Painting techniques

[cfesmire]

Skunk,
Just pain white vinegar, we're not tossing salad here.

[DavidJohnson]

cfesmire said:

I have come to paint almost exclusively with automotive lacquers in an airbrush. Automotive lacquers and thinner are cheap compared to the little bottles of model paints and it covers with less paint IMO.
Also, I 've come to prime nothing and never had a problem. So far I've learned the most important part of painting, is having a well prepped, clean (wash and dry thoroughly) model to start with.

Chester,
I'm going back to this older thread because I am thinking about doing something you have suggested, and have some questions. Your results with automotive lacqers certainly speak for themselves. I will be painting several 1980's autos for a model railroader friend. The metallic color palette is outside of my 1950's mix-my-own acrylic comfort zone, so I'm thinking of using either automotive lacquer or Testor's Modelmaster enamel depending on color availability. If so, I will be airbrushing.

Do you need to use a primer as a barrier to prevent the automotive lacquers from attacking styrene models?
Also, as automotive lacquers do you mean the small bottles of touch up paint sold at auto parts shops? And last, do you cut them with lacquer thinner?

Thanks,
Dave

[Lee]

When you say metallic, are you talking about the metallic flakes in the paint? The metallic flakes in regular automotive paint may be to large for models.

[cfesmire]

Dave,
To answer your questions, yes, yes, and yes.Styrene plastic doesn't react particularly well to a wet coat of lacquer. I pick up the touch-up bottles and stop in at a friends auto body shop for my automotive lacquer. And finally, anytime I airbrush anything, I try to get the consistency of milk. (swirl the paint around in the paint cup of your airbrush and see how it receeds from the sides) One other product that behaves just like automotive lacquers is fingernail polish. Great model paint if you can find the colors you want and often they have close-out sales at drug stores where you can pick up a bottle for a buck or so.

[DavidJohnson]

Thankyou, just what I needed to know.

Dave