was typing) I like the consistency of say something like evaporated milk.  (OK I know that similarity is a bit left field but you get the idea)

 

HTH

Dick

 

[FrankMasta]

Thanks everyone! I felt quite downhearted. I'll follow your advice.

 

The parts were all cleaned with IPA.

 

Both with diluted and non diluted paint I had lots of pooling at the base of the fins, that also made me think dilution was the issue.

[Casey]

There was a pretty good tutorial from Airfix that included brush painting. They use their Humbrol acrylics but the technique is the same.

 

The first layer of brush painted acrylics usually look somewhat like this:

 

 

At this first layer you do not care about pigment much - you care about the binder from the paint to cover the model to act as a primer. Pigment itself might flow around in it and will look ugly and it is fine, the pigment coverage is the job of next layers. Try avoiding forcing the paint to have a 100% coverage in one go, this is almost usually a bad idea.

 

Whole video:

 

 

Edited February 3 by Casey

[Graham Boak]

Interesting, and useful, but does raise a few questions.  If the second (thinned) coat covers the inside so well, why doesn't it do the same with the external surfaces?  Although this was clearly intended for the absolute beginner, it was a shame not to see good habits being addressed.  He was unable to fit the fuselage halves together around the cockpit - as was I and others - but didn't suggest sanding down the bulkheads for a better fit.  Dry fitting?  Having passed this stage, he then did nothing to fill the obvious gap in front of the windscreen.  Of course this would have required something not provided.  We see him simply snapping off pieces using his fingers.  The canopy is glued using polystyrene cement, and without any attempt at obtaining a good fit rather than having gaps all around.  Most household schools have a variety of PVA white glue available which is better for this particular job, and fill do for gap filling.  I feel it is always better to install good habits from the very start - I can think of a large number of my early models which would have benefitted from that!

 

However, I look forward to trying this thinning to see how Revell Aqua orange goes onto my Shannon, which already has one poor coat of the Revell enamel orange.  If it works well I can see revisiting the Roden Condor which as had at least three attempts (not all overall) at getting a good coat of orange. Thanks for the link.  I have already tried the Airfix acrylics from the Defiant/Do.17Z  on top of an undercoat of Humbrol enamels, and had good results.  Similarly the Mr. Colour Lacquers on top of well-cured enamels.  But I've been unimpressed with comments on other acrylics such as Vallejo.  With a large (very large) stock of enamels, I will take some convincing, but it seems well worth trying with the more difficult gloss primary colours such as white, yellow  - and orange!

[PhantomBigStu]

As one of the resident brush painters, thinning ratios are a no no, thinning is something you do as the paint dries out after opening and storing or you find it too thick out the pot and even then, licking/sucking on the brush can often do the corrective job anyway , here’s a build from the bench brush painted with revell aqua 

Edited February 4 by PhantomBigStu

[Chimpion]

I never brush paint Revell Aqua onto bare plastic. Interesting to see that could be an option. I've always used a primer, or a coat of matt enamel first to act as a primer - I've never noticed any reaction between the enamel and the Aqua paint. It definitely goes on much better when mixed with their own thinner. Some colours are definitely better than others, and white is one of the tricky ones.

 

[Troy Smith]

15 hours ago, FrankMasta said:

I've tried brush painting with Revell Aqua White (36105) and, as you can see, I have terrible results.

 

Top left is 1:1 ratio with water, middle is 1 paint to 0.5 water, bottom right is no thinning.

 

I did stir well the paint in the box before use.

 

I've read others having great results, some use a few drops of water, some distilled water, some tepid water, some wodka, some Revell thinner.

Everyone is happy!

 

The famous PlaStix guide did not help.

as other have said, white, even the off white Revell Aqua is, can be hard to brush.

 

One coat will not work, you maybe find using a light grey as  a primer will help.

 

re @PlaStix  tutorial, you need to learn how to use the paint,  I did mention this before, learning how to cover an area,  and practice.    Then try on small parts.

 

It's about building up layers,  you can add more paint as soon as the first layer is dry with water solvent acrylics.

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235107668-pk-29-skyhawk/#elControls_4416555_menu

 

this is brushed Tamiya matt white over some red brown plastic, which took multiple this coats

 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, PhantomBigStu said:

thinning ratios are a no no,

The only acrylic that does not need thinning is Vallejo Model Air, everything else is too thick to brush out smoothly.

12 hours ago, Chimpion said:

I never brush paint Revell Aqua onto bare plastic. Interesting to see that could be an option. I've always used a primer, or a coat of matt enamel first to act as a primer - I've never noticed any reaction between the enamel and the Aqua paint. It definitely goes on much better when mixed with their own thinner. Some colours are definitely better than others, and white is one of the tricky ones.

See the linked video.  I use Tamiya as a primer, it has a bit more bite, and despite the common knowledge you can't brush it, you can.  See my build above.

 

this is Tamiya Buff used as a primer, see the redbrown plastic above

 

All done with cheap flat brushes.

 

HTH

 

 

[FrankMasta]

Hello, just to keep you posted. Here the terrible results after three coats.
At this point I'm just wondering why should't I just use the airbrush!

 

I wasn't this bad at painting even when I started (with Humbrol enamels) many years ago at the age of 15!

 

 

I feel like Homer when he builds the barbecue pit! Why must life be so hard? Why must I fail in every attempt at modeling? 😄

[Casey]

You are getting there, the first layer was quite uneven which can be seen on the model, and the next layers do not cover the plastic color (yet). Airbrush can help you do it much faster, but for white you need more layers.

 

Humbrol enamels were much easier because they were enamels, they flow very differently on plastic, tend to self level and also dry much slower which makes them more forgiving.

 

But there is one more good thing you can do with acrylics: If you feel that the above model needs a 'new attempt', simply soak them in IPA (not the beer though), it'll remove the paint.

 

Edited Thursday at 10:41 PM by Casey