Airbrush paint questions

[Gigatron]

Hey gang,

I generally paint with acrylics, but am interested in getting into enamels. I currently use Medea Com-Art acrylics (a sub company of Iwata) and an Iwata Eclipse BCS.

While I like the ability to shoot straight from tha can and the easy clean up, but I prefer the durability of enamels.

I keep reading about Testors Model Master paints in magazines like Fine Scale Modeler, but they never tell you if you can shoot it straight or if it has to be thinned.

So, does anyone here have any experience with this paint and know whether or not it needs to be thinned. And if needs to be thinned, what do I use? And how's the clean up?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm sure I'm not the only one with these questions.

-Fred

 

[Watson]

I always thin enamels. I use the MM line all the time and here in Dallas, climate does make a difference, I use a mixture of acetone and enamel.

usually around 50/50 mix

JDH

 

[nwjedidave]

as a commercial airplane parts painter i will caution you to ALWAYS test your paint before you spray it .... make sure and use the same type of material and if possible the same conditions

greg is right --- tempature and humidity can really play with your paint as far as how it atomizes and flows out...

don't be TOO quick to want to thin it down... shoot a test panel with the paint as it comes

ALWAYS thin to the thick side... its easier to keep thinning rather than trying to thicken...

if you're spraying something that has got to be as perfect as you can get it, allow the paint on your test panel to dry wheather it be air dry (always takes longer) or if you are going to dry it using heat....

if you use any kind of heat to dry your test panel let it cool down by removing from the heat source and letting it cool down using room tempature... cooling it off with a fan (or other cool source) can effect the paint and the material ...

okay enough for me, i just got OFF of work ... lol good luck

NWJEDI
dave

 

[Aegis159]

Hehehe neither of the two previous posters answered you question directly so I will....

okay so JDH did in a round about way

YES the Model Master enamel line of paints require thinning.

I HIGHLY recommend their Metalizer line of paints if you have any type of metalic surface to emulate. They have two types- Buffing and Non-Buffing. Which one you go with depends on what type of finish you want. You can polish the buffing paint up pretty nicely. Keep in mind you will want to use their overcoat for them though, and DO NOT touch the painted surface until you've overcoated it.

The best thing to do is just to play with the mixture to see what ratio works best through your airbrush.

....although I'm a little puzzled by why you find it difficult to thicken up your paint if you mixed it too thin there jedidave... I always just add more unthined paint into the bottle. Then again I suppose what you're mixing it in can determine how much play you have...

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks for the replies guys .

After years of being out of the model building game, I figured it was high time to get back.

I was big into military planes (both wwII and modern) and really miss it. I only have one model left out of my collection, a P61 black widow (I'll have to post pics of that one day). I was still painting with spray cans and brushes back then.

-Fred