Acrylic Paint Question

[mkmskm]

I'm just getting back into the swing of rockets again. I built and flew tons of them as a kid even up through college, took a brief break and then flew them with my own kids when they were young. Now they are in college and I've been digging out old kits and putting them together. I've always painted with enamels (either from the rattle can or I have a couple of airbrushes). I've seen lots of comments on acrylic paint and beautiful finished projects but I have some questions before I jump in. The two rockets I'm working on now are a Mars Snooper and Scissor Wing Transport. I like the low odor idea of acrylic. I have a small paint booth (plywood box with fume hood) but I switched awhile ago from sanding sealers since the wife didn't appreciate the smell to the wood fillers. My hesitation on the acrylic is that I hear that its fragile, and you have to be careful when top coating with another color that the tape used to mask doesn't pull the base coat and then it has to be clear coated when finished. What is the consensus here? What are its advantages and disadvantages over enamel? The rockets I'm currently working on are to be as pretty of shelf queens as I can make them. I have some other recent flyers that I'm not as picky on (Chinese version of the Mercury Redstone is one just completed although I modified it for a D engine since with all that plastic it weighs a ton) that I just used a rattle can of enamel and it looks quite nice.

[ghrocketman]

Hobby/Art store type Acrylic paints SUCK.
The only decent Acrylic is Acrylic LACQUER (Auto paint).
Use Enamel, Dope, or Lacquer and deal with the PLEASANT AROMA (NOT odor).
Tell the wife that you deal with her hair spray and nail polish, she can deal with your paints. SUCK IT UP !!!
Seriously, if you want a good finish, leave the acrylics for canvases.

[chadrog]

Hobby/Art store type Acrylic paints SUCK.
The only decent Acrylic is Acrylic LACQUER (Auto paint).
Use Enamel, Dope, or Lacquer and deal with the PLEASANT AROMA (NOT odor).
Tell the wife that you deal with her hair spray and nail polish, she can deal with your paints. SUCK IT UP !!!
Seriously, if you want a good finish, leave the acrylics for canvases.

Glad to see your feeling better GH!

[jeffyjeep]

In my opinion, acrylic paint is good for ONE thing: painting pictures on canvas or paper.

[gpoehlein]

Actually, I have had very good results airbrushing Tamiya Acrylics. The go on smooth and even and if you need a gloss finish, you can always do a gloss overcoat. There are other brands of airbrush quality acrylics that are supposed to work well too.

Actually, I did brush paint my Alpha using the hobby type acrylics - I then used a sponge brush to put Future on as a gloss coat. It turned out looking pretty good - from the pad you can't tell the difference.

Greg

[ghrocketman]

He stated that he wants them to be good display "shelf queens". NO acrylic is going to give you EVEN CLOSE to that. Best possible finish short of Automotive paint systems would be from Dope and an airbrush if one is patient enough to shoot it with rubbed-out multiple coats. Brodak offers a WIDE range of colors.

[chrism]

I'm just getting back into the swing of rockets again. I built and flew tons of them as a kid even up through college, took a brief break and then flew them with my own kids when they were young. Now they are in college and I've been digging out old kits and putting them together. I've always painted with enamels (either from the rattle can or I have a couple of airbrushes). I've seen lots of comments on acrylic paint and beautiful finished projects but I have some questions before I jump in. The two rockets I'm working on now are a Mars Snooper and Scissor Wing Transport. I like the low odor idea of acrylic. I have a small paint booth (plywood box with fume hood) but I switched awhile ago from sanding sealers since the wife didn't appreciate the smell to the wood fillers. My hesitation on the acrylic is that I hear that its fragile, and you have to be careful when top coating with another color that the tape used to mask doesn't pull the base coat and then it has to be clear coated when finished. What is the consensus here? What are its advantages and disadvantages over enamel? The rockets I'm currently working on are to be as pretty of shelf queens as I can make them. I have some other recent flyers that I'm not as picky on (Chinese version of the Mercury Redstone is one just completed although I modified it for a D engine since with all that plastic it weighs a ton) that I just used a rattle can of enamel and it looks quite nice.

Hobby acrylics work quite well in both hand brushing and airbrushing. Make sure they are completely cured before applying another color and use low-tack tape. Tamiya mentioned is good and so is Testors Model Master acrylics, and Vallejo acrylics. The benefits are low odor and easy clean-up.

[mkmskm]

How well do they go down? I've used lacquers for slot cars and they go down super smooth and dry quickly but the enamels seem to give a better gloss on the rockets plus the color selection is better in the enamels. I've used acrylic clears and Future on slot cars that I race to deal decals or protect a paint job but its a pain to get a decent finish. Maybe I need to adjust my technique or the airbrush but it seems to be a hassle trying to spray water rather than a solvent base.

[MarkB.]

Geez . . . .

Acrylics aren't really better or worse; they're different.

Like any paint, the quality of the acrylic finish is tied directly to the quality of the prime coat. Give the acrylic paint something to stick to and it's very durable.

The primer is everything. I like Duplicolor auto primers. I almost always use a coat or two of the grey high-build primer and sand it down. If the color coat is silver, like on an Arcas, I'll give the grey a light coat of flat black primer and then apply the silver without sanding. I did a Bumper where I primed the whole thing black and then masked the black for the stripes and roll pattern and shot white Model Master Acryl over it. No problems and the white survived high speed impact (under thrust) with a mesquite bush.

On the other hand, if it's basically a big white (or red or yellow) rocket, its hard to beat a spray can of Rustoleum color over the Dupicolor primer. I've NEVER had a problem applying detail painting or a roll pattern with acrylics over a Rustoleum enamel finish.

As a general rule:

Black primer under metallics, silvers and flat white;

White primer under gloss white, translucents and neon or Day-Glo;

Red primer under greens and browns;

Grey primer under everything else.

Good luck .

[chrism]

How well do they go down? I've used lacquers for slot cars and they go down super smooth and dry quickly but the enamels seem to give a better gloss on the rockets plus the color selection is better in the enamels. I've used acrylic clears and Future on slot cars that I race to deal decals or protect a paint job but its a pain to get a decent finish. Maybe I need to adjust my technique or the airbrush but it seems to be a hassle trying to spray water rather than a solvent base.


Thin the paint to the consistency of 2% milk. Some brands such as Vallejo Model Air is ready to spray from the bottle. Flat acrylics airbrush better than gloss colors for some reason. If you want a glossy finish, use Future or some other gloss coat.

[mkmskm]

That looks great, what did you use for a clear coat - just Future? I've been using the Duplicolor high fill auto primers. Basically I have been using a couple of coats of wood filler to get the fins smooth, and then a couple of coats of the primer sanding between each coat and then final sanding with 600 grit before painting. I'm not looking to go the extreme of color sanding (done that with model cars) but just want a nice smooth gloss finish when I'm done. Sometimes I use auto lacquers and then the second color is enamel but the lacquers don't get the gloss that the enamels do.

[jeffyjeep]

I use acrylics and it's taken awhile to get used to the different techniques. I now use Golden airbrush colors and like them a lot. I've also had excellent results with Liquetex colors from the small plastic jars that are thinned with airbrush medium.

The biggest difference is getting used to the matte finish that you'll see until you finally apply a clear coat. That's when everything comes together.

Also, you have to experiment with your airbrush pressure so that the paint doesn't dry in the air and put down a really fragile finish. I lowered my compressor to around 10psi and have had great results with getting a slightly wetter coat getting put down.

One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of airbrush paints are transparent. You'll need some good primer and probably some good ole opaque black and white colors.


Here's a picture of a rocket I painted this summer with acrylics.
Photos don't lie. Those colors are indeed very rich! Solvent-based paints are still my preference, though.
I shot this TX Firefly a few years back with Rustoleum rattle-cans.

[gpoehlein]

I should probably add, for those who haven't used Future yet, that you have to be quick about it. You can brush it on - I use those disposable 1" wide sponge brushes - but just brush it on an area and keep moving. Don't linger too long in one spot - Future was designed to not only give a great shine coating, but to remove the old stuff at the same time. It WILL disolve and smear acrylic paint if you brush too long in one area. This won't, of course, occur with Future over enamel or laquer. It isn't usually a problem as long as you keep it in the back of your mind.