Mixing Acrylics and Future
By Danger Atom
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This may not be anything new to some of you, but the testing I've been doing the
last couple of weeks has been a real breakthrough for me. First of all, it only
involves acrylic paints. I may try it with enamels in the future. I doubt it
would work, But it is just a test, and I would be interested in seeing how it
comes out. The paints involved were Aeromaster Acrylics, Testors Model Master
Acrylics (first and second formula), Gunze, and Vallejo (not the airbrush
formula). Tamiya paints are up next. I just haven't had time to run them through
their paces yet. The thinner is Future (or whatever it is in your nation).
That's it, just plain 'ol Future. The test beds were Tamiya's 1/72 P-51D and
Corsair for Aeromaster U.S. Interior Green (1049). Academy 1/72 Tempest for
Aeromaster RLM 66 (1022). Academy 1/72 Typhoon for Model Master Acryl (new) RAF
Interior Green (not sure of the number). And Vallejo Black (950) and Off White
(820) for the instrument panels. And Revellogram's Rafale for Gunze's RLM Dark
Gray 74 (H68) and Model Master's first acrylic line (you know, the real crappy
stuff) Panzer Gray (50150) not that you should be able to find this stuff any
more. Only the Rafale and Typhoon were primed, with Tamiya's spray on white
primer. The others were bare plastic, unwashed. The first one up was the
Tempest. My mix was about 40% paint to 60% Future. Nothing more. My air came
from a Simair double piston compressor at 20psi through my trusty 'ol Badger 150
at a pretty low paint flow on all tests. Coverage of the cockpit was pretty
quick, mostly because it was a darker color and I used a higher concentration of
paint to Future mix than on the rest. Drying time was pretty quick, typical of
Future. And it dried to a nice semi-gloss, more on the gloss side. It had a bit
of a brownish tint to it at first, but after shooting Aeromaster flat acrylic
(straight from the bottle) over it, the brown tint went away, and it looked like
a perfect RLM 66. All weathering was done before the flat coat. First, I sprayed
over the cockpit area lightly with straight mineral spirits just to moisten it
and improve the wash flow. The wash was Grumbacher's black oil (from a tube)
mixed with mineral spirits. The flow around the detail was phenomenal. Just
touch the loaded brush to the edge of the detail, and it flowed up the detail
and around corners, staying tight to the detail. Minimal flow into unwanted
areas. After sitting for 24 hours, I went back with a lightly moistened Q-Tip
(with mineral spirits) and cleaned the wash out of unwanted areas. This had no
effect on the Aeromaster / Future mix. The only paint that came off on the Q-Tip
was the oil wash that I wanted to come off. Very happy with things so far. All
drybrushing came before the flat coat, in typical fashion. In hind sight, I'm
thinking I should have done the dry brush after the flat coat. But it still
looked good. None of the Aeromaster / Future mix rubbed off in handling, but the
area behind the bulkhead, that I also sprayed, would chip off very easy with
just scraping it with a fingernail. It also pealed off easy using Tamiya masking
tape. Remember, this was an unprimed model. The P-51 and Corsair received,
basically, the same treatment as the Tempest. Except the Aeromaster/ Future mix
was about 10 to 20% paint to 80 or 90% Future. Being a lighter color and a lower
color mix, it took a considerable amount of more passes with the airbrush to get
a dense enough layer of color down. But it did go down like a dream. The self
leveling of the Future left it totally glossy, and absolutely none of the detail
was obscured of filled in. The black boxes were painted with Vallejo black,
straight from the bottle, as was the rest of the details. Washing and dry
brushing was the same as the Tempest. Then came the flat coat (same as before).
I've never had better looking cockpits than before this. Once again, I had the
same problem with chipping and the paint coming off with tape. But there was no
rub off. Just like on the Tempest. Next was the Typhoon. It went through the
exact treatment as the previous models, except it was primed first. And I used
about 25% paint to 75% Future. It laid down totally gloss. Washed and dry
brushed the same. Great results. After about an hour of drying time, the paint
would still chip and lift with tape. But after sitting over night, the paint was
rock hard and the chipping and tape problem was no longer there. The instrument
panels on all four kits were sprayed with about 80% Future mixed with 15%
Vallejo Black (3 drops) and 5% Vallejo Off White (1 drop). No problems at all.
Washed, dry brush, flat coat. Perfect. The Vallejo paints are highly
concentrated colors. So a very little goes a long way. I think I could have
mixed them lighter with no coverage problems. And they sprayed gloss as well.
The Rafale cockpit was shot with about a 30% Gunze and 70% Future mix. I was not
happy with the way this shot. It was a primed surface. But the Gunze got pretty
thick and was very slow to spray. Even at wide open. I kept the air pressure at
20psi though. It took a while, but I did get good coverage and no splatters. In
all fairness, my needle tip may have been clogged with a bit of pipecleaner
(used to clean the airbrush out), so I will be doing more testing with the
Gunze/ Future mix. Maybe with more Future in the mix. It laid down very glossy
and there was no lift off with Tamiya tape. The final paint was the old Model
Master Acrylic (the really crappy stuff) that I've had sitting around for about
8 years. Much of the carrier had evaporated, so I had to mix it real well in the
bottle before adding it to the Future. It poured from the bottle real thick, but
thoroughly mixed in with the Future. It was about a 75% Future 25% paint mix. It
still sprayed real slow, but I was able to get enough coverage to finish what I
needed. But I was not happy with this part of the test at all. And after I had
cleaned out my airbrush, I took all the bottles I had of the old MM Acrylic line
and threw them away. I was hoping this mix would save these old paints and make
them useful to me. But it was a crappy paint to begin with back in the early
90's. Totally useless. All mixing was done with a mixing shank from a Badger
mixing tool, chucked in a Dremel tool. So everything was well mixed. Cleaning of
the airbrush was with the new Model Master Acryl airbrush cleaning solution or
409 spray cleaner. This worked great cleaning out the Aeromaster, Model Master
Acryl (new), and Vallejo mixtures just by spraying it through the airbrush. Very
little color was left inside after doing so, and the needle was totally clean. I
don't believe I would have had any trouble spraying the next color, without
breaking down the airbrush. The Gunze and old MM Acrylic took some extra elbow
grease to get them cleaned out. The only time I had problems with build up and
clogging on the tip was with Gunze, old MM Acrylic and a little with the
Vallejo. I think a higher Future mix with the Vallejo would have fixed this
problem. There you have it (so far). I would not recommend using this process on
the exterior of a model unless it's primed first. Even then I'd be careful to
use low tack tape to do your masking. But I love it for doing cockpits.
Basically, I started doing this because I am extremely lazy when it comes to
shooting paints. I don't like having to add a gloss coat to my cockpits before I
weather them. (And this process looked much better than laying down the color
first then the coat of Future.) So I'm killing two birds with one stone with
this process. To say I'm happy with it would be an understatement. The results
have been very stable (over a primed surface) and after about three weeks since
my first try at it, there have been no cracking or other adverse effects. Give
it a try if you like. I hope you all find it useful. And if anyone has any
questions, feel free to e-mail me at dangeratom@home.com . I'll be happy to help
out with what I can. -- D.A. A mental condition waiting to happen.
Dec.10, 2000
Ok. A lot of you responded to my paint tests a couple of weeks ago, and I hope
many of you are enjoying the success I have. I think the most questioning I've
had was how will it work with Tamiya acrylic paints. Well, in one
word.........CRAP. I was hoping for a lot more success with Future/ acrylic
mixtures. But in no way can I recommend trying the mixture with either Tamiya or
Gunze acrylic paints. These two brands of paint are so similar that it stands to
reason that the results would be the same. They both sprayed very grainy and
dry. No amount of adjustment of the Future to paint ratio helped at all. Neither
did adjustments to the airbrush or the air pressure. Clean up was a bit tough as
well, as the mixture tends to thicken fairly quickly. To ensure the pigment was
mixed in well enough, I use the shank from a Badger mixing tool (a battery
powered cocktail mixer) chucked up in a Dremel motor tool. That left lots of
bubbles in the mix that wouldn't go away. The pretty thick foam on the surface
didn't help matters any. After clean up, I finished my painting with the Future/
Vallejo mix. Much better. But with this paint, you have to be very careful to
not get too much pigment in the mix. This mix was about 1/4 fl. oz to 10 drops
of Vallejo paint. It would have been better with 5 drops of paint, maybe even
less. It's a very touchy paint to work with to get the mix right. I have also
since shot another batch of Aeromaster Acrylics with this mix, and came up with
the same results as the first couple of times. PERFECT!!! I couldn't be more
happy with shooting Aeromaster and Model Master Acryl in this mix. They've all
been shot over both Tamiya white primer and Floquil gray primer (bottled). Once
the paints have set for 24 hours, there have been no problems with chipping or
rub off or lifting off with Tamiya tape. A big plus for the Model Master Acryl.
Most of us know the trouble they generally have with lift off. Since my previous
post, I now have no reservations about shooting the Aeromaster or Model Master
mixes on the exterior of a model, as long as it's over a primed surface. I don't
believe I'll be doing any more testing with the Vallejo paint mix. The success
with the other two paints would seem to make it a waste of time really. So I'll
save my Vallejo paints for detail brush work instead. Tamiya and Gunze are
definite no goes. How I'm shooting these mixes are very much like shooting
regular gloss paints. Except I don't have to waste a lot of time waiting for
things to dry. I use a low flow rate at 20psi. I also always use a fine tip/
needle set up. I mist the mix on, keeping an eye on the reflection, under good
light. Just like shooting on straight Future. Just keep misting it on until you
have good enough color density. There's no need to wait between mist coats. It
goes on pretty dry (at least it looks like it sprays on dry when looking at the
reflection). When you think you have enough density, open up the flow rate a
little so that you get a nice wet coat down on the final pass. Be careful
though, because it will still run if you shoot too much. Then just set the parts
aside and let it dry. If you do it right, it will still look very wet the next
day. But it will be completely dry. The parts a usually safe to handle within an
hour. But wait two just to be sure. The drying times are the same as if you were
shooting straight Future. Use a light colored primer for your base. White and
light grays are great. Easy to cover. The mix is really nothing more than color
tinted Future. If you were to just shoot one heavy coat, it would look
transparent. That's why building up the color is necessary. If you were to shoot
it over a dark primer, like Krylon's dark gray primer, it would really shift the
colors to a much darker shade. I guess I've said all I can on my testing. So
this ends the lesson. My best advise I can give you on using this technique is
to take what I've started with and do some testing of your own. Any questions
you might have, feel free to ask at dangeratom@home.com . One final thing, for
those who are dreading when their precious stocks of Aeromaster run out, this
process has led me to use a lot less paint. So I'm expecting to spread my
bottles twice as far as they would have before. And (I haven't tried yet) I
believe it will help out a lot when doing mottling effects on German a/c. The
mix is so diluted that you don't have large gobs of color coming out when you
touch the trigger. Just a build up of color as you need it.
-- D.A. A mental condition waiting to happen.
Text ©
by Danger
Atom