Airbrushing with fingernail polish

I would say that acetone should be the medium, since that is what removes nail
polish. But I can't say for sure. If you want to go another way, try Tamiya spray TS-51 Telefonica Blue. It is a really nice metallic blue.

HTH,
Mark

Thank you very much, Mark

I would, possibly, try using lacquer thinner. I have used it before in nail polish and it worked well. The consistency should be the same as any other paint you would spray through an airbrush (Like milk). I would also recommend thinning the last couple of coats more than usual so it smoothes out well and requires little to no wet sanding.

Be sure to have an adequate basecoate before using fingernail polish as it tends to etch in to the plastic due to it's rather hot caracter. I tried with Model masters metalizer as a protective basecoat and it worked out just fine. Nailpolish tends to be on the transperant side so it's a good idea to have a metallic finish in the bottom that shines thru.

I've only used nail polish a couple of times but here's what I've found:
- I used laquer thinner to thin and it worked well
- you'll probably have to thin it more than you think. Shoot some test pieces and keep an eye on the nozzle to see if the paint is building up there.
- the paint will go on quite thin and transparent. You'll likely need some sort of base coat of a similar color (or something metallic to make it sparkle a bit.)
- if you don't have a base coat, you'll likely have to put LOTS of coats of the nailpaint on before it becomes a relatively solid finish.
- it will dry quite quickly and probably cure overnight.
- make sure you have some sort of primer on the plastic because the paint/laquer mixture will likely be 'hot' enough to craze the plastic.
- EXPERIMENT before painting up that Mustang.

Good luck

M.

Start with a good primer, I suggest Mr Surfacer 1000 from a spray can or airbrushed from the bottled variety. Alternatively a good undercoat of Testors Metalliser works.

Thin the nail polish with lacquer thinner. My limited experience suggest you need to thin it a lot and use several coats.

It dries quick, you can use a polishing kit within 24hours.

A gloss coat really helps. Despite what you've seen with nail polish you really need a gloss coat if airbrushing it.

Thanks for the info guys. It has answered alot of questions I had about airbrushing nail polish. I have so wanted to spray my '36 Ford I am going to rod out when I get to it and wanted a very very swish color for it. My wife is a nail tech and has this awesome bluish color that changes color with different angles and that was what I intend to use. Now I know how. One thing I know about painting is that you shouldn't cut paint with something made to remove it, so cutting with acetone is out of the question. A non-acetone polish remover won't harm plastic. I stripped some chrome from some parts and no ill-effects. Still you should use a thinner, not a dissolver, to get the paint flowing.

Cheers, simpilot34

I always use lacqher thinner with nail polish and mix it 1:1. Thins it out really well, layers the paint well, and doesn't clog my airbrush.

Yes, nail polish needs to be thinned. It's pretty thick out of the bottle. Lacquer thinner is what I use. Normally a slow rated or low temp thinner. If you have access to Gunze Sangyo's Mr Color thinner it works very well. I usually start with a 1:1 ratio. I mix in 1oz bottles and most nail polishes are 1/2oz or less so I just dump the nail polish in the bottle and refill the np bottle with thinner and add it. That let's you get the last little bit of color out of the bottle too. Depending on conditions you may have to thin a little more. You'll know when you shoot it. If it's drying too quickly and you're getting a rough surface then add some more thinner. If you over reduce your final coats it will help smooth it out too. If you notice that you're getting too much orange peel/texture while you're spraying a lot of times you can get rid of it by immediately going back over the area with a heavier coat. If you stop and take the time to add thinner it may flash over enough to keep the next coat from smoothing it. Just watch out for runs.

Some nail polishes are more opaque than others. You'll get better results if you prime and then shoot a basecoat before the nail polish. Use a lacquer primer and basecoat. With a basecoat you won't need as many coats of nail polish and some nail polish will never look right over primer no matter how many coats you use.

Clear nail polish makes an excellent top or gloss coat. Check it out when you're getting the color. Clear nail polish is usually extremely clear. You may want to thin it a little more than the color coats to eliminate as much texture as possible and again, reduce your final coats even more for the same reason. It dries quickly, makes for a hard top coat and can be polished very smooth. I use clear nail polish as the clear coat on just about any type of lacquer.

Most of the time I get by with one bottle of color. Unless it's those little 1/3oz bottles. You might want to get two just in case. Definitely get a couple bottles of clear if that's what you decide to use. Don't worry about building up multiple coats, lacquer will *shrink* as it dries/cures. And with nail polish you're using a good bit of thinner too and it will evaporate. It's nothing like the build up you get with enamels.

This is what works for me with my equipment and technique. Experiment first and find what works for you.

Forgive me if I talk too much, just trying to cover the bases...

Tony

I realize this is an old thread, but this is a subject I have been looking into for a while(using acrylic lacquer nail polish). I simply can't get the colors I achieve what I want out of a water based acrylics and I can't get a water based acrylic perform (do what I want it to do). Nail Polish(as funny as that sounds) seems to solve all my problems. Although I'm not sure specifically what the thinning ratio is, I think a 1:1 (paint to thinner) is a good start? Or should I use a different ratio for a base coat like a 3:1 ratio?

I'm also torn between what thinner to use? I wouldn't use acetone. That would attack strene badly I.M.O and may present additional painting issues. Poor surface finishes, drying inside or clogging the airbrush etc. I've read a general purpose lacquer thinner works, but would painting improve using an automortive grade acrylic lacquer thinner that has other performance additives, possibly using Tamiya or Mr. Color lacquer thinner be preferable, or am I just wasting money for the additional expense?

I understand also that nail polish thinned at this ratio ends up transparent which is great for me. How transparent I do not know? Depending on the nail polish color and the specific paint plan/skeme, would I need to reapply a second or third coat to obtain opacity if I require it? I also am no sure if you can wet sand between applications (start with a 600-800 grit and go up to 1,000-2,000 or not? I was also wondering if flatteners can be added to nail polish to knock the high gloss sheen down, or is that not reccomended and/or final finish sanding for a last coat is possible before clear coating and can other clear coats be used or should I simply stick with "nail polish lacquers"? And can they be sanded and polished with compounds once cured?

The clear gloss is super clear and shiny from what I can see, although I am not sure how it holds up over time or if it turns yellow? I think I have also seen or found flat (or matte) clear nail polish clear coats, but I'm not sure it is really a clear coat? It is described more as a sealer to protect work between painting applications and continue painting, but it is dead,dead,dead flat. I'm also not sure if there is a semi-gloss clear available or not? I don't think I have found one? I may also just stick with using Tamiya clear coats to get different finishes anyway. It may be simpler to do just that? Anywya, I would be inyteretsed in getting any additional information from you or anyone else if you have anything to add concerning the use of acryli lacquer nail polish to finish models with.

Acrylics like craft paints or artist acrylics or Createx just take a different approach to painting, once understood it's really quite simple to work with. And it comes with the understanding that a coat of primer is not optional. And at that Tamiya acrylic and a couple of others are pretty much like shooting lacquer, especially when thinned with lacquer thinner.

I personally think nail polish is more difficult to work with through an airbrush andactually gain the result you had in mind, especially those effects polishes. And even more especially when there are lacquer products made for the job, like Mr Color or Tamiya LP lacquers that are simply wonderful to spray using Mr Leveling thinner. !

So, what specifically makes using an acrylic lacquer (nail polish or not) more difficult to work with? I figure a lacquer is a lacquer? They are all thinned roughly the same. Just about every subject I've found concerning thinning nail polish for airbrushing hoovers between a 50:50 mix to a 6:4 mix (paint to thinner). The only hobby shop near me within 100 miles can't get Mr. Color nor the lacquer line of Tamiya. Kinda sucks. I mean, maybe I could probably get it (maybe) via mail order, but there are so many restrictions these days just mailing anything they think is combustable and they won't ship it. I'm having a hard enough time just finding lacquer thinner because I can't get it in my state. Its all the reformulated EPA, green garbage. Not sure I would trust it thinning anything.

All you can do is try it. My experience with it is opacity is minimum and metallic flakes in some polishes too course and clog the airbrush, stand up on the surface if you get it to go on. The finer pearls or effects polishes are very very transluscent, you do need a base coat as has been mentioned. There are some gorgeous colors though ! But even black nail polish takes a few coats to cover in my experience. My experience unlike on nails is that airbrushed to plastic it will dry flat. Even a glossy nail polish applied by it's own brush onto a plastic spoon for instance, dries flat.

But go ahead and shoot it with no particular expectation in mind and it may suit your needs. I like LA Colors black for radiators for instance.And I have a green for flathead Fords. Both solid colors though.And LA at Walmart is inexpensive, not so for many brands and effects polishes.But I do stock those two. And a metallic burgundy wine for fishing lures as well.//

Edit: Using Mr Leveling thinner helps preserve at least a sheen.

"Oooh, de Mummy walks!"

In this application-spraying nail lacquers-I don't think the acetone is in such a concentration that it will damage the styrene any more than lacquer thinner does.

I used acetone to apply putties like the old Squadron white (old formula).  I would mix the putty with the acetone on a ceramic palette, and apply it to the seam with a brush, or I would apply the putty and then use a cotton swap soaked in acetone to remove the excess.  In neither application was the plastic damaged.  The solvent is in such a small amount and so volatile that it evaporates very quickly.

But if you'd like to try it and see, of course test it first.  Either on an old kit, or you could use a yard sign from the hardware store.  Many are printed on styrene sheet stock, and they're cheaper by area than Evergreen or Plastruct.

Wouldn't using acetone though present other "airbrushing issues"? That being, prematurly drying? Either on the surface and get all pebally or drying inside the airbrush and clogging it? I think the pearl colors(the ones I can find) the pigments will be small enough that they won't clogg the needle up or the nozzel if I bump it up a size. Those are airbrushed on wome's finger nails. My other option was to use HOK dry pearl pigmenst, but they have discontinued the vast majority of dry pearls that I wanted to use. I could have bought them all years ago, but I chickened out of buying them. I might be able to get the Mr.Color leveling thinner. That will work with nail lacquers? As far as sheens go, I was intending on clear coating the sheens I want be it gloss or satin. It really depends "how flat" the nail lacquers dry?In some cases I won't mind, in other cases no, or it may dry with the right sheen? It may just dry, "to scale" with the right finish, but I imagine not. I'm probably going to color sand between coats to final finishes anyway. I think that starting with a 600-800 grit and finishing at 1,000-2,000 will give good results. Just depends how thin it goes down.