I am returning to the model airplane hobby after an abscence of many years and things have changed.
I have read warnings about not 'mixing' acrylic and enamal paint. I would like to paint the fusalage of my P-47N using acylic and the rest using enamel. I can easily see that you don't want to mix them for another color, but I was wondering about the exact meaning of 'mixing'. Acrylics were before my time.
Thanks
I would assume that "mixing"means exactly that...putting the 2 products together.You certaintly cant paint over one with the other and create a good finish.I only use Acrylics,I have never used enamels.I use Acrylics in combination with Oil paints to create the effects that i want. Best of luck with your return to modelling.
You can use acrylics and enamels together - the only problem is curing time. Acrylics dry and cure much faster than enamels, so it's easy to put on say, an acrylic primer coat, and be overcoating it with enamels after 4-6 hours. Enamels take much longer (48-72 hours, depending on conditions) to cure, and can react when overcoated with acrylic. They can also cause cracking to appear in the topcoat as they continue to cure. For speed, it's easier to stick with one or the other to apply the main finish.
If getting into modern techniques such as washing, use the opposite of the topcoat: that is an enamel wash over acrylic, or an acrylic wash over enamel. For this, I find enamel (or oil paints) create a better wash medium than acrylic, so I will apply a gloss clear acrylic varnish over an enamel main scheme.
Just be sure to allow enough 'cure' time. Hope this helps.
thanks!
It can happen, but there's less chance after a coating is fully cured. I should also have qualified my advice by saying that I use an airbrush
- brush painting may have it's own problems.
Chek
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