Painting with acrylics

[RandyE]

but like David had mention, make sure you have the right base coat, the knight base coat is gloss black, btw liquitex has glossy colors now.
My paint is mix with 75 percent medium, light coats are the best.
David your planes are outstanding.

Randy

[lenard]

How many coats do you normally do for the underpainting?

[Xanadu]

Anybody here ever use Minwax polycrylic for a final finish coat?
I understand of foam models covered with silkspan, that they use it regulary to "toughen up" the skin and also give it a satin, semi gloss, or glossy finish.

I bought a can to give my T-bolt its final coating soon.......

[John G. Jedinak]

David.............what kind of brushes do you recommend..........nylon, china bristle...............or??????? Appreciate your input here.

[John G. Jedinak]

David.........we are in total agreement on GOOD QUALITY brushes.....keep them clean and they will a good job for almost ever. Thank you..............JGJ

[lenard]

This site has a free eBook on how to brush paint model airplanes. Its aimed at plastic model makers but is still relevant.

[jim77]

I read your Tutorial about painting with acrylics.
I'm new at this game and now I'm having trouble with the painting on my Morse Scout #201.
I covered the frames with paper by gluing down all the edges with Testor's cement, then sprayed the tissue with water and let it dry until the tissue became smooth and taut. I used one coat of the Tamiya color Khaki, acrylic paint XF-49 all over. The paint on the fuselage, tail and rudder turned out ok, but not as wrinkle free as desired. However the tops and bottoms of both wings,did not dry wrinkle free. Will additional paint coats smooth out the wrinkles or am I stuck with this result. I was hoping to apply only one coat.
It seemed that the acrylic paint was a bit thicker than I thought it should be. Maybe it needed to be thinned out, possibly with alcohol.
2 additional questions:
What do you mean by covered "wet"?
What is silkspan?
regards,
Jim77

[SteveM]

I think maybe you read the first post but neglected the follow up posts. Do read the post titled "How much water". The answers to the rest of your painting questions are likely right here in this thread by David Duckett. My guess is that the thick paint was difficult to brush on and you may have applied excessive force to the tissue, causing it to stretch beyond what could be re-tightened from drying.

Silkspan is a paper product somewhat like tissue except that it has greater wet strength (tissue has practically none). Since wet silkspan conforms to compound corners far better than dry silkspan. Because of this the silkspan is often soaked in water then applied while wet, see the link I gave to see the nuts and bolts of how.

[jace314]

Hey David, sorry to bump an older thread, but I wanted to ask you something...

You mentioned that you like to paint with a brush and not air brush. Have you done mottling by hand brush? Just wondering how you would do that and have the edges blend in soft and not have any harsh lines? Im doing some german planes and will be painting them soon!

thanks!

[davidchoate]

my trial and eror was leading in the right direction i suppose; besides the use of acrylics, I found alot of similarities in what you are doing, and how my technique was evolving. one more thing though. what kind of filler have you found works the best/ i have been using the balsa colored stuff from the hobby store, but am assuming there might be something better. the stuff i got tends to be clumpy, and sometimes doesnt want to stick to the surfaces. maybe from the CA. I'm not sure. thanks Dave.

[davidchoate]

i went and found a product i like. i dint go to sherwi william because its a bit out of my way, but i stopped at home depot, and found a large selection of spackles and putties to experiment from. i picked one that said shrink free and lightweight, and it worked very well. much better ,and cheaper, than the hobby stuff. i put one application so far, and sanded it 12hrs. later. i think this is gonna be my best looking plane yet. thanks David.

[davidchoate]

Edge 540

[David Lewis]

What is the lightest way to prepare bare balsa for painting (for example with colored dope, enamel or acrylics)?

[davidchoate]

if you mean without any tissue over it first; when I was trying out the spackle I noticed that after applying it then sanding with very fine sand paper,and after applying 2 coats of clear dope thinned 30percent that it was so smooth i was contemplating not putting tissue over it to save weight, but was not sure how the paint would react , so Idid'nt do it, But that would be what I would try.

[David Lewis]

Yes, I'm talking about bare balsa without any covering. I'm not concerned about a smooth finish. No problem if the grain shows. Rather I want to make sure the balsa does not drink up the paint and therefore I can use less paint and still get the opacity and saturated color. BTW I plan to use white or light gray undercoat to get the colors to pop.

What I've done in the past is give the balsa a couple of coats of clear dope and then paint with model enamel. That worked reasonably well but there might be a better method. I am considering laminating 2 um thick clear mylar to the balsa surface to seal it, for example. That would add 2.2 g/m^2 not including adhesive. I'm looking to save as much weight as possible.