Airbrushing cheap craft paints - pretty good How To video!

scottrc

I have been airbrushing with the Americana brand of craft paints because of the huge assortment of colors for almost twenty years.  Started with water, then used the washer fluid/Windex with mixed results, then did an experiment with 50/50 saline and amonia mix and mixed it 40/60 with the paint and my Pashe double action really worked well with it.  

But now, like most other things, those paints are getting hard to come by so I've moved back over to experimenting with model paints.

 

I heard that during covid lockdown and mandates etc that craft paints in general were getting wiped. I assume by mothers entertaining kids. Didn't know Americana had not bounced back.

Anyway,my thinner for Americana is one of a couple of blends:, one is/was Testors Aztek with some Liquitex retarder added. The one I've been using more is Liquitex Airbrush Medium mixed with water 60/40 or even 50/50 water to medium. Then the retarder and a touch of flow aid. Works great. Americana does not like rubbing alcohol in my experience. Again, in my experience, washer fluid renders a coarser finish with it than my blend.

I use several brands of acrylics though, several craft paint brands besides that one, artist acrylics and hobby acrylics too. Plus enamels. I'm no stranger to doing what I have to do to get things to work for me.

I have been airbrushing with the Americana brand of craft paints because of the huge assortment of colors for almost twenty years.  Started with water, then used the washer fluid/Windex with mixed results, then did an experiment with 50/50 saline and amonia mix and mixed it 40/60 with the paint and my Pashe double action really worked well with it.  

But now, like most other things, those paints are getting hard to come by so I've moved back over to experimenting with model paints.

That's one of many great things about this hobby.  There's really no right or wrong way to do things, as long as it works for the person doing it.  A lot of the airbrushing techniques I see on YouTube make me cringe a little bit because the paint is going on so thick, but that's just because I do it differently.  Doesn't make it wrong or right.  If it works, it works.  Craft paint isn't something I have needed to try yet, but if the need ever comes up, I can try what I saw in the video, or what I read in the posts on this topic.  Everything is worth experimenting with.  You may have a sudden "Holy s***!" moment when you try something new and then wish you had tried it long ago because it turned out to be such a savings of time, money, or both.  Had that recently when I started using Testors square bottles again.  They're such old tech...but I found they work really well for detail work, because mistakes can be completely removed with enamel thinner if they're used over the top of some of the new lacquer paints (which are completely impervious to enamel thinner).  Also picked up really good cementing techniques from YouTube, and found on web-sites here and there that the old "You MUST use a filler if filling seams with super glue" addage is completely bogus.  All of the info and materials available now have helped me advance my modeling.

Justinryan215

this guy is awe full.  Aweful spray technique, aweful advice.  Aweful everything I have seen frim him...

in all honesty, craft paints are not intended for use with what we do.  There is no bond, the pigment size is really large. It is designed for porous surfaces; ceramics, wood, paper, NOT plastic.

Gee, that sounds an awful lot like me from way back when!  Looking down my nose at CRAFT paint.  It can't be REAL paint.    Gotta use a paint with a model manufacturer's logo on it or it just can't be used on any of my models.  I mean crafters use that and I'm better than them.  

That's all well and good until you need a certain color that isn't in a bottle or will be difficult to repeatably mix.   Sometimes you need to pull your head out and look around. 

You really want to advance your modeling?  Take a chance, experiment, develop a new [to you] technique, use a new material.  Getting advice from others is OK.  But learning by doing, and perhaps failing, may be more beneficial in the long run.   

Hutch, thank you for the comment about my P-51.  The paint is DecoArt Americana Aqua Sky.  It claims to be permanent when dry.  It is tough and took handling to mask the wing tips and pencil in the panel lines well.

Craft paints stick to primers very well in my experience. The poster above said it is not intended to go on plastic, fairly true except that there are multi surface craft paints too. But non the less, shoot it onto primer and you're not shooting onto plastic anyway. So it all becomes a non issue. I've conducted the tests where blue painters tape won't pull craft paint off that has good primer under it. Never mind a softer tack tape like Tamiya.

I use a couple of different home brew thinner formulas, one for paints that accept alcohol and one for paints that don't. The one for paints that don't will also work pretty much universally to even those that do. But alcohol is cheaper. In one it takes isopropyl, in the other the same portion or really a bit more even 50/50 with water, takes Liquitex Airbrush Medium. Everything else is the same, some retarder and a touch of flow aid.

Hutch6390

The results in the video look pretty good to me, and Ed's P-51 looks terriffic.  I'll give them a go, for the sake of spending £5 or so for a set of basic colours.  If they're no good, I can still use the paints on diorama bases or other projects, applied with a hairy stick, so I've lost nothing.  If they DO work, there could be some significant savings - all you have to do is mix the colours you want, assuming they aren't readily available.  I'll try thinning them with distilled water & add some retarder & flow improver.

 

 

 

DanR1967 thanks for the link and info. There are certainly some Youtube scale model channels that I like more than others but I can honestly say if I watch with an open mind I never fail to learn something useful from all of them. This guy's results didn't look bad to me. Personally I admire people like those on the forums here that use "non-modeling" materials like craft paints and achieve great results. Color theory and the ability to mix whatever color one needs is an amazing skill that I don't have and I really admire those that can do that. Almost every manufacturing process, material and chemical that we take for granted and use regularly in scale modeling is something that was originally developed for another completely unrelated industry and adopted later for scale modeling.

The results in the video look pretty good to me, and Ed's P-51 looks terriffic.  I'll give them a go, for the sake of spending £5 or so for a set of basic colours.  If they're no good, I can still use the paints on diorama bases or other projects, applied with a hairy stick, so I've lost nothing.  If they DO work, there could be some significant savings - all you have to do is mix the colours you want, assuming they aren't readily available.  I'll try thinning them with distilled water & add some retarder & flow improver.

Not as far as the guy is concerned,but I stick with the dedicated model paints,no reason for me not to.

DanR1967

I found this guy on YouTube. He's airbrushing craft paints with a 40/60 mix of paint to windshield washer fluid (!!) and getting nice results!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKkq1e1wLE0

He has several other videos where he sprays a wide variety of different paints.

 

how did I know the link would lead me to THAT guy.....

this guy is awful.  Awful spray technique, awful advice.  Awful everything I have seen frim him...

in all honesty, craft paints are not intended for use with what we do.  There is no bond, the pigment size is really large. It is designed for porous surfaces; ceramics, wood, paper, NOT plastic.

if you want to advance your modeling, increase your skill, and improve your finishing, I highly recommend watching Will Pattinson, Doogs Models, Uncle Nightshift, Jon Bius, Paint on Plastic with Lincoln Wright.

but AVOID the advice fromTHAT GUY!

Washer fluid is the old generic treatment of thinnng craft paints fairly universally. It's not always the best nor the worst but rather one of several ways. It will do the job generally speaking. It also can use some retarder in it as can many/most made up solutions, to aid in if not totally stopping tip dry between coats.

Also you will find more of his videos around, to which he does a good job. There is another more recent one where he makes up a different acrylic thinner blend.

I've been shooting craft paints for about 4-1/2 years. I basically stick with two different blends of thinners for them depending if a brand likes or doesn't like alcohol. I've posted on this before.

keavdog

Interesting.  Thanks for posting.  Anyone doing military models with these? 

 

Thanks Dan,

I've used them once on a rail road diaroma.  I colored a block wall made of resin and on wood for another project, but I've not tried it on plastic.

I thinned with distilled water, some acrylic flow improver, and a drop of acrylic hardener.  I've not tried washer fluid.

I have used a tan color for a desert tank and their green for U.S. & Russian tanks.  The metallics spray nicely and I've used them on auto models.  They need to be sealed before you put any masking on or else the paint will lift up easily.  You can't beat the prices especially when Hobby Lobby has them on sale.

TJS

Interesting.  Thanks for posting.  Anyone doing military models with these? 

MR TOM SCHRY

DanR. I agree with you about this youtube site.  Very informative and in-depth.  There are several youtube model builders that have very good tutorials on airbrushing craft acrylic paints.  I've been slowly switching over to them because of the price and the wide range of colors.  I have a buddy who uses them exclusively on his aircraft builds and he gets amazing results.

TJS

 

I've been using them here and there on things like Testors old Weird-Oh's models, but never considered airbrushing them until I saw this video. I'm going to buy some blue windshield washer fluid soon and have at it with some of the colors I have! I also watched this guy's video on airbrushing various brands of acrylic paints. I like his straight-forward approach.

DanR. I agree with you about this youtube site.  Very informative and in-depth.  There are several youtube model builders that have very good tutorials on airbrushing craft acrylic paints.  I've been slowly switching over to them because of the price and the wide range of colors.  I have a buddy who uses them exclusively on his aircraft builds and he gets amazing results.

TJS