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Acrylic question

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  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: Peoples Socialist Democratic Republic of Illinois
Posted by Triarius on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:36 PM

Not all acylics are created equal. (For that matter, neither are enamels.)

The acrylics you tried are intended for use on a porous surface such as paper or cloth, they are not formulated for plastic. Some of these will bond well to some "plastic" or similar surfaces, and some will not. Acrylic model paints will give you much better adhesion.

There is, however, something else: Plastic surfaces painted with acrylics must be much cleaner than those painted with enamels. The reason for this is that the solvents in enamels will often dissolve surface contamination such as skin oils and mold release agents. Acrylics usually use water or alcohols as their solvent (often with other cosolvents and additives). These do not dissolve the more common surface contaminants.

For that reason, plastic surfaces to be painted with acrylics need to be thoroughly clean. Detergent and water, surfactant cleaners (Formula 409, Fantastic, Windex, etc.) or specialized cleaners (Simple Green) all work well. Just be sure to rinse and dry thoroughly! I often follow these with an alcohol wipe.

Wearing latex or nitrile gloves while handling and painting the clean model helps, and it keeps paint off your hands, too.

 

Ross Martinek A little strangeness, now and then, is a good thing… Wink

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: Latvia, EU
Posted by Grahor on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:34 PM

Artistic acrylics are made to stick on canvas, model acrylics are made to stick on metals and plastic. You can't make artistic acrylics to stick on plastic.

Artistic acrylics may (I'm not sure) stick on primer. Coat plastic with modelling primer, then airbrush acrylics. May be it will work this way.

Also, acrylics dry for WEEKS. It's just they start to dry from outside, not from inside; they polymerise. So you can add another layer of paint after couple of minutes, but it will become really hard only after days.

Since you can't make acrylics actually eat into plastic, they will always be rather easy to scratch from it. However, if you cover it with acrylic finish, it will be very lasting.

I myself use Vallejo acrylics. Excellent, except for white color. Can't get a handle on painting white; all other colors lay down excellently.

  • Member since
    November 2005
Acrylic question
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 7:51 PM

I used to always paint with enamels. Heck, thats what there was. Now that I'm trying to get back into puttering with models, theres all these acrylics out there.

I've got some artist acrylics (createx) sitting here and last night I though well lets just see and just put some via both brush and spray on a sprue tree. The stuff barely stuck. I thought, this isnt probably good, I'll let it dry. It dried, you can roll it off with your finger. So I suspect theres some significant differences between that and the Tamiya stuff you can get at the store, but what is it?

 

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