Real Beginner Question

Sorry to ask this but i don't remember.......

What's the difference between Acrylic and Enamel paints ? ...and when should you use which ?

Please don't hate me :,(

Zardos

Reply to
Zardos
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Acrylics are water based, enamels are "some-other-solvent" based...I'm drawing a blank on the specific solvent right now...sorry.

Choice for useage is really a matter of personal preference...I favor enamels, though I will use Tamiya clear acrylics for tinting clear parts, or painting light lenses. Not much else.

Reply to
Rufus

Different brands of enamels have different solvents. In the good old days something like turpentine worked on most paints. Today there are airbrush thinners and other solvents marketed by the different brands. Many modelers tend to have an order they would use different paints. You could paint and enamel or acrylics over a laquer, and an acrylic over an enamel. But not the reverse.Has to do with the paint disturbing the later below. Thus an acrylic could be used to put a wash over an enamel. Since water wouldn't disolve the solvent based layers in place.In many cases it takes up to 7 days for the paint binder to fully harden or set.

Val Kraut

Reply to
Val Kraut

That would be turpentine *subtitute* i.e. white spirit, not turpentine which is distilled from tree sap and used (afaik) for artists oil paints. As I have noted elsewhere, white spirit will not work with (for instance) Revell enamels, which require their own thinner. I attempted to thin with white spirit for airbrushing and got an olive drab that would never dry....

Acrylics can be thinned with water and are water-soluble before they have set, but the carrier is a mixture of water, alcohol and other organic solvents. Thinning with the proprietary thinner can give better results, although thinning with water does help it to set less quickly. Certainly you should never dilute in the tin or bottle with water.

Brief hints for the beginner can be found at the excellent ipms stockholm site,

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Reply to
Alan Dicey

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