Equipment for painting props?

[Drac]

Hi all, sorry if this seems like a daft question but I havent painted props before, and I have so much stuff that I've made or acquired that hasn't been painted yet. What I'm wondering is what you guys use to paint? Spray painting equipment? If so what do I need to look at? Brushes? again best type? One thing for instance I have is an unpainted Loki mask from the Jim Carey movie 'The Mask'. And I'm unsure what to use to paint it, or what kind of paints to use? Most of my items are resin based props, so I don't know if that makes a difference.

I realise this this is quite a broad question considering it would probably depend on the prop in question, but any help or advice would be appreciated

regards Paul

 

[Drac]

Anyone?

 

[Howlrunner]

Depends on the prop....

Seriously though, for me, if it's a large area of the same colour I use spray cans from Halfords. For smaller areas I use a mixture of Tamiya, Humbrol and Revell paints (all available from my local HobbyCraft) applied with paintbrushes. I use a mixture of acrylics and enamels. Enamels tend to work better for doing washes when you thin them (I just use white spirits) as they thin and blend more consistently, whereas acrylics tend to dry too fast and have a tendency to go on too thick and not feather out as nicely. That said, acrylics can work well for weathering in corners and along edges. Never used an airbrush.

As for paintbrushes, I just bought a pretty mid-range pack of different sizes from HobbyCraft. Some of my brushes are ancient and look like the tip has exploded, some are new and nice and pointy. Different tips work better for different things (e.g. I use my really old brushes for drybrushing as the "exploded" head gives a much nicer randomness than new brushes.

My own Mask I painted using Humbrol enamels and art store acrylics with paintbrushes.

 

[ChickenHaunt]

You can get a variety pack of brushes at the craft store for $5 or so. Grab some of the cheap bottles of acrylic paint, and have at it. While resin will sometimes take acrylic just fine, you might also want to spray a primer on first to help it stay. For that mask, you'll probably start with a darker color and dry brush lighter colors on top. Washes of paint are another technique you'll use often. If you hate it, you can paint over it. Dive straight in.

 

[mattycsi]

Howlrunner pretty much summed it all up.

Halfords paint has got very good in the last few years, I rarely use anything else spray can wise these days.

On brushes, you're better off getting real artists brushes than the cheaper packs of kids brushes and the like. Check the front of the packaging. If you're doing a large area use shading brushes (thin and flat) you get little to no brush strokes with them, for detail get the pointy ones. There are other types, I bought a bunch of each type so had a variety of sizes.

www.therange.co.uk has a very good art and craft section, you can get all sorts in there and cheap too. They have a massive range of acrylic paints.

 

[Drac]

Depends on the prop....

Theres always one...haha ;-)

Awesome guys thanks for the input, I'll give those a go. I guess I'm just a bit nervous about messing it up or it looking bad, but I guess I'll not improve if I don't try

 

[Drac]

My own Mask I painted using Humbrol enamels and art store acrylics with paintbrushes.

Do you have a pic of yours by any chance?

 

[Howlrunner]

This is my one. Painted this up MANY years ago mind you....

https://www.yourprops.com/Loki-Mask-resin-replica-replica-movie-prop-The-Mask-1994-YP30878.html

 

[Drac]

That's awesome, cheers for the link

 

[Drac]

I have been watching vids on weathering and it seems people spray something after the base coat before weathering but all I could make out is that it was some sort of clear coat maybe? Is this like a Matt varnish? Is it even needed when doing a wash?

Cheers all

 

[Howlrunner]

Yeah, it's something along these lines:

http://www.patrolbase.co.uk/krylon-...r-max-clear-coat-spray-paint.htm#.V_EYoPkrLIU

It's used to seal and protect what you've just painted - stops any new layers of paint interacting with or blending with what you've already put down. Lots of folks on here use it to protect finished paintjobs. I've never used it in my life personally. And I've done plenty of paint washes.

 

[Drac]

Yeah, it's something along these lines:

http://www.patrolbase.co.uk/krylon-...r-max-clear-coat-spray-paint.htm#.V_EYoPkrLIU

It's used to seal and protect what you've just painted - stops any new layers of paint interacting with or blending with what you've already put down. Lots of folks on here use it to protect finished paintjobs. I've never used it in my life personally. And I've done plenty of paint washes.

Ah makes sense now thanks. Surely if you let the paint dry enough you shouldn't have to much issue, I'll probably just try it without to see how it goes, can always start again if it goes wrong

 

[Drac]

Having done a base coat which has turned out to be a little too dark green, it's gone quite shiney which I'm not happy with, gonna source some more paints today and hope I can get it a lot closer to what I need it to be, fingers crossed :-/

 

[yaris]

Buy yourself a cheap airbrush and buy acrylic lacquer paint.

All modelling paint is either ACL enamel or water/metho based and always expensive by volume.

If you buy a cheap airbrush and use it, you'll learn everything you need to via trial and error at a low price.

I buy ACL in 1 lt cans and buy GP (ACL) thinners in 4 lts.

ACL primer and top coats are legend because they evaporate (dry) fast and eat into practically all surfaces.

It's basically car paint before they invented 2 pack paint systems.

I use it all the time because it's cheap and bullet/idiot proof.

Enamel and water/metho based paints are fine for very small model work, but if you want to spray and/or in larger surfaces the ACL is the way