Quickie paint job: acrylic vs. enamels

QUOTE: Originally posted by Harshman For speed in drying,acrylic rules....no doubt!

I think anyone experienced with lacquers will take umbrage with that. Acrylics are water based and as everyone knows lacquer thinner dries twice as fast as water. Complete dry time for a lacquer finish is about 2 days, acrylics, about 4 days and enamels upwards of 7 days.

Acrylics dry quickly and are much safer than solvent based paints.

One thing you must be aware of. After making sure your surface is clean, make sure that you give the acrylic the proper amount of cure time if you're masking for to spray additional colors.

Sometimes modelers, in the excitment of a good looking job, will rush to get that 2nd color on. They mask, spray the next color and their jaw hits the floor when they pull the tape off.........and the masked paint comes off with it. (yes, been there done that).

Solvents, IMHO, are a little more forgiving in this area, however, other than Alclad Metalizers (which I'm currently using on some railroad passenger cars), I will not go back to solvent based paints again.

For speed in drying,acrylic rules....no doubt!

I'm doing the Mad T-34 Build, July 15/16. http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=43497

Lacquer might be a good choice, but I'd prefer not to have to get new paint since I already have the necessary green in both the rattle can and a bottle of acrylic. Also, this is probably not the time to be experimenting with new materials :-)

If dry time is the major issue here, forget enamels and acrylics and switch to lacquer. Dry time- almost zero if you thin out enough. (in fact you can thin too much and have the paint dry before it hits the model)

QUOTE: Originally posted by ag918w35 Thanks for the advice. Are these a woven nylon, or more like solid exam gloves? The idea certainly sounds like a good one and I'll give it a try.

Although they look a bit like exam gloves, they are a tightly woven cloth which I believe is nylon. Although I got mine at the LHS, I believe I've seen the same thing advertised in Micro-Mark's catalog.

QUOTE: This will be my first "mad" build, so I'm curious to see how it works out. I figure it'll either be fun or annoyingly frustrating

Actually it'll be both.

By the way, what's the build and when is it?

Andy

I'm beginning to think that airbrushing acrylics is going to be the way to go. I was thinking that the hassle of setting up the air compressor and airbrush followed by cleanup (all at midnight) was too much, but perhaps this will be the best strategy after all. I'll try a "dry run" here shortly and see how it goes. Thanks for all of the advice.

Id think acrylics would also help with the cleanup factor; using water for everything rather than involving thinner.

If speed is your criteria, go with acrylics. They dry much faster than enamels.

Regards, Rick

QUOTE: Originally posted by ABARNE One thing that could be useful would be gloves. I have a pair pair of nylon gloves that I bought from my LHS for holding painted models and not putting fingerprints on them. If you have some tight fitting gloves, they could help with safely handling a painted kit in which the paint is basically dry to the touch while not being fully cured. Good luck on the mad build. Andy

Andy,

Thanks for the advice. Are these a woven nylon, or more like solid exam gloves? The idea certainly sounds like a good one and I'll give it a try.

I'm doing a single-color tank with minimal markings, figuring that it would be easier to get done than something that required multiple colors to get right. The build runs from 8pm one night to midnight the next night, so I'm hoping to do as much assembly on the hull & turret as possible the first night, paint those assemblies, start on the wheels etc. in the morning, and go from there. This will be my first "mad" build, so I'm curious to see how it works out. I figure it'll either be fun or annoyingly frustrating

Although acrylics do dry faster than enamels, when I did Mad Tiger Day, I didn't have any real issues with paint drying time on a three color camo and enamel paints. I was air-brushing which lays down a finer, more rapidly drying coat of paint than a rattle-can, but if you plan your build to allow for a bit of drying when needed, I think that you should be fine. One thing that could be useful would be gloves. I have a pair pair of nylon gloves that I bought from my LHS for holding painted models and not putting fingerprints on them. If you have some tight fitting gloves, they could help with safely handling a painted kit in which the paint is basically dry to the touch while not being fully cured.

Good luck on the mad build.

Andy

i suppose acrylics dry much faster.