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Preserving details - enamels, acrylics ... any difference in pigment size?

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  • Member since
    February 2012
Posted by Liegghio on Monday, July 8, 2013 11:33 PM

The old Floquil paints seemed to have very fine particles. I used some to paint a couple of 1/2400 scale aircraft carriers and there was no obscuring of details, even on the shutters segmented of the hangar doors. Unfortunately, they discontinued their military colors and are only doing railroad colors.

  • Member since
    April 2012
Posted by Dodger57 on Friday, October 12, 2012 10:20 PM

Thanks for the replies and explanation, Chris and Don!

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Friday, October 12, 2012 9:30 AM

Pigment size DOES vary with brand.  At a model ship show there was a seminar about a new brand of paint (actually, a new vendor who had bought rights to old brand), and he went into much detail about the particle size of their pigments and how they were ground.  Unfortunately, I do not remember the brand name.  Pigment size is only one variable that affects how much the paint covers detail, but it is still an issue.  Application is probably more important, though.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    October 2010
Posted by hypertex on Friday, October 12, 2012 7:06 AM

Don't worry about pigment size; that's not the issue.  The issue is laying down a thin coat of paint. I don't use enamels, but I can do this with MM acrylics. I haven't tried it with any of the gloss Acryls.

When I say 'thin coat', I'm not talking about paint consistency, but about the thickness of the coating. I have better results spraying a few _very_ light coats of paint (some might call these mist coats). If I try to cover in one coat, it is invariably too thick.

Chris

  • Member since
    April 2012
Preserving details - enamels, acrylics ... any difference in pigment size?
Posted by Dodger57 on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 9:30 AM

Hi all,

I shot (airbrush) some MM acrylic on a piece with some fine lettering and wasn't happy with the way it lay on there. I shot it pretty thin but in the end it seem to  come to close to obscuring the script. My question is this - would enamel be a better choice for preserving details like that? Which of the 2 types of paint has the smaller pigments or shrinks better? Or is that a "brand" distinction?

Thanks

Daf

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