How to Thicken Acrylic

I've put thin paint in little pallette bowls and let it sit 'til it thickens up a little.

Can't say the results are great, but it's the best I've come up with.

Maybe someone else has a better idea.

My method, fwiw, with yellow propellor tips is to prime the whole blade(s) white (or grey), airbrush the tips yellow, then mask off the yellow and paint the blades black. I do this because yellow is such a fussy color, especially over black. And I forgot to do it on my current project and paid the price in crappy-looking yellow tips.

PS, make sure you get down to the bottom of that testors jar and stir it very well.

At art stores you can find acrylic gel and modeling paste, which is used to thicken paint.  I've never tried it  with hobby paints, so hopefully someone better informed, can expand the answer.  I'm guessing the better one to use would be a clear type, as a white base product could lighten the yellow - mind you, probably don't require much.

regards,

Greg

My method, fwiw, with yellow propellor tips is to prime the whole blade(s) white (or grey), airbrush the tips yellow, then mask off the yellow and paint the blades black. I do this because yellow is such a fussy color, especially over black. 

Liquitex or Windsor Newton acrylic gel medium...Or, throw that crappy MM acrylic paint away and use something better and airbrush the yellow on, like Greg said.

GMorrison

 

 

Greg

My method, fwiw, with yellow propellor tips is to prime the whole blade(s) white (or grey), airbrush the tips yellow, then mask off the yellow and paint the blades black. I do this because yellow is such a fussy color, especially over black. 

 

 

 

Thats how I do that too. Good advice, Greg. Personally, I have no love for acrylic paints for white or yellow.

 

 

Thanks, GM.

I wonder if it might have been you that gave me that idea to begin with? I do agree about the yellow and white acryl, yet I'm stubborn and fight with then anyway. Maybe I should try something else. Thanks for the idea.

jg and Nathan's idea of a thickening medium sounds worthy of a try.

Ehhhh...I don't think I'd try to thicken it. At least, not if I wanted a quality scale look to the paint job.

I've worked almost exclusively with MM Acryls for probably 8-9 years, and it's been a long, steep learning curve, but I've gotten pretty good with them. The advantage of their non-toxic nature is that important to me. So I invested the time and stayed with them.

They are almost impossible to get a good brush coat with, due to their viscosity. I think they are formulated to be airbrushed straight from the bottle. I HAVE brush painted, but with several coats, and the results have been mediocre, with brush strokes showing and some clumping in the finish, seen up close.

If you have an airbrush, they are best shot with that over a primer coat of white. As others have said, I will primer coat the whole prop in white, then hit the ends of the blades with yellow in very light coats, built up, to avoid runs. Then I gloss coat that and mask off the tips so I can spray the rest black.

If brush painting is the only option, it might be better to just ditch that Acryl and buy a bottle of enamel paint. I think the enamels do brush quite a bit better.

Just my .02, anyways.

--Chris

edit--I wanted to add that the primer color is a pretty big factor when spraying the Acryls, and I think probably when brushing as well. I typically spray white primer for most base colors, unless the model will have a dark base color, in which case I can use the gray primer.

The props were molded the same color as Model Master Neutral Gray, which is what I use on aircraft for primer. I normally use enamel, but so far, the only enamel I found that's yellow is the 1/4 ounce jar Testors Gloss Yellow, at least at Hobby Lobby. I still have some Bright Yellow rattle can paint, so I might mask off the tips and use the spray can paint. I also have a Messerschmidt ME 410 and will have to purchase Humbrol German Luftwaffe colors...sonce Hobby Lobby doesn't carry those colors. I will get enamel paint for that...does anybody know how good or bad the Humbrol enamels are with brush painting?

Also, the yellow prop tips in wartime were pretty minimal. 

So, would they actually be Flat Black from hub to tip? Hubs being Flat Aluminum? 

GMorrison

Also, the yellow prop tips in wartime were pretty minimal. 

 

Not for Allied planes

So would Allied prop tips be yellow, or black? I have the B-24D props left to detail paint, then final assembly and decal work then it's finally finished...after about 3 months work.