Painting plastic models

Don Wheeler

You've got a tough situation, but you don't have to blast paint all over to use an airbrush.  Have a look at the videos on this page.  Another concern, though, is the noise made by a compressor.  And, even with acrylics, I'd want some ventilation.

Don

Hi Don

Finally got the time to have a look at those airbrush videos. Thanks very much for the link. Quite an eye opener really, to see practically no fumes or mist. Ive never seen or used a modellers airbrush at work before & always had the impression that its effects resembled the one used by my company workers outside the workshop. That one really produced a lot of fumes and mist and stained the grass, parts of trees bark and whatever surrounding furniture. Now that I know that a modeller's air brush is quite clean, I might just consider adopting this method afterall.

You may want to build a small spray "booth" out of a cardboard box and use spray paint to paint your figures. I would suggest talking to your building manager and asking about using the roof to do your spray painting on.

Hi Rich,

Im not too concerned abt my respiration problems. I can always get those face masks here very cheaply  or just use a handkerchief mask. No problem. Im more concerned about the spray mist being trapped in the room & staining the floors, walls & furniture, not to mention my bed. I dont think its practical to lay & fold up large plastic sheets or old newspapers on walls, floor & furniture at the start & end of spraying works each & every time. There is also a concern of mist escaping through my window to the common corridor, which is even worse as theres always human traffic there.

Im not sure how much paint mist or fumes a modeling air brush produces (never handled 1 before), but if its comparable to the one used in my company workshop, (looks like a teapot & held like a teapot), then its definitely no go. Brush painting with enamels maybe the only option left, if thats the case.

Ben

hkshooter

Where do you work? Is there a place there the boss might let you spend some time after or before work to do some spraying?

Im a design engineer for a steelwork sub contractor. The office is on the 2nd floor. The workshop is on the 1st floor, where the fabrication, welding & hole punching the steel plates & steel members are done.

There are 2 compressors there. One an industrial standard & another a portable one. The portable type which we use for our ramset guns is the similar as the one you see people hooking their water jet guns to scrub their floors, or carpenters using it with their staple guns when they fix wood panels together. The industrial standard one is used to spray paint, varnish or wood stain for timber trellisses. The spray device itself looks like a teapot & the trigger is thumb operated. The spraying works are done outdoors & does produce a lot of paint & varnish mist. If Im going to use that 'teapot' to spray, afraid we are no longer talking abt humbrol or tamiya paints anymore - more like ICI Dulux or something haha

Well, if you need protection from the fumes yourself, just go on eBay and search for "respirator".  You will probably see a few dozen inexpensive 3M respirator masks that are designed specifically for paint ing applications.  I got one there a few weeks ago for under $20, including shipping.  Also make sure to wear eye protection and some rubber gloves wouldn't hurt either.

Rich

jbdoggy

I started out brush painting with airfix & humbrol enamels as a kid & dad taught me to put abt 3-4 blotches near to each other & then join them to form an area. Repeat the process to an adjacent zone & then link up the 2 painted areas. This was repeated until the whole surface was completed This ensured a smooth even finish once everything is over. Cleaning up however was a very messy job & those thinner & turpentine odours......oooh!

As a late teenager, there came acrylics. The above method still worked well as I only did 1/20 scale F1 cars & being water soluble meant that it was much tidier & cleaner when time to clean up the brushes

Now I live in a rented room in an apartment block, the air is very still & temperatures can be sweltering even at night especially during mid year. I painted a 1/12 F1 car with acrylics but the above method didnt work as the paint dried too quickly. I work w/o the fan on as i noticed the breeze just adds to the evaporation rate of the paint solvents & acrylic retarders just seems to disperse the paint pigments. So only by using a brush supercharged with paint & spreading it all round olowed with quick brush run throughs could complete the job decently.

Now Im seriously considering to attempt a 1/32 tomcat. I figured an air brush wld guarantee an even finish given that the finished product wld be abt a metre long. But considering the almost 0 ventilation of the room, Im not sure abt the paint fumes & staining of room walls & furniture. I suppose I could fabricate a booth of sorts but im not quite convinced it can contain all of the fumes. Even if I buy a booth with a fan, my window faces out to the common corridor. We cant be blowing out fumes to public access areas can we?

So what would your advice be if you were in my situation? Thanks much

Well this is tricky.   I might suggest oil paints with turpenoid (odorless).   But indoors I would think want to have an organic vapor respirator for any painting or major adhesives (cements).   Please read the safety notes!

Good news is that oil paints take a long time to dry and seem to do well in hot weather.   They are used regularly by large bust and figurine painters.   They're very flexible for mixing, blending, can go on very thin (as you can see by dot filter techniques used over traditional paints).    They are very fine pigments (one reason they work well as washes over acrylic.

That said I haven't seen people used them, except as washes and filters, for most vehicle models.    It's not as easy as an airbrush and you typically use mild chemical solvents to clean up.

Best luck.

Where do you work? Is there a place there the boss might let you spend some time after or before work to do some spraying?

Ah, Tamiya acrylic paint. This paint brand is very hard to use with a paint brush (I tried, and failed) and is intended for air brushes.

Not much you can do to make it dry slower from what I know. The best I have read on how to paint with it is to only paint along the "wet edge", meaning after you make a brush stroke you move on and do not try to paint overtop of it (no thinning required). Another method was to paint in lines with gaps between brush strokes (think of stripes like on the USA flag), let dry for up to 48 hours and then the next layer you paint where you had the gaps last time. I suggest doing some research and find what works for you.

A last ditch effort to use Tamiya acrylic paint would be to get a spray can of a clear Dull Coat (I never tired Gloss for this) and spray it over each layer of pain you apply once the Tamiya paint has dried. This will prevent stripping off the previous layers.

You can also experiment with different craft store acrylic paints, some which can be tinned with "turpenoid natural" paint thinner that claims to be non toxic. You just need a color chart to mix the different colors.

Also note that other acrylic paints for plastic models dry slower such as Model Master, you may be able to order these in depending on your budget.

ZzZGuy

My first bit of advice is to find a new apartment.

My second bit of advice is to get a Paint Mixer (eg, google Badger Paint Mixer ) or a flat toothpick in a dremel tool. I had trouble with acrylic paint for the longest time, spending extended periods stirring it only to find out I never did stir it enough by hand after I started using a paint mixer. -Note, use a toilet paper roll to contain splatter-/Note-

My third bit of advice is to make sure you're using the proper thinner. Eg, you use water for MM acrylic and Tamiya brand name thinner for Tamiya acrylics. We'd be able to help more if we knew what brand paints you were using.

 

With your total lack of ventilation I wouldn't even use glue let alone an air brush.

Paint mixer is an idea. Thanks

Currently I have Tamiya acrylics leftover from painting my Tamiya 1/12 Lotus 78. Where I come from available modelling paints are Airfix, Humbrol & Tamiya enamels & Tamiya acrylics. Ive also used Tamiya acrylic retarder for my gloss black when painting the Lotus. Also used a bit of retarder when I mixed my black with some gold leaf & flat aluminium to get a gun metal shade . Im not too impressed with the retarder performance i must say.

I wish I cld move. But  where I come from, basically every average income person lives in government subsidised apartments. Those who live in landed properties are the super rich millionaires! Neither do I hv friends coming from millionaire or big businessmen family backgrounds. So the garage suggestion doesnt help really.

I was thinking maybe I could buy a small dustbin, line it up with plastic bags or old newspapers. Buy the required colour spray can & spray the large areas eg fuselage & wings in the dustbin. Spray on a weekend afternoon & brush paint the smaller parts during the night after I get back from work.

If worse comes to worse, I could buy the biggest art brush say No.20 brush. (Those made in china pig's hair bristles arent bad) get some thinner from my company workshop & enamel paint it with either Humbrol or Tamiya enamels. I will use acrylics for the smaller parts & the weathering.

What do you think? Or brush painting just wont do for large scale models?

My first bit of advice is to find a new apartment.

My second bit of advice is to get a Paint Mixer (eg, google Badger Paint Mixer ) or a flat toothpick in a dremel tool. I had trouble with acrylic paint for the longest time, spending extended periods stirring it only to find out I never did stir it enough by hand after I started using a paint mixer. -Note, use a toilet paper roll to contain splatter-/Note-

My third bit of advice is to make sure you're using the proper thinner. Eg, you use water for MM acrylic and Tamiya brand name thinner for Tamiya acrylics. We'd be able to help more if we knew what brand paints you were using.

With your total lack of ventilation I wouldn't even use glue let alone an air brush.

You've got a tough situation, but you don't have to blast paint all over to use an airbrush.  Have a look at the videos on this page.  Another concern, though, is the noise made by a compressor.  And, even with acrylics, I'd want some ventilation.

Don

Move.

Seriously. I'd wouldn't live in a place that didn't have a single window to the outdoors.

But that answer don't help much does it. Hmmmm.....
Do you have a friend or relative who would let you borrow their garage?