I have done a lot of spray painting with large scale painting equipment, but I'm new to airbrushing.
I have several old MDC unpainted / undecorated heavyweight "shorty" passenger cars. They appear to be moulded styrene. The color of the upainted plastic is a grayish black.
I need to paint these suckers.
The end result that I want is a Pennsy tuscan color.
Any thoughts on what paint brand(s) to use?
Do I need a "barrier"?
I am thinking that I want a whitish primer, or the color will be raelly off. Comments
I am assuming I need at least two coats of finish color -- comments?
Even though I airbrush most stuff, I still use the Testor's Spray Can White Primer for almost everything. It's really convenient and no cleanup. I use it for all metal and plaster/hydrocal objects and for any plastic on which I'm going to spray with a non-water based paint (typically Floquil). For water-based paint, I prefer PolyScale but many here use and suggest Ceramacoat which is available at almost all chain craft stores. IMHO the PolyScale is a finer pigment that obscures small detail and texture less.
There are as many ways to reach the desired end as there are people grabbing for it.
First thing- wash the cars in hot soapy water and rinse well. Allow to dry in a warm, dry place for 24 hours.
Next- While the cars are drying, get 2 bottles of Polly Scale Tuscan from your LHS and stop by an art supply store, Joann's, Michaels, MJD Designs, Hobby Lobby or SOME kind of a place that sells airbrush medium and pick up (buy) a small bottle of it. K-Mart and Wal-Mart sometimes have it. If you don't have a Wal-Mart next door to your house, just wait a week or two and you will.
Liquitex is my brand of choice, but others work as well. Golden is a good one.
Get a two-ounce bottle with a tight-fitting lid (like the ones Paasche make) and pour the paint from one bottle into it after having thoroughly mixed it in its original container. Then pour the empty paint bottle about 1/2 - 3/4 full of the airbrush medium. Shake it vigorously until the rest of the paint is mixed and add that to the new bottle of paint. Mix well and load the paint-cup of your airbrush with the "new" paint. once you have adjusted the nozzle and air pressure to give the desired paint discharge configuration you are ready to paint the models.
If you have cleaned them well, and if they are dry, the paint will stick just fine. If you try to paint without using the airbrush medium, all bets are off. Oh yeah, the other bottle of paint is for brushwork, touch-up and such.
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