brushing acrylic paints

[casfan]

tried to start painting my model today, but the paint just reams to be repeled by the plastic?

[tornado64]

try washing in warm soapy water to get rid of surface grease and also check that your paint is not too thin and also is it correct modell acrylics and not artists?????

[Mike]

Most injection moulded models leave the moulds with a small amount of mould release residue, so it's good practice to give all your sprues a wash before you start building. During the build process you also get a lot of finger oils on a model, so it's not a bad idea to give it a wash again before you start painting.

You can also get Windsor & Newton flow aid that breaks the surface tension of the paint & helps it spread out & self-level. A couple of drops in your bottle of acrylic paint will show a noticable improvement in the brush painting performance of your paint.

[tornado64]

Most injection moulded models leave the moulds with a small amount of mould release residue, so it's good practice to give all your sprues a wash before you start building. During the build process you also get a lot of finger oils on a model, so it's not a bad idea to give it a wash again before you start painting.

You can also get Windsor & Newton flow aid that breaks the surface tension of the paint & helps it spread out & self-level. A couple of drops in your bottle of acrylic paint will show a noticable improvement in the brush painting performance of your paint.

now that is a good tip for the flow enhancer never used it for my portrait painting but it makes good sense in modell acrylics

[geoff m]

Did you use any primer? I have found to my cost that all paints are much better with a primer and some acrylics are pretty hopeless unless you prime first. Halfords white primer comes in aerosols and is very good as is Tamiya primer which I think you can get in either aerosols or jars.

[tony]

Over-brushing with acrylics causes the paint to seperate out which may also be the cause of your problems. I,ve found that you need to load your brush more with acrylic paint ( compared with enamels ) and also quickly dipping the brush in water first also helps.However expect to have to use two or three coats to obtain good results.

[pinky coffeeboat]

Can I add Winsor & Newton flow aid to any acrylic paint (Vallejo, Tamiya, Gunze, Xtracrylix etc...) or does it only work (better) with some makes? This is the thing I don't like with acrylic paint.

[Mike]

I can only vouch for it with Xtracrylix & Polly Scale... someone else would have to chime in with other acrylic paint makes

As to primers, there's nothing to beat a primed model for paint adhesion. I usually use Mr Surfacer in rattle cans (expensive, but cheapest from MDC, IIRC), but Halfords grey & white primers are also good, but not quite as good at filling tiny scratches as Mr Surfacer, which is a kind of filler/primer. A lot of people swear by Alclad's grey filler/primer, but I've yet to use my can cos I'm chicken

[seanrgb]

I've used model color and Revell aqua and Xtracrylix with no problems with a paint brush ..but Tamiya's dont even bother they just lift up

As for cleaning the model before painting I never have done this ..just slap the old paint straight on plastic

[tornado64]

Can I add Winsor & Newton flow aid to any acrylic paint (Vallejo, Tamiya, Gunze, Xtracrylix etc...) or does it only work (better) with some makes? This is the thing I don't like with acrylic paint.

i should imagine that the flow enhancer should work with any acrylic paint as they are all water soluble so paints should pretty much be of the same formulation if in doubt try with a small amount first