Model paints

[pb643]

Hi,

I wonder if someone would mind bringing me up to date with what has happened in the world of paints over the last 30 years.

My eldest son is just having a dabble with a small airfix kit or two, whilst the kits and glue are familiar, the paints have clearly changed.

He started with a Red Arrows Hawk, in a kit complete with paints. The painting was a bit of a disaster and looked as though it had been sneezed on, rather brushed. I assume this is as a result of it being waterbased. I wasn't there at the time of the first application, but I attempted to get some sort of coverage after a very light sand down and still failed. I did wonder if we should have given it a good wash in warm soapy water, maybe there was some sort of release agent on the model?

Is this a normal problem?

Have enamel paints all disappeared?

Thanks for any advice.
Phil

[Costar1198]

Hi there,
Enamel paints still exist, can get them off Humbrol website/Hobbycraft/anywhere that sells them really. With regards to the acrylic paints that come with the starter sets, they can be a bit finnicky at times, and I've had many problems with the ones that Humbrol supply for airfix, generally the ones with a satin/gloss finish are prone to being too thinned down and thus creating the problem you mention, which the Reds kits use gloss finish I believe (Never done one so wouldn't be able to tell you for sure ). The good thing about the acrylic paints is that they are water based so you just need water to thin it down/clean the brushes, and of course with enamel you would need to thin it with white spirit or whatnot. Washing it in soapy water I find can help, people say to do it but I've seen no noticeable difference on my own models... I would personally go and get a Matt variant of a similar red, and then spray it with gloss varnish once the model is finished, so as to get the similar effect as with a gloss paint. I say this because matt paints are generally thicker, so you would probably need to thin it with a drop of water. Another option of course is to get the enamel version of the same paint.

Hope this helps, and I wish you and your son the best of luck with this kit.

[DerekF]

You should get a decent finish whether it's acrylics or enamels. If necessary thin acrylics with water and use a decent brush, brushing the same way as far as possible. I've hand-brushed plenty of models with acrylic piaints with reasonable success.

[pb643]

Thank you both, for your advice.

[farnboroughrob]

Enemels are very much still about but in decline, your local Hobbycraft will have a good selection. The humbrol acrylics are the worse of the main brands IMHO. Tamiya, and the less good Revell ,are much better acrylics.The ones in those starter kits may have been sat about for several years. I would use a primer first, cheaply available and not necessarily from a model brand. Halfords primer is good, as are their acrylic spay paints if you need a lot of the same colour.
AS for your model there are plenty of cheap ways of stripping it back with the likes of detol. Tons of videos on you tube about this and getting a better finish.

[pb643]

Enemels are very much still about but in decline, your local Hobbycraft will have a good selection. The humbrol acrylics are the worse of the main brands IMHO. Tamiya, and the less good Revell ,are much better acrylics.The ones in those starter kits may have been sat about for several years. I would use a primer first, cheaply available and not necessarily from a model brand. Halfords primer is good, as are their acrylic spay paints if you need a lot of the same colour.
AS for your model there are plenty of cheap ways of stripping it back with the likes of detol. Tons of videos on you tube about this and getting a better finish.

Thanks Rob