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Acrylic vs Enamel


Pielstick

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I know it's been done to death already, but after some recent experiences I've had with acrylics I thought I'd perhaps challenge one of the popular characteristics of acrylics which supposedly makes them so popular:

Drying time.

We're told one of the greatest advantages of acrylics over enamels is drying time. Acrylics dry much faster than enamels. Airbrush a nice coat of your favourite brand of acrylic onto your model and you can actually see the paint dry as you spray it on. Indeed the paint should dry in a matter of minutes, as opposed to enamels which usually take 6-12 hours to dry.

Fantastic!

...or is it?

Yes that acrylic might be "dry", but it's nowhere near cured or hardened. Go and spray a coat of your favourite brand of acrylic onto a model. Come back a few hours later and the paint is most definitely visibly dry. Put a bit of masking tape on and then peel it off. Weep as your carefully painted acrylic is lifted off by the masking tape. Run a fingernail very lightly across the paint and watch it scratch the finish. Then as you put your model back down notice how you've left smudges and fingerprints all over the paintwork.

Then of course we have the fact acrylics are notoriously tricky to airbrush when compared to enamels. Even with nicely thinned paint using the proper branded thinner just about all acrylics will eventually build up on the needle and clog the nozzle. That's no bother though, just add flow aid/retarder to make them easier to airbrush... which slows the drying/curing time even more!

So what's the point in using those wonderful fast drying acrylics when you have to leave them just as long as enamels in order for the paint to harden enough for the model to be handled or masking applied?

Cheers,

Nick (looking more and more at the long neglected enamel tinlets sat on my modelling desk...)

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I agree with you about the drying time: all is not as it appears!

The main reason I switched to acrylics is that over a decade of using enamels in a rather poorly ventilated room had done noticeable (if relatively minor) damage to my lungs.

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I think you're being a bit hard on acrylics there Nick. Brushing aside the health & environmental benefits of using acrylic paints, plus the ease of cleanup, there is a price to pay... you have to be a bit more careful in handling them before you've given them a final coat of varnish. It's also good practice to prime your model, which TBH, I'd do anyway to unify the surface, even if I was painting with enamels. I've masked over acrylic paint that's less than an hour old, and managed to paint a whole airframe in three colors in one day (makes you wonder why it takes me so long to finish something though :hmmm: ).

Sure different brands of acrylics have different qualities and pitfalls, but overall, I'd be very loathed to go back to using enamels unless there was no other choice. :)

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I use Tamiya acrylics for airbrushing all the time using Tamiya's own thinner (although I do use Vallejo for brush painting) and, like Mike, I've been able to mask after an hour or so and never had paint lift...

John

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I could drive a bus through most comments in your post.

Don't get me wrong, Enamels ARE wonderful- unless of course you don't know the tricks of the trade for using Xtracolur.

Firstly acrylics come in many different formulas and makes- they are all sooooo different in the way they react as to make a sweeping statement about acrylics utterly pointless.

I would agree abut the potential problem with the outer skin hardening on paint like Gunze and Tamiya, but in truth this is due to laying on too much paint in one go with insufficient curing time. Same for most paints whatever they are.

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I like both enamels and acrylics. their both different. I hate acrylics because they peel easily no matter how dry they are! reason being acrylics are 'gentle' and do not stick to plastic since they contain nothing 'hot'. they just 'lie' on the surface, while enamels and laquer are 'hot' so stick to plastic. You can touch them after an hr. i use revell aqua paints and they never clog

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It's also good practice to prime your model

You're preaching to the converted Mike... I always prime my models, Alclad Grey being my preferred weapon.

Since getting back into the hobby a couple of years ago I've tried Xtracrylix, Vallejo Model Air, Tamiya and Gunze acrylics and they all have the same problem in my experience - fast drying but slow curing.

I'm still painting my Ta183 at the moment, trying out Gunze properly for the first time and I am really impressed with them, far and away the best acrylic for airbrushing I've used. However, even after leaving the model overnight for the paint to dry I still managed to leave finger prints in the paintwork the following day. I wonder would this have been the case had I used an enamel such as WEM?

but in truth this is due to laying on too much paint in one go with insufficient curing time

I'm laying paint down in several light coats to build up the opacity to what I want. I'm not slathering the stuff all over the model at 12 Bar :) I'm finding no matter what brand of acrylic I use, I have to leave the model for many hours before I can handle it without leaving some kind of mark in the paintwork.

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Different experiences for different people?

I'm doing a 3 colour camo on a Mig15 for the Foreign-Soviet GB and I masked and sprayed each one after 45 minutes to an hour. All painting done perfectly in an afternoon... (Vallejo Model Air).

As for spraying, when I got my airbrush I bought probably 6 different makes of acrylics and 3 of enamel and practiced to see what was best for me. What you are stating is your experience of spraying them, it is not definitive for every one. My best advice for paints would be try a few to see what suits you.

Dan

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Acrylic every time

and I brush paint Tamiya paints too, just thin well, and add flow enhancer to them all, be it your spraying or brushing, it stops them drying so quickly and that the problem you have when brushing Tamiyas. (don't go over the same part twice, with a brush, ie several thin coats over one thick one, works fine if your brush painting)

with Acrylic you can paint coats (different colours within an hour, you just can not do that with enamels) Hence Tamiya are the only paints I use bar special colours like desert pink (the only colour I own in Xrtracylix)

395918851.jpg

Dave

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Interesting thread - though in a way I wish I'd never seen it... Why? Because it's started me wondering again whether I should experiment with acrylics; I've done this a few times, and it's been both a complete failure, and extremely annoying. I just couldn't spray any of the acrylics - Tamiya, Revell, miscellaneous stuff I bought at the art shop - that I tried, whether I thinned with water, windscreen washer fluid, isopropyl alcohol.... And my attempts reduced me almost to hurling things around the garage.

But although I don't do very much - recently re-started a 1/48 A4 after several months of inactivity! - I've got enamels sussed, spraying Humbrol thinned with cellulose into a DIY spraying hood/extractor; I don't like the powerful solvents, the health aspect, the stink, the relative difficulty of cleanup - but enamels work for me.

I really do like the idea of acrylics, despite the handling & adhesion problems outlined here; but each acrylic experiment has ended in teeth-grinding failure... I sympathise with Pielstick. Not saying I won't ever try acrylics again, but clearly I'll have to discover the "magic" brand (Gunze?) and use retarder, or something - and have a bottle of Scotch to hand too.

Tony (off to spray some more thinned/whitened Humbrol 129 onto my A4B...)

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Dave

You have your own display stand for the Tamiya paints?

Dan

Yep that was taken in my garage model room.

As you can see it holds all my odds and sods, ie glues, maskol, ETC.

and before you ask I bought it off Ebay about 5 years ago.

Dave

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I like both enamels and acrylics. their both different. I hate acrylics because they peel easily no matter how dry they are! reason being acrylics are 'gentle' and do not stick to plastic since they contain nothing 'hot'. they just 'lie' on the surface, while enamels and laquer are 'hot' so stick to plastic. You can touch them after an hr. i use revell aqua paints and they never clog

Not quite, there are different types of acrylic paint, some hotter than others - Mr Colour for exmaple - and there are acrylic lacquer thinners like Gunze which can be used on their own and Tamiya paint.

I'd wager most problems with acrylic adhesion comes from poor surface preparation, and a coat of Halfords takes care of that.

As far as brush painting acrylics, Vallejo's Model Color and Panzer Aces paints are, IMO, superior to brushing painting enamels.

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To me, the importance of the faster drying time of acrylics is that they minimize the risk of getting dust, hair or other stuff sticking to your newly painted model. I never paint another coat until at least a day after. Usually closer to weeks or months between coats.:D

Edited by denstore
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Yep that was taken in my garage model room.

As you can see it holds all my odds and sods, ie glues, maskol, ETC.

and before you ask I bought it off Ebay about 5 years ago.

Dave

But why 6 pots of the gray and 5 of the green, surely any more than 2 of each colour is just showing off:)

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I have had the dubious honour of being declared the only person in the world who can't spray Mr Color paints! I have tried various acrylics but always end up going back to enamels due to being able to get reasonably good and repeatable results with them. Having spent a long time on each build the thought of ruining a model due to my cackhanded spraying of acrylics just puts me off. Sure I would like to be able to paint three colours in a day, clean up without nasty solvents and not have the place smell like a chemical factory (Gunze thinners doesn't exactly smell of roses though) but my experience of acrylics has shown me that they are not perfect either.

Who said watching paint dry wasn't exciting?

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But why 6 pots of the gray and 5 of the green, surely any more than 2 of each colour is just showing off:)

It's a long story,

I bought a shops stock that was closing, (well stopping selling models and changing to RC only) I bought the Tamiya rack full of paints, and an Airfix one one as well (also near full of paints too) about 30 kits and loads of brushes and bits too.

I sold of the Airfix paints, Rack, kits and half the Tamiya paints too, (ie I split the tamiya rack in two) more than re-cooped my outlay and what you see is what was left. I try to keep at least 3 pots of paint in each but some where numerous in number, I even gave a friend a shoe box full of most used colours as he used enamels but wanted to change as he has small children (so it prompted him to change, and he has never looked back since)

so this is what left after I broke even, and I still have about 60+ new brushes in hand too..

Dave

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I'd never go back to enamels, changing to acrylics wasn't without issues, but well worth it. Anyone want to buy a box load of Humbrol enamels :)

Dan

Ditto

good demand on Ebay for all types of paint, and always is...

Dave

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I'd never go back to enamels, changing to acrylics wasn't without issues, but well worth it.

Dan

I must admit for airbrushing acrylics are good for me. Using xtracrylix, Lifecolor and valjho I have never had problems with paint lifting.

I still like my enamals for brushing.

Julien

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Quite often a comment will come up that the water base Gunze paint stays soft or takes a lot time to dry..a tip that came up on the Aussie Modeller forum is to add Gunze flat base to a newly opened bottle ...a level teaspoon according to the po

i usually add a small amount to the cup when spraying and it drys very well and flat

Leslie

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I do not wish to add a fully biased opinion to this, but, I think at times certain scenarios call out for an acrylic paint.

For instance, I put together small sub assemblies first and probably do not need to go using them until near the end, stores, pylons, the undercarriage or the wheels if in sperate halves. These parts I can paint up with acrylics and put a bit of detail into in no time at all, and then not have to worry about scratching the paint as it normally has a while to sit whilst the rest of the model comes along.

That aside, I think acrylics do have a more lasting benefit. When I first came into the hobby my Airfix Spitfire had a few pots of acrylic paint. The model was smeared in glue and the canopy was a different shade of off white from the glue. Paint went everywhere, but, my mum was not left with horrible enamel paint stains across her kitchen table, me, and the walls which had my sticky mitts on a few minutes later. If I had come into the hobby with enamel paints, it would have ended there. Firstly my mum would never have let me have another, and secondly the waiting around before I could do anything again would have made me lose my interest in what I was doing.

Now I am old enough to appreciate the hobby and such I did try and go to enamel paints. But, I am extremely accident prone. I knock tinlets and pots over constantly and I have no idea why. Enamel is not a good thing to knock over, but the acrylic I use just wipes off.

I know that we all have our own preference but I can recommend Revell Aquacolor to those optimist that still use enamels. I have found the range to be very good, slightly thinned with water and after a couple of thin coats a streakless finish can be obtained. Even with the hairy stick.

At the end of the day it is about having fun. As a boy, building Airfix kits, I had exactly that and I put part down to them having acrylics to save them from my mother.

Just a few thoughts.

All the best,

Dan.

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Quite often a comment will come up that the water base Gunze paint stays soft or takes a lot time to dry..a tip that came up on the Aussie Modeller forum is to add Gunze flat base to a newly opened bottle ...a level teaspoon according to the po

i usually add a small amount to the cup when spraying and it drys very well and flat

Leslie

Thanks Leslie I'll give that a try next time :)

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At the end of the day it is about having fun.

Yep, that's the bottom line and I will keep trying with the Mr Color, in fact I just ordered a heap more of them from Gunze.pl the other day. Hopefully soon I'll be able to switch completely to acrylics with a little help from my modelling gurus online and in the flesh.

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