Acrylic Paint Issue

Robert Porter · Sep 9, 2016

I have recently restarted modeling after years of inactivity. I am currently building a 1/48th scale B-17G and have used an airbrush with enamels with no issues. Now I am painting the propeller tips with a brush and Testors Acrylic Yellow. I had previously washed the parts with dish soap to remove the mold release oil. My issue is when using un-thinned acrylic right out of the bottle (shaken and stirred well) the paint is not sticking it just kind of beads up.

I have rewashed the parts and am waiting for them to dry to try again, but am I missing something simple?

Thanks in advance,

Robert

Wurger · Sep 9, 2016

It is quite strange because the Testors acrylic piants coat surface without any problem usually. The reason for that can be , the paint is old. You may check if another one does that too.
Also it can be the un-thinned colours it too thick and needs some of a thinner though.
The next reason for that can be the lack of a primer.

Crimea_River · Sep 9, 2016

I can totally understand your issue if you are trying to paint yellow acrylic onto gloss black. Though you have not specified whether the blades are gloss black, perhaps that is your issue. Generally, acrylics don't lend themselves well to brush painting in any case.

Acrylics have the lowest bond capability of the 3 types of paint usually available to modelers (the other two are enamels and lacquers) and the yellow colour is commonly known to be a difficult colour to paint anyway, no matter the type of paint, especially with a brush.

Rather than give up on your paint, you might try applying a flat grey or white enamel coat onto your blades and then try your yellow. But if you are going to do that, you might as well get yourself a bottle of yellow enamel. Also, if you DID use gloss black, roughen it up a bit with some sandpaper and then try brushing the yellow again. That might give the paint more chance to stick.

Robert Porter · Sep 12, 2016

Thanks for your

Crimea_River said:
I can totally understand your issue if you are trying to paint yellow acrylic onto gloss black. Though you have not specified whether the blades are gloss black, perhaps that is your issue. Generally, acrylics don't lend themselves well to brush painting in any case.

Acrylics have the lowest bond capability of the 3 types of paint usually available to modelers (the other two are enamels and lacquers) and the yellow colour is commonly known to be a difficult colour to paint anyway, no matter the type of paint, especially with a brush.

Rather than give up on your paint, you might try applying a flat grey or white enamel coat onto your blades and then try your yellow. But if you are going to do that, you might as well get yourself a bottle of yellow enamel. Also, if you DID use gloss black, roughen it up a bit with some sandpaper and then try brushing the yellow again. That might give the paint more chance to stick.

It was indeed on gloss black, I primed the whole propeller and then tried again, this time with thinned paint, and it worked much better! I wondered if perhaps the gloss black plastic might not provide enough surface area to bond. Of course now I need to repaint the rest of the prop gloss black but it actually looks better and more realistic this way! Thanks!

Robert

Robert Porter · Sep 12, 2016

Wurger said:
It is quite strange because the Testors acrylic piants coat surface without any problem usually. The reason for that can be , the paint is old. You may check if another one does that too.
Also it can be the un-thinned colours it too thick and needs some of a thinner though.
The next reason for that can be the lack of a primer.

It could well be old paint, it was a bottle from a kit, also I did not thin it at all. After primer was applied and I thinned the paint it worked much better!

Crimea_River · Sep 12, 2016

Robert Porter said:
T I wondered if perhaps the gloss black plastic might not provide enough surface area to bond.

You got it. Like painting glass with water colours.

Acrylic Paint Issue

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