Rustoleum Paint

[lacrossedart]

Has anyone out there ever used Rustoleum spray paint on polystyrene? I have a Revell IM-99 Bomarc kit that I'd like to build in the colors shown on the original S-kit boxtop from the 1950's. I've not had any luck finding the odd blue-black color of the YIM-99 prototype in paints that are intended for models, but I did find a Rustoleum spray paint called Midnight Blue that is very close to the boxtop painting. I am reluctant to use it because I'm afraid I'll trash a very likely irreplaceable kit that came to me purely by accident. Any comments or suggestions?

 

[N4521U]

The basic problem with House paint, just as an example, is the fineness of the grind of the pigments.

It's like artist oils. Good oils have good carriers, extremely finely ground pigments and permanent which allow them to flow from the bristles of the brush freely. Sign painters paints are the same. Good paint intended for sign painting are expensive because the pigments are the finest of grinds possible, or they will not flow from the bristles of the fox hair brush. You could never pin stripe with house paint.

Automotive paint would be another good comparison. Acrylic enamels are much thicker the lacquer. Enamels will hide maybe 150 grit sanding and come out smooth. Lacquer will apply so thin, you may need to finish sand wit 1000 grit paper before the lines will not appear under the paint.

The Rustoleum line of paints are intended for outdoor furniture. How fine a paint do you need for that. Besides they do have a chemical in the paint intended to inhibit rust. Never seen styrene rust.

Hope this helps. You may have to research the plane and the proper color code for the finish, never go by the box top.
Perhaps someone in here can direct you to the official color.

Good luck with it mate.
Bill

****If you look on this site, you may think it's just Black.
Collect Air | Missiles and Space

 

[Airframes]

Bottom line - no !
Bill has covered it, but Rustoleum, known as 'Hammerite' in the UK, is a 'heavy' paint designed for decoration and preservation of outdoor items, mainly metal, such as garden furniture, rain water pipes, gates, car wheels etc etc.
It is far too heavy and thick for modelling use, and would flood any detail, giving a coating very much out of scale - rather like painting a porcelain Dresden figure with tar!
It should be an easy job to mix the colour you require, and 'Midnight Blue' itself is a common shade in many paint ranges, although of course actual shade will vary between manufacturers.

 

[vikingBerserker]

I think it depends on what scale you will use it on. If it's 1/24 and the body it just might be ok. I used it about 20 years ago to paint chess pieces and it did not squash the detail of them. Now saying that it's been 20 years since then so I'm not sure if the forumla has changed. Before use I would test it on scrap polystyrene or an old model if you have one you no longer want.

 

[Airframes]

It's not worth the effort, or the expense of the paint David. Horses for courses - why use an 'industrial' paint, when the correct type of modelling paints are available?
All the hard work and skill in building the model can be ruined by a paint finish which just looks wrong, and is far too thick.
Even if the actual shade can't be found in the many modelling paint ranges, it should be straightforward to mix it. I can never understand why some people buy various tins/bottles of the same basic colour in different shades, unless it's a specific camouflage or livery colour specially formulated, when, by the addition of other basic colours, the shade can be altered to suit requirements.

 

[lacrossedart]

Thanks to everyone for the information and advice, it is truly appreciated and I'm very grateful. I think it would be best to try another avenue as far as painting the Bomarc, perhaps I can find something that even if it is not a perfectly accurate reproduction of the boxtop color will have the saving grace of not leaving me with a lump of molten polystyrene. In the case at hand, I'm not striving so much for perfect accuracy in how the YIM-99 was painted, but more how the artist who painted the boxtop rendered it, in short, this one is to please me in its appearance. Again, thanks much to all!

 

[N4521U]

Did you go to the website in the link??????
It's Black mate.

How faded is this boxtop???? you're basing the color on a box top.....?

 

[lacrossedart]

You're absolutely right, most of the operational Bomarcs in the USAF inventory were in fact black, those in the RCAF inventory were largely white, and NONE of them had red noses. If you will Google IM-99 Bomarc images, you will see several examples of the Revell box to which I earlier referred. The prototype YIM-99A as it was built by Boeing was in fact a very dark blue-black and did have a red nose, just like the Revell boxtop. It may be wasting a perfectly good Bomarc, but I want mine to be like the prototype, I did after all strive for great accuracy in my models for four decades and feel that I ought have at least one the way I want it to be. Besides, I'm a bit of a rum old codger and its not getting any better with age.