Enamel/acrylic spraying

Bones, Snowy has you pointed in exactly the right direction. I like Tamiya acrylics, but acrylics in general do not dry as hard as enamels and won't take as much sanding. I usually just use coffee filters for ultra-fine sanding on acrylics.

Snowy is also right in that using Tamiya thinner with their paint is the best route to go. I normally use 91% isopropyl alcohol to thin Tamiya and Model Master acrylics, but I add a couple of drops of acrylic retarder to slow down the drying time. Alcohol will also cause Tamiya paint to dry flat. Their thinner already has some retarder in it and does not cause the finish to be flat.

"Tip Dry" is a common problem with acrylics because they dry so fast. I've just gotten in the habit of wiping my tip off every time I sit the airbrush down. They work great once you get used to their characteristics, but they do take some getting used to.

Bones, Tamiya is my favourite paint, for general spraying I usually thin it 50/50 with Tamiya brand thinner. Everyone will tell you to thin with all kinds of weird recipes and stuff from Windshield fluid to Windex,rubbing alcohol, etc. but just bite the bullet and get some Tamiya X20a thinner (it has flow aids etc. already in it, but hey, what would Tamiya know!) and you will stop half your problems before they happen. If you only use the Tamiya thinner for thinning your paint, even a small bottle lasts a long time. Use Windex/Rubbing alcohol to clean out your airbrush. About 15 PSI is a good pressure to spray with a 50/50 mix. For fine detail work, mottling, nicely feathered edges, etc. you can even thin it at 1 part paint to 3 parts thinner and drop the pressure to around 10 PSI and slowly build up your coverage. Every couple of minutes just give the needle tip a quick wipe with a small paint brush moistened with Windex or Alcohol to clean up any tip dry starting to build up, which you will notice starts much sooner shooting acrylics than with the enamels you are used to using.

Cheers....Snowy

Thanks for the advice, guys. I went ahead and shot the Tamiya paint tonight and I have to say I have alot to learn about shooting acrylics. The definatly don't seem to be as forgiving as enamels when it comes to spraying.

Let me ask a few questions based on this experience. First of all, compared to enamels, should acrylics be mixed with more or less thinner? Also, what about pressure? I usually spray my enamels around 15 psi. The acrylics I couldn't tell as I was having a hard time getting the paint to thinner ratio right.

Next question concerning fading. The bottom color is a light tan and the top color is a dark tan. I had a scrap peice that was sprayed the same way and I took a small sheet of 2000 grit sandpaper and slightly wet-sanded the darker tan. Doing so begain to show the lighter color underneith. I thought it created a very interesting effect. I will admit however that it seemed to look ,more like slight chipping than fading. Anyway, has anyone tried this? Is this another good way to possibly produce a fading effect?

Thanks for the help on this guys.

I spray acrylic over enamel all the time. I use a lot of enamel primer and frequently will use enamel for base coats and then detail acrylic on top of them. I normally let the enamel cure for about 24 hours and have never had any problems at all. If you were spraying enamel over acrylic I'd say let it dry longer, but acrylic over enamel should not be any problem.

Smell the enamel before spraying the acrylic. If you can still smell it then it probably isn't fully cured. Not a scientific method, but it works pretty well.

Bones I have never had a problem with applying acrylics over enamels, but as Snowy has said I would leave the enamel to cure for at least a week.

If you are unsure do at test on a piece scrap material, spray the enamel on then when it dries apply the acrylic and see what happens.

Bones, I would probably leave it about a week and busy myself doing a few other things just to be sure. Some enamels can take a while to properly cure. 48hrs should be OK, but I would rather tell you to work on some other part of the kit or do some research for your next build or something for about a week just to be safe. Whatever, I hope it goes well for you.

Cheers...Snowy