Retarder for water-based acrylics -- what good commercial product can I use?

I use Golden Artists Colors acrylic retarder, available at an art supply store. A 4oz bottle cost me $4.60 and has lasted for years. I really like the stuff, so much so that I don't use my oils to paint figures anymore.

Golden, Createx, Liquitex, or FloQuil are all supposed to be good. I use Createx but mainly just because it was the first one I saw at the art store.

I use Liquitex Flow Aid - works great for me.

Thanks for all your inputs, guys. I don't handbrush much with acrylics because of their quick drying time, but hopefully now with any of these retarders it'll be as enjoyable as brushing enamels. Good luck to all your modeling!

Retarders are primarily for airbrushing, however they do seem to work fine for brush painting as well. I don't brush paint much at all because I can't do it very well and primarily only hand brush small detail areas. I had the same problem with acrylics drying far too quickly, and adding retarder did solve the problem.

The recommended ratio is only a couple of drops of retarder in a paint cup of paint, however when I use it for hand brushing the ratio is much higher than that. I Actually use it for thinner. I'll put 5 or 6 drops of paint in a film can cap and then add about 3 drops of retarder. It makes the acrylics take about as long to dry as enamels. Try it on some scrap first, but it works pretty well for me.

Thanks for the advice, Scott. I'll be mainly using the retarder when I'm handbrushing detail areas like cockpits. I may use it too if I find that the paint dries too quickly when airbrushing acrylics, considering air pressure and paint consistency are just right. Thanks again, and good luck with your modeling!

There is a product by a company called Flood known as Floetrol. It is used commercially as a latex acrylic conditioner but all it actually does is prolong drying time for brushing. They also make one for enamels but I forget the name. One can purchase it in quart bottles for the same price as a small bottle of Liquitex which I am also familiar with.

QUOTE: Thanks for the advice, Scott. I'll be mainly using the retarder when I'm handbrushing detail areas like cockpits. I may use it too if I find that the paint dries too quickly when airbrushing acrylics, considering air pressure and paint consistency are just right.

I like using acrylics, I hate the non-existant drying time. The type of thinner dramatically affects the drying time to, so you can play around with that some as well.

QUOTE: Thanks again, and good luck with your modeling!

Any time! Good luck with yours as well.

QUOTE: There is a product by a company called Flood known as Floetrol. It is used commercially as a latex acrylic conditioner but all it actually does is prolong drying time for brushing. They also make one for enamels but I forget the name. One can purchase it in quart bottles for the same price as a small bottle of Liquitex which I am also familiar with.

Sounds interesting ... where is it available? A small bottle of retarder lasts forever using it a couple of drops at a time, but I'm always up for more for less

Yeah, clfesmire, that's something to watch out for. D'ya know where we can get hold of it? I'll try to see if my LHS (Local Hardware Store ) has it... Thanks for the tip!

Floetrol and its' oil based counterpart that I forget the name of, can be had at home improvement stores or your local paint store. It is primarily used for house paints but I have had success with all of the paints that I use, specifically Polly Scale water based paints from Testors. Very little is needed and I imagine my quart bottle will last the rest of my life unless it goes bad with time.

Thanks, it's sure worth trying. I'll give it a shot and see what happens. Who knows, it might even be better than the pricey stuff.

Um, whats retarder?

Gunney,

Retarder slows down the drying time of paint.

Mike

There's also a retarder from Grumbacher (I'm sure I butchered the spelling on that one). It comes in the form of a very liquid gel, in a toothpaste-like tube, and it works like a charm with Polly Scale acryclics. As soon as you add it with a toothpick to the paint, it dissolves completely. Haven't tried it on any other brand, though.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Swanny I use Liquitex Flow Aid - works great for me.

I actually use slow-dry fluid retarder by liquitex. Does anyone know the difference between their flow-aid and their slow-dry? I just put a drop of it with maybe 4 drops of 70% isopropanyl alcohol and 5 drops of tamiya paint. I bought it the first time I started brushing with tamiya acrylics and I really don't know if it helps that much but I always put it in anyway. One thing I tried was if I put 5 drops of it to 5 drops of tamiya paint, the paint would take half an hour to dry. I actually like the fast dry time of tamiya paint. I can put multiple coats of it on very quickly. I usually make a paint mixture and finish painting the surface within 5-10 minutes depending on how big it is and the finish is pretty good.

Tamiya Thinner has its own in - built retarder.

Gunze Sangyo also sell their own retarder or switch to their "leveling thinner" which already has the retarder in it as it is designed for airbrushing.

QUOTE: Originally posted by d4reaper Does anyone know the difference between their flow-aid and their slow-dry?

Slow-dry is the retarder--it extends the drying time of the paint.

Flow-aid is a thinner, for lack of a better word. It mixes with water in either a 1:10 ratio or 1:20 (flow-aid:water), I think it is mainly a mild surfactant that lowers the surface tension of the water, letting it thin acrylic paints easier.

I use them together with no troubles. A few drops of mixed flow-aid and a drop or so of slo-dri in the airbrush paint cup, then pour a little paint in, mix, and spray. For handbrushing, I have better luck putting Flow-aid and slo-dri directly in the paint jar (yeah, I know, I'm not supposed to), and mix from there. Then, I label the jar as 'hand-brush thinned'. If you use distilled water, I've never had a problem with paint going bad in the jar.

Dan