Acrylic Paints - General Question

[Robert Porter]

I have a very limited selection of modeling acrylic paints available near me. However every craft store my wife drags.... er takes me to has a huge selection of acrylic paints, some liquid some, paste. I assume the paste ones are not suitable but are the liquid ones ok for use in an airbrush, properly thinned of course?

Second I have not really paid attention to these "Art" paints but I would guess they will not generally speaking, have pre-mixed WW2 Aviation colors so I would I guess have to mix my own which to be honest is a little scary to me.

Any thoughts? Ordering online is expensive! I can get all the enamels I want locally but I am considering switching to acrylics in order to use a spray booth in the condo and minimize the smell etc. Also when I have used them they tend to dry lots faster which is a plus (most of the time).

 

[fubar57]

I've got some Apple Barrel craft paints, one red is almost a perfect match for WW2 RAF red, a yellow for I.D. Yellow and a green for RAF interior green. They are on the thick side and you'd have to thin the bejaysus out of them. I also use the generic red, yellow and silver for cockpit buttons and levers

 

[Wurger]

All coulours that can be applied with a brush can be airbrushed when thinned properly. But not all paints can be used for modelling. All depends on their thining agent or just chemical composition. Before you start using a such coat you have to be sure it won't damage the polystyrene.

Mixing of colours isn't difficult but requires some of experience and experiment. Of course it is easier to use the shades offered by manufacturers.

Using of acrylic paints doesn't meant the small can be minimised..In the past almost all acrylic colours were of the water type what made them less smelling than enamels. But nowadays most of them are thinned with different agents that can smell worse than the enamel ones. Not sure but perhaps getting rid of a wife would be the cheappiest way.
The fast drying of acrylic paints isn't always the best thing. But there are offered liquids called retarders. By adding a couple of drops of a such liquid to a thinned and ready to use paint you cause the drying time longer.

 

[Robert Porter]

I bought some today to try, and boy are they thick compared to what I am used to! But thinned I was able to paint a cardboard box rather well. Not sure I will earn any awards for it but it made me smile!

I found a store 1 town over that does have the full line of Valejo and Tamiya acrylics and they only had one or two empty slots so the appear to restock often. Not a bad drive so I will stick with those for the moment. Came home with a bag full of all the colors necessary for my next 3 kits!! And some retarder and some other odds and ends so all in all a great haul.

They were probably glad I left, I drooled all over about 20 kits that would look oh so good in my stash! There were at least another 100 that I did not get to look at and I never even got to the boat/ship/sub area!

 

[Capt. Vick]

Post pic of that shop in the Local Hobby Shop (or something like it) thread. I'm sure we would all like to see this gem.

 

[Robert Porter]

Will do! Posted it in the Show us your LHS thread!

 

[Wurger]

 

[mikewint]

I am a big fan of acrylic paints and I use Tamiya about 80% of the time. I use their (Tamiya) thinner to thin for airbrushing. Isopropyl alcohol is an excellent airbrush cleaner and cheap. I use a large cardboard box as a spray booth to confine almost all the overspray. I have several enamels but only use them with a brush and they, of course, require a mineral thinner. For specialty colors like rust, fuel, rubber, ect. I highly recommend the brand of acrylics called LIFECOLOR. They come is several sets and are available from several online sources including Ebay. My nearest Hobby-type store is a three hour drive so I obtain just about everything online and mostly from Ebay.

 

[Robert Porter]

I am a big fan of acrylic paints and I use Tamiya about 80% of the time. I use their (Tamiya) thinner to thin for airbrushing. Isopropyl alcohol is an excellent airbrush cleaner and cheap. I use a large cardboard box as a spray booth to confine almost all the overspray. I have several enamels but only use them with a brush and they, of course, require a mineral thinner. For specialty colors like rust, fuel, rubber, ect. I highly recommend the brand of acrylics called LIFECOLOR. They come is several sets and are available from several online sources including Ebay. My nearest Hobby-type store is a three hour drive so I obtain just about everything online and mostly from Ebay.

Thank you for the info! Now that I have found a good local source for both Tamiya and Vallejo Acrylics I will be switching. Especially thank you for the info on Lifecolor, I have been unable to find a good rust color anywhere and a project I am currently working on requires it! Very timely!

 

[mikewint]

I use:

 

[Robert Porter]

I use:View attachment 357230

Nice! Makes sense, see if I can find some locally! Thank you!

 

[WolfRacer]

I mostly have been swapping my collection over to Tamiya acrylics because I find they spray better, dry faster and are tougher than Vallejo's offerings.

Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics are actually quite different animals. Tamiya is alcohol based and thins well with either alcohol or lacquer based thinners. Vallejo uses some other mix and some of their paints turn to gel if you try and mix them with alcohol, Vallejo paints thin best with their own "Vallejo Airbrush Thinner".

I thin my Tamiya acrylics with Gunze self levelling lacquer thinner. The lacquer thinner does have harsh fumes but I find them short lived, so it works well for me.

I'd try a few products and see which one your wife hates the least. Different people have different sensitivities. Working in a composites workshop for a few years it was interesting to see which chemicals set different people off. I know one guy at the local hobby shop says he can't use Vallejo acrylic thinner and cleaner because he can't stand the smell where as it doesn't bother me at all. Enamels on the other hand he loves and has used since he was a kid, where as enamels are my most hated fumes.

 

[Wayne Little]

Tamiya Acrylics for me, always use their own thinner and water first then isopropyl alcohol to clean up.

 

[Robert Porter]

I mostly have been swapping my collection over to Tamiya acrylics because I find they spray better, dry faster and are tougher than Vallejo's offerings.

Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics are actually quite different animals. Tamiya is alcohol based and thins well with either alcohol or lacquer based thinners. Vallejo uses some other mix and some of their paints turn to gel if you try and mix them with alcohol, Vallejo paints thin best with their own "Vallejo Airbrush Thinner".

I thin my Tamiya acrylics with Gunze self levelling lacquer thinner. The lacquer thinner does have harsh fumes but I find them short lived, so it works well for me.

I'd try a few products and see which one your wife hates the least. Different people have different sensitivities. Working in a composites workshop for a few years it was interesting to see which chemicals set different people off. I know one guy at the local hobby shop says he can't use Vallejo acrylic thinner and cleaner because he can't stand the smell where as it doesn't bother me at all. Enamels on the other hand he loves and has used since he was a kid, where as enamels are my most hated fumes.

One of the things I liked about enamels was how well they leveled. I will give the Gunze thinner a try! Thanks for the info!

 

[mikewint]

I do as does Wayne, I've always felt that it is best to stick to the manufacturers line of products for the best results. Wayne mentioned isopropyl alcohol. As rubbing alcohol it is 70% isopropyl. I find this too "watery". At any hardware-type store (or Walmart for that matter) 1 gallon cans of 90% isopropyl and or Denatured alcohol (95% ethyl alcohol + 5% Methyl alcohol) are easy to find and cheap.
A word of caution here, these more concentrated alcohols are flammable and the heavier than air fumes are explosive. I therefore spray into a cleaning pot to reduce overspray and fumes

 

[JKim]

Tamiya paints (and a few Gunze-Sangyo) for me! I thin Tamiya with iso alcohol and have had excellent results. Just make sure the iso alcohol is at least 90%.

 

[WolfRacer]

The one thing that put me off Gunze acrylics is they remain delicate and susceptible to solvents for a loooooong time after you spray them. My 109 has fingerprints on it from me handling it a a day after spraying it and a couple of times I got crazing after spraying a clear over it. I was blaming the clear because I'd waited a few days for the paint to dry before applying the clear, but realized after a while it was the Gunze acrylics not being fully cured causing the problems.

It's mainly the semi-glosses and glosses I've had issues with.

They *feel* very similar to Tamiya acrylics to spray, but the Tamiya acrylics dry hard in a few minutes for mattes and a few hours for glosses.

I do like the Gunze lacquers, but they are hard to get, at least in Australia (only one store I know of carries them and it's an online store and it is often sold out of the colours I want).

For anyone spraying Tamiya with alcohols, you should give Gunze's self levelling thinner a try (as long as you can live with the fact it's a lacquer). I like spraying Tamiya with Gunze's thinner almost as much as I like spraying enamels.

Obviously it's all subjective and maybe you'll still prefer thinning with alcohol, but it's worth a shot!

 

[Wayne Little]

yes I've had the same with the Gunze Gloss /and Flat they do remain a bit delicate for a while after applying them, like you Wolf I experienced the fingerprint issue, still use them though I like 'em just got to be careful and know how to handle it.

 

[Robert Porter]

I am definitely sold on the idea of the Gunze thinners. Will see if I can order them up! Heck, power is highly overrated I can wait a month to pay that bill!