Acrylic Paints – Yuk!!

[Paul GodfreyParticipant @paulgodfrey14946]

Hi Folks,

 

I’ve been at the painting stage of my first boat, Dutch Courage, for the last few weeks. I decided some time ago to use acrylics, mainly because the acrylic-based car spay paints from Halfords have had very good comments made about them.

I started off by spraying the decks & inner bulwarks with white primer. Once thoroughly dry, these areas were masked off, and the complete outer hull was sprayed in red oxide, followed by the hull above the waterline in satin black.

As for the review in Model Boats, it took several coats of yellow to get a good finish on the inner bulwarks & supports, and an equal number of coats of green to cover the decks. The yellow & green were both Revell acrylics, and the spray paints were the aforementioned Halfords.

A LOT of time spent so far, but looking good. The lettering was then applied to the hull, and I then sprayed the entire hull / bulwarks / decks with Humbrol Acrylic Satin Varnish for added protection, but to my horror, it caused the following problems:

Some areas of the yellow & green paint crazed; the red oxide was unaffected, but the satin black ran in places, over the lettering, and onto the red oxide!!

Where did I go wrong? They are all acrylic-based, so is it because they are different brands? For my Sir Lancelot, I will keep to what I trust & know – enamels!!

[Paul GodfreyParticipant @paulgodfrey14946]

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

from my limited knowledge of acrylics, some are water based, others are not but are synthetic based,[ forgive me if wrong], and it may have been a mix of these that has caused your problem.

neil.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 23/03/2009 21:45:39

[Paul GodfreyParticipant @paulgodfrey14946]

Sounds plausible, as thinking about it the Revell paints only needed water to clean the brushes, whereas overspray (on my hands) from the Halfords sprays didn’t budge when using water.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I think Neil is almost certainly right, there are acrylics and acrylics! The golden rule is to only use paints from the same manufacturer’s range to ensure compatibility. You are not alone, lots of people have been caught out like this.

 

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

like me.

 

Acrylics, rubbish. Give me good old cellulose anytime.Ashley

 

 

Actually, i prefer oil based paints for models, i find cellulose can be a bit hard sometimes and not “give” with expansion/contraction of wood and crack. 

 

Ashley,     again

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

As Colin says, there are acrylics and acrylics. Here in Australia we have a range of acrylic paints in spray cans, originally aimed at the automotive market, under the brand Septone. I have used these on numerous occasions with great success. The only problem is a very small range of colours available, but I use their black and white, and they also do a marvellous primer/ filler which fills wood grain beautifully.

 

Peter.

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

I experienced the ame problem with Humbrol spray paints when building a plastic Titanic a few years ago.

I didnt mix the types of paint as I only used Humbrol and the finish crazed or went lumpy, the model was ruined and I have never used Humbrol products since.

Peter is right by using car spray cans, plenty of paint, plenty of pressure and a good even finish.

 

Paul

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

I have experienced few   problems  when using  “acrylic” paints   but then I have only  had experience of  the  Tamiya range,   which are a superb quality product  giving excellent results  but  because of the nature of Acrylic paints they dry very rapidly and  seem to be  better suited to  air brushing  than brush painting . The days of waiting for one coat to dry before applying another are gone , although old habits die hard and I still like to wait a few hours before adding a final  coat .  The only draw back that I’ve encountered is one of choice. The Tamiya range is limited whilst  Humbrol enamels  still retain a much wider selection.  As a warship enthusiast ,  colours and shades  are important ,  for this WEM { White Ensign Models }  are the first port of call, as they customize their blending .  The bottom line is not   so much in the  quality of the  paint, that helps  but good  preparation and it’s not the number of coats of paint that make the difference it’s often the reverse the  fewer the better.>>

Dave Wooley >>

> >

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

cheers for that Dave.

I loath painting, it is a black art to me, but tips like that make it a little easier.

neil.

[Paul GodfreyParticipant @paulgodfrey14946]

I too have found that brush painting with acrylics can cause a ‘lumpy’ finish – strangely the yellow used for the bulwarks produced a smooth finish (this is a matt paint), but the red for example, which is satin, has given an awful result.

I think that, from all the articles I’ve read regarding the various paint types (sometimes conflicting with others!!), the message is very clear – test it on some scrap first!!!

[Paul FreshneyParticipant @paulfreshney24971]

One of the other problems that can now occur  is that with manufacturers sometimes changing ownership and moving production around the globe, the formulation of a particular brand or type of paint may change thus altering its characteristics without our readily knowing.

I have used for many years, Simoniz Cellulose primer on GRP hulls, Halfords Plastic Primer (grey, red or white) on the superstructure (usually of styrene) and Humbrol enamels (satin where possible) for all the final  colour coats. The Simoniz cellulose primer is hard to obtain now, acrylics being far more common and recently Humbrol have done something to their paints which has meant that standard white spirit in some of the paints (not all) inhibited the drying process. The expensive dedicated Humbrol thinners seems to be okay and I found that a car paint supplier could supply a synthetic universal thinners that does the same job as Humbrol, but much cheaper.

But as a rule now, I do a test run before painting my pride and joy, because the aggro with having a paint finish go wrong on the final stages can be heartbreaking. Brian King (MB, Hints and Tips) uses acrylics exclusively, but I have always preferred Humbrol, if only because of the range. Railway modellers have a range of paint suppliers to choose from, and appropriate enamel colours can usually also be found in their ranges.

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

I think any lumpiness occurring when brushing acrylic paints may be caused by the quick drying time of that type of paint. If an attempt is made to go over a freshly painted surface, it may cause the first coat to partially lift, due to the fact that it has not had time to dry properly.

 

I try to avoid brushing as far as possible, as I believe spraying gives a better result. Others may have different ideas.

 

Peter.

[Paul GodfreyParticipant @paulgodfrey14946]

I will always spray where possible – couldn’t avoid brush painting the bulwarks & supports, and the decks, as masking up would have taken forever!

When my boat is finished (couple of weeks I reckon), I’ll post some pics for peoples comments (remember, it is my first ever boat!!) under a new thread.

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

I agree, Paul G ( there are too many Pauls here ), there are times when spraying is not an option. It’s probably best to use enamels in those situations. I look forward to seeing some photos.

 

Peter.

[Paul GodfreyParticipant @paulgodfrey14946]

I have recently painted the control panel and other ‘furniture’ for my boat, the undercoat used was Halfords grey primer, and I decided to risk top coats of Humbrol dark green satin acrylic – the finish was great, with no reaction.

In my first comment in this thread, I said that the Halfords satin black (top half of hull) had run when spraying the Humbrol acrylic satin varnish, but I realise now that this was from the bulwark cappings, which I had painted with Revell acrylic paint.

So, to recap, Humbrol acrylic paints seems fine over Halfords acrylic primers/paints, but not so over Revell acrylic paints (in my experience!)

 

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