Newbie Questions

[Guest]

Hi There.

This is Rob from UK

I have Been looking over the site and has very good information and friendly people I think I will be commin here often to pickup useful info's.

Well just started Modelling I have dabbled in the past, but never had the I guess patience to look research and try different things and if I did something wrong I would want to give up. As I have gotten older I have found it more fun to research and learn from others and although I made mistakes with my first model. I am not ready to give upon it, far from it!.

So anyway here are my questions.

I have been using Tamiya Acrylics straight out of the tin trying to handbrush. Not going well as you probably know So I ordered a pallette and some Tamiya Acrylic Thinner and somepipettes. The problem I have is, I dont know how much Thinner to use I want a clean even finish without leaving brushstrokes any help would be good

Second question is on airbrushing and pretty much the same really I plan to airbrush a large area of a car. I can guesstamate from what I have read what to use I was thinking 3 parts paint to 1 part thinner maybe im wrong any help would be good or links to read up on. I will look over the site and see whats around to help me.

Just wanted to share here things that ive done that are plain silly and perhaps a little dangerous!

I tried to sand paint back off which did not work fortunatly it was a part that you couldnt see very well.

When I was cleaning my airbrush after failing the first time, somehow I managed to blow up the glass cup that holds the paint, I think it was part running it under the hot tap then putting a cold substance on it!

I thought a transfer was in two parts when it was only one and just tore the thing in three bits, somehow I got it to fit back on and got it pretty neat looking.

Anyway the list goes on but im still enjoying it So yes thinners was the question and smooth finishes get back to me thanks.

[stona]

Welcome.I don't brush paint acrylics but from what I gather the Tamiya ones don't go well this way. As for airbrushing,this very much depends on the paint. You will commonly see people talk about the consistency of milk. Drag some paint up the side of your colour cup to estimate this. I'd start at about 50/50 paint/thinners and then adjust from there.

Steve

[yak face]

hi rob welcome to the forum, steve hit the nail on the head with the thinner issue,all i can add is if youre hand painting acrylics,try the games workshop paints or vallejo ,these brush fine and if youre doing cars then it wont matter about it not being the exact shade like it might on a plane or tank. one last thought have you considered aerosols for the car bodywork,some of the acrylic ones can give a great finish, cheers tony

[Guest]

Only a newbie but I must say I wont be using tamiya paints again, I would go with the Vallejo paints and also have a look at the Citadel/gamesworkshop foundation paints if you want to you can cover a large area in one coat with these

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat1290212&rootCatGameSt yle=

They are expensive as they appeal greatly to the "Teen" market but from my VERY limited knowledge they are a thumbs up from here.

[Guest]

Alright Rob

Yep, Tamiya acrylics is an interesting theme. I did the same by starting out brush painting with the Tamiya range and realised that i was trying to mate an elephant with a hamster. Tamiya acrylics just do not sit on bare or even primed plastic. Ever since that episode, i switched to enamels. Much better. However, today i did a little experiment; about two weeks ago i airbrushed my tank with Tamiya acrylics (Fine) and once that had settled, i hand brushed on the camo (today) using Tamiya acrylics and their thinners 50/50 and the paint went on pretty well. Similarly, i had to paint a dead German for my dio and i used Tamiya acrylics. I did need about 4 layers then did the shading and highlighting - that worked out a treat. But trying to paint flesh with Tamiya - forget it. Because this soldier is a but mucky, the mess of colours brings a bit of life to my dead German. But for the Russian soldiers (not dead) on my dio, i've used Humbrol enamels. Takes longer because of the curing process, but the finish is superb (the paints - not my job ) But the rule of thunb is yeah, some thinners for a more milky consistency and the brush strokes won't show up

I've got a job lot of Vallejo paints arriving this week, so i'll be interested to see how they turn out. Ideally i would like to paint figures using acrylics for the blending process. With enamels i just have to be a little bit more precise with the tones since they're layered and not blended.

When it comes to your airbrush, experiment with different ratios. When i did my Jagdpanzer (mentioned above) i initially used 100/0 and the paint covered well but was thick. I wanted a faded camo pattern so hand painted the camo on. It still looked too prominent so i made a mixture of the base coat (Dark yellow) of about 40/60 and the the result was pretty good. The camo looks faded and the dark yellow overcoat can barely be seen.

Cheers

Paul

[Guest]

ok, this may sound newnie, but how do you compare the thinness with milk? i heard stona say drag the paint up the paint cup, but by putting milk in the paint cup to, would make a bad finished paint.

oh and has anyone tried painting with milk?

or would that just fail completely?

iain

[Guest]

I tried painting with milk once, it didn't stick, dried a bit smelly and came in a very limited colour range lol.

The idea of thinning to the same consistency of milk is just an analogy that milk, being thicker than water but thinner than cream, is something that we all have access to as a comparison. I don't think it is to be taken literally but the idea of giving a dilution ratio as a fixed measure would not work as some paints are manufactured thicker than others. I know, from limited experience, that Citadel paints are thicker than the Humbrol acrylics that I use. Therefore, I would expect to have to thin Citadel more than Humbrol to get the desired consistency of 'Milk'.

I do not use an airbrush yet but I have been reading quite a lot and, to add further complications, I have read where in some cases a thicker paint and greater air pressure is sometimes used to get a desired effect. There are also paints made for airbrushing that are manufactured to the correct consistency so no dilution is required. May be worth looking for them.

For brush painting I still thin Humbrol Acrylics with water as I have found that two or three thin coats over a good primer give a reasonable finish. Straight from the pot covers in one but is thick and covers fine detail as well as holding the brush strokes.

Bottom line is that to get the effect you want, you need to be prepared to do some experimenting on plastic surfaces to get the effect you desire and keep notes as to what you do to get what you want.

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I will still try thinning tamiya paint, if that does not work will try another brand, my first model has turned into my experimenting model now. But im snowed in today and no post So its either Lord of The Rings Online or Assassins Creed 2 for the rest of the day

[Guest]

I will chip in my two cents if i may if you are using Tamiya paints i will use a 50/50 mix whatever i do however when it comes to my figures i will spray the face and hand in basic flesh tone and allow to dry, once this is dry once dry i will wrap masking tape roundthe head and hands then spray in the basic uniform colours, i will use artists oil tube paints to do the skin tones and then touch up the uniforms with a 50/50 mix then add highlight and shadows.

scott

[Guest]

Hi Yuri welcome to the forum, I use to make cars 20 odd yrs ago , What worked for me was using a humbrol gloss or satin spray can for the bodywork and for the rest used tamiya acrylics -quick drying meaning you can get on without waiting hours for things to dry , I`m now making military stuff and still like the xf tamiya range but saying that I`ve started using vallejo paints and must say they are good , the flesh colours and silver , brass , gun metal , steel etc beat the same tamiya colours hands down,

Richy.