Acrylic model paint alternative?

"> I.e. can you use general "acrylic" paint made for home reno's and the like

Not sure what you mean by Home Reno's. Although I'm assuming you mean something bought at Home Depot to paint a ceiling.

All paints are not the same - in particular you have to worry about thing like fineness of the final layer which is not always the same. Putting ceiling paint on a model would most likely not cover or set properly if thinned too much or obscure detail if used out of the can. Acrylics may be somewhat different than solvent based paints - in these there are pigment "Grains" in a binder and solvent. The Solvent evaporeates and the binder fully sets (some times takes a week) and holds the pigment in place. Pigment size in the hobby paints is much smaller, and thus the final layer thinner

Many years ago a friend build a model of the Mohawk aircraft. He got actually aircraft paint at work (Grumman built the aircraft). It looked lke the aircraft was painted with a mop or a trowel - total disaster.

I can't help but wonder if you're going through so much paint if you don't have too wide a spread on the nozzle of your airbrush and are wasteing a lot into the air. What type of airbrush do you have, and which nozzle are you using.

Val Kraut

Hi Deano,

In the UK many of us use Halfords car spray cans which are easy to use, dry quickly & give very good results.

I just posted some pics on alt.binaries.models.scale of my recently finished Airfix Sptifire F.22 in which I used Halford Nissan metallic silver.

Maybe you will have something similar in your area? I also find their primers very good, though I never used any on this occassion.

Cheers, Stephen

Hmm ok thanks for the info. So automotive paints are probably a better choice than wall/ceiling paint :)

Deano

Thanks for the info and knowledge.

Stephen

I have been hearing and reading about these Halford's paints for some time now. They sound good, but apparently they don't make it across the Atlantic. Am I right that they are basically acqueous acrylics??

Bill Shuey

They're acrylic lacquers, Bill. US equivalents would be Dupli-Color and plasti-kote or similar auto touch-up sprays.

In my experience, even the tiny 10ml bottles last quite some time. I use Tamiya's XF-19 as a primer, and one larger bottle (15 or 18ml) is usually enough for 15 or more planes in 1/48th scale. Same with Gunze's: I don't need more than 8-10 drops of each color for, say, a 1/48th Spitfire.

Check the nozzle on your airbrush - up to 1/48th, anything over .3mm is overkill, unless you have to spray metallized paint, where a .4mm nozzle is necessary to get an even paintflow. You should also experiment with thinning ratios. I use Tamiya's thinner at 1:1 to 2:1 thinner-to-paint, and several very light coats instead of a heavy one...

Al:

I wonder just how equivalent they are. From all that I have read the Halford's pigments are very finely ground, almost on a par with the old Floquil line. I am not that familiar with Dupli-color, it has been a long time since I worked at Joe, The Motorist's Friend.

Bill Shuey

I used some on a die-cast car. It seems to be as finely ground as regular model paints. I haven't tried it on naked styrene yet so I don't know the result of that.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

What kind of airbrush are you using? I use a bottle siphon type so I have to put in a fair amount of paint just to cover the bottle base and the siphon tube. Should I get a gravity fed cup type instead?