Model Master Acryl Thinning for Airbrushing.

You know what, when I use my Testors enamels, the smell takes me back to when I was building kits as a young kid, glopping all that paint all over the place. They say odors are a very strong trigger for memories.

I have used the Model Masters flat clear acrylic finish for the first time today. I got it from Hobby Lobby with a 40% coupon and went ahead and got some acryl airbrush thinner to use with it. I just got through spraying a Lionel O gauge train set with it after I added my weathering and real rust to the models. I am quite pleased with the final results. This stuff works great for that flat finish that I was looking for. I had sprayed my models with a matt finish from a rattle can and did not like the sheen. The Model Masters works great with the airbrush thinner. Even my wife liked the final result of the flat finish. I really makes the models look GREAT! I use real rust that I make out of steel wool and vinegar. I have to leave it for about 3 weeks before all the steel wool is consumed by the vinegar. I then pour the liquid out into a photo (stainless steel) processing pan and let it dry. After the vinegar has evaporated I use a paint scraper to scrape the pan and it comes out as a fine ¨dust¨. I then mix it with alcohol to use as paint, but to get the realistic rust, I use some Elmer´s glue and sprinkle the rust dust and wait for the glue to dry. This technique has worked quite well. On one of the engines, I added the dust to a glue spot and the plastic engine looks like it has really rusted in a couple of spots. I then coat it with the Model Masters clear, flat acrylic finish for the desired result. It looks so realistic with the rust on the engine hood. You cannot tell the plastic from the metal.

OK, it's been a few years since this original post and I don't know if anyone is still interested in this subject. I'm not even sure if Testors, now owned by a major paint company, has changed their acrylic paint formulae, but I have not found ANY of their acrylics to be "pre thinned". In fact they jave totally gummed up the internal works orn 3 A470 Aztek airbrushes making them useless, and the lifetime warranty is useless apparnetly as it ws MY fault due to not thinning the paint!!!

Just purchased ANOTHER A470, and with a MATT olive gree (Testors model mster paint), to get it to the consistency of milk as per their reccommendation, using THEIR thinner, I had to thin it to a ratio of 4 parts thinner to 1 part paint!!! SAME with Matt Light Ghost Grey, Matt Black, Matt White............

 

My experience with model master acryl paints, is that some colors are thinner than others.  I have ran into a few that are a little to thin straight out of the bottle, I just a single drop of thinner if needed.  The now out of production Pollyscale paints where like that.  Acryl paints have a nicer smell over there enamel cousin's.

Future:

1. The reason it helps flow is that it helps keep pigments suspended: I'm sure that's what Tamiya's solvent does (something like Flow Aid mixed in with ISA I'd betcha) - having alcohol in it makes it dry fast which is good or bad depending. Can't pontificate about Acryl, but Polly Scale has very fine pigments (makes for a great paint in my view) - when you wash it off your hands, something like lacquer thinner is nice to have around. If Acryl is at all the same and its solvent is mostly water, then future will slow the pigments settling to the bottom of the air cup and keep it more evening distributed. That's good. Not sure about others, but when I have clogged air brushes it's either because I've let some bit of matter get into the nozzle (stupidity) or because I've been doing a lot of fine work without cleaning the tip - in other words, working for several minutes and giving the paint time to dry in the nozzle. So keeping the pigments suspended and slowing the drying will both help - but also slow drying a bit on the kit.  (Obviously for hand painting, this can be an advantage.) I'd like a chemists view on this, but I'd bet that the reason Vallejo brushes so well is that the pigments are very fine and stay suspended well in it's solvent which I believe is mostly water.

2. Future will gloss a finish only slightly and only if done at high concentration. Not sure why Phil Foley's (Promodeller guru) observation on Klear (UK word for Future) isn't holy writ. If you spray future on your kit straight at the end you end up with a satin finish. Indeed, put in about 1 part of "flat base" to 3 parts Future and you've got a pretty good dull coat - and no risks of real Dullcoate eating your model.  If you want a gloss finish hand paint future - then it will shine. It's very easy to do and if you don't glop it on you won't see a brush stroke because the stuff is self-leveling. This is why folks dip their cockpits into a jar of Future or paint it on: wouldn't look at all the same if you airbrushed it. Foley did a double build on a P-51/P-47 to show a natural finish done with acrylics and Alclad. With the acrylics he painted on a couple coats of Future at the end. I did the same on a Ki-84 and the result is terrific. That said, I'm not really sure how often a true "flat" is a desirable coat for how many models. (Not really sure about a real shinny gloss either.) I think especially for aircraft that a dull satin is better.  

Eric

That is interesting. I have never tried any Future added as a thinner although I don't use Acryl any longer as I think Tamiya is much better paint in every way.

It wont gloss it up very much if you only use a few drops to help the spaying. IF you add a larger fraction, then yes, it begins to gloss up the paint. Either way, people apply a sealing coat on top of the paint and decals that should take care of any shine it would give you. I even add a couple drops to my MM acryl flat just to help the paint flow. I have had little problems with it glossing up the flat coats.

CallSignOWL

I get the best results by adding a few drops of Future into the paint cup and stirring it in before I spray. 

That's odd. Why add Future which is a gloss coat to a flat paint?

I'm not a great fan of Acryl, but this is something I've tried with success with Polly Scale acrylic railroad paints which I believe are made by the same company. Get some "Flow Aid" and "Fluid Retarder" from any art supply store. These are staples in acrylic painting and are used to get a smoother flow and a slower one. Flow aid is made to be cut at least 10:1 with distilled water so I think functions a little like detergent that some people use. (I wouldn't dismiss the advise to try Future either.) Problems with paints often have something to do with the suspension of the pigments in whatever solvent is used. Anything that will keep the pigments from settling will help prevent tip clogging and give a more even flow. Anyway get some of this stuff and try thinning your paint with maybe 85:15 paint/thinner. BTW - this combination when used with Tamiya turns it into a pretty fair paint for hand brushing. I don't know what solvent Tamiya uses but for airbrushing it takes to lacquer thinner like trumps. Some flow aid and retarder slows the very fast drying and allows perfectly respectable hand brushing.

Eric

I have yet to pop open a new color of acryl that doesn't need thinning. I believe that even Testor's statement about being pre-thinned is misleading and confusing for some 1st timers (myself included). In my experience with Acryl (which dates back a few years), they all need to be thinned down. I use their native Thinner (# 50496) or alcohol.

Lol! I have the same 2 bottles sitting on shelf, and everytime I pick one up and think that it would have been easy to pick up the wrong one.

Sigh...

OK, when I do things like this, I wonder how I actually remember to breathe sometimes.

If you've ever seen Testor's Airbrush CLEANER and Testor's Airbrush THINNER, they are in the EXACT same bottles, which, of course I wasn't paying attention to.  I had used all my thinner, and filled it with distilled water for some Vallejo paints, and thought "Oh I'll just grab that other full bottle of thinner from my hobby closet."

This bottle, was the CLEANER, which I was merrily attempting to use as THINNER for my Poly Scale and MM Acryl paints.

So thanks to y'all for answering my questions, next time I should just RFTB before I start dumping stuff in my mixing bottles.

And yes, I really WAS paying attention to the bottle, it just never registered from my eyes to my brain.  

I get the best results by adding a few drops of Future into the paint cup and stirring it in before I spray. 

Try it straight from the bottle and thin as needed.

Some colors are already thin enough and others need a little thinning in my experience. 

I'm no expert, but I use MM Acryl all the time and I just shoot it straight from the bottle. Granted I use an Aztec dbl action gun with an acryl tip, but I haven't had any trouble except for some gloss colors. I never did get the gloss colors to throw quite right, but no trouble with the flat colors right out of the bottle.