Strawberry, Since the introduction of acrylic white primer in huge 2 litre spray cans in auto paint shops, white has not been a problem for me. It needs a few mist coats to start off, but the layers dry and build up fairly quickly until they're completely opaque. It's best to work outside if possible. Build up to a final wet coat, leave to dry for an hour or two, then lightly wet sand with 800 grade paper using water with a little liquid soap as a cutter. If you haven't been too heavy, the details should still be plain. This worked really well on the old Monogram 1/48 IF-4J in black plastic, because the raised black details then appeared through the paint like magic. A quick polish after that, and you'll end up with a dense white that's smooth as porcelain. You can also spray into a plastic bag (once you have the direction of the fumes and the propellant sorted out) and put the captured paint into your airbrush for fine detail painting, or patching. One big benefit is that even after 8 years, the white is still white. Not cream or yellow. Chek
Re: Tips for paint white
Sep 28, 2003
8 Replies
Most of the time I have discovered white works best (and takes the fewest coats) with a layer of neutral grey primer. (I use enamels and thus mostly Floquil Railroad Primer, but the results should be similar).
I am not into the chemical or chromographic reasons, but the grey base apparently neutralizes the background material and means that the white shows as white, and not as a translucent color letting the background material show through.
When I was a kit I agree, I used about three coats of house paint (!) on things like the Airfix Sovereign of the Seas...
Cookie Sewell AMPS
I've found Tamiya Acrylic White to give really good coverage in just one coat or two--durn near opaque, and just the thing to undercoat yellow or red.
Mark Schynert
Thanks to all replys.
That may not be the end of it. The eighteen - thin - coats - of - gloss - white guys haven't said anything yet ... Chek
Eighteen?..one or two thin coats is usually enough for me...
You know, I primed a model with this stuff, and said, "Gee that is a really good white. do I need to spray on top of it?". So I did.
I shouldn't have, the white primer look was much better than the how-ever-damn-many-coats-of-Tamiya-gloss-white I used.
I now realize that a coat of gloss, or Future would have done the trick.
In message , Strawberry writes
Yes Halfords white primer followed by Halfords Appliance White Quick, easy, stays white and virtually foolproof
i use a lot of wal-mart paint for my basic colors. (white, black, grey) they can be mixed and matched with any enamels to achieve almost any F S #. i shoot them straight from the spray can into my airbrush bottle via a big, round straw.
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