Here’s a little about painting and the things I’ve found that work or don’t work. Myself painting is one of my favorite stages in model building, but I’ve found at times it can be the worst. A lot of care must be taken in your prepping and some general rules that must be followed. Now I’m no expert at painting, but here are some of the things I’ve found to work or not work. Here's a little on some types of paints and below a little how to on painting.

Types of Paint

House Paint

Now these come in water base (Latex) or oil base (Alkyd) paints, interior and exterior. Some modelers have had great results using these paints, I have not. I found them to spray well through an airbrush, but trouble with drying and sanding. I was determined to make it work with no luck. I will not attempt use these again. However here’s someone who has made it work. Nice article by Roy Vaillancourt.

Painting with Latex 1     Painting with Latex 2

Found: Any hardware store.

Cost: Very Cheap.

Color matching.

Brush on or airbrushing.

Foam safe.

No odor and no toxic fumes

Thinned with water (Latex) or mineral spirits (Alkyd).

Good: Very cheap and good paints for static or RC boats. Don’t smell bad.

Bad: Sprays well but hard to work with, to many ifs?

Automotive Paints

These are an oil based paint designed for spraying. These would be the best quality paints to use. You can get them computer matched and even put in spray cans. The paint sprays perfect, dries perfect and sands very well. Very easy to work with. Only down fall is hard to find in small quantities and can cost $50.00 a quart.

Found: Any auto parts store or auto paint supply.

Cost: Very expensive.

Color matching - Spray cans also.

Brush on - airbrushing - spray cans.

Attacks foam

Toxic fumes

Thinned with paint brands own paint thinned.

Good: The highest quality paint you can find.

Bad: Cost and bad fumes.

Hobby enamels         Popular brands:   Scalecoat      Testors   Polly Scale   Floquil

I’ve found over the years that hobby enamels are simply the best option. They will always treat your model right. Reason is they are made for modeling! Computer matching is not available here, but with all the colors they do offer, you can find something real close. I have found it real easy to mix my own colors. Also the fact that it comes in both water or oil base paint is real nice.

Found: Any hobby shop or craft store.

Cost: Relatively cheap in small quantities.

No color matching, easy enough to mix yourself.

Brush on - airbrush - spray cans

Water base is safe for foam.

Water base no odor - Oil base needs ventilation.

Thinned with brand name own paint thinner.

Good: Very nice to work with, will treat your model well.

Bad: Can’t get in large quantities.

Painting

This article is bases of using the typically hobby enamel, but as a rule of thumb, can be used with other paint types. I have tried many different types of paints from house paint to automotive paints, but have gone back to the good old reliable hobby enamel.

General notes:

Painting can be broken down into a few stages, care must be taken in each stage in order for your project to come out well. Always follow the paint manufactures recommendations, and never try and rush a paint job. Plan your paint job, don’t paint yourself into a corner, sort of speak.

Stage 1:

Prepping

Surface prepping by far is the most important stage in painting. Great care must be taken to ensure the surface to be painted is free of dents, pits, scratches and imperfections. The more time you spend making ensure these are taken care of, the less work you will have down the road.

Start with using filler putty where needed. I’ve found the best stuff is called Ready Patch by Zinsser, found a any hardware store, it sands well and will not soak up paint of primer. On a fiberglassed surface, you might want to cover the entire surface to fill any pin holes. Use 150 grit sandpaper to rough in any surfaces, then step it down to 220 grit, then 320 and finally 400 grit. It’s very important to step the grits down. This will help sand away the scratches made be the 150 grit sandpaper.

Stage 2

Priming

I use Rust-Oleum on all my surfaces, it sprays great and works well with any oil based paint. It also comes in a rust color or primer gray for light paints. It can be found at any hardware store. The spray can lays down a very nice thin layer if needed around detail, or can be bought in a can so you may spray through an airbrush. If you’re using a water base acrylic paint, use the manufactures recommended primer.

I start by cleaning the surface with washer fluid making sure its clean and dry. Then you can lay a real thick primer coat down, but not to much as to fill any corners or detailing items. The object is to put enough primer down to fill any imperfections on the surface missed while prepping. You will notice once you have the primer down, how it brings out the imperfections you thought you taken care of. Once the primer is good and dry, you can fill any area’s needed, then sand down starting with 320 grit and finishing with 400 grit. You can take the primer right down to the original surface, this will unsure a good smooth finish.

Now again clean the surface with washer fluid getting in all the corners. Now you can lay down a final light primer coat for the paint to bond to. Once dry lightly sand with 400 grit then 600 grit. Surface should look good and now be read for paint.

Stage 3

Painting

Now the fun part, watching your model come alive in color! The most important part here is follow the manufactures recommendations, use there paint thinner and mixing ratios. Most of these paints can be found at any craft or hobby store. The best paints for model Lakers are Floquil or Scalecoat, Testors also has many good colors as well.

Brushing

The most important thing here is don’t be cheap when buying a brush, you get what you pay for. A cheap brush will leave brush makes every time. Your best bet is to go to a craft store or art supply shop a spend some money on quality brushes. Try the paints out on some scrap pieces, even thin the paint a little if needed. You can get a decent finish even on large surfaces with a good brush, but airbrushing is still a better option on those large surfaces.

Airbrushing    Popular brand names:    Badger       Paasche

I airbrush just about everything, I love the control and the finish you get. It’s a bit tedious cleaning the brush, but well worth it. There are many airbrushes out there, and again you get what you pay for. Badger makes a few good ones that are fairly cheap. Paasches the one I have is better built. They come in several types: External mix - air is blow over a hole were paint is blown out. Internal mix - were paint and air are mixed at the tip. Also Single action ( air on or off ) and dual action ( air on and off - finger tip paint flow control ) The best option is to go with an internal mix single action. You have a good controllable paint flow. A dual action with give you paint flow at you finger tips, great for weathering. Single action you have to manual turn the needle in or out for paint flow.

With an airbrush you will need a air compressor and a water separator. You can buy a cheap air compressor at any hardware store for nothing. Pick one up that has at least a two gallon tank. Also pick up a small water separator to ensure no water gets threw to you airbrush.

Painting

When using any type airbrush, thinning is very important, again follow the manufactures recommendations. Start be testing the paint out on a scrap piece. Depending on the paint, paint thickness, you may need to adjust the air pressure. I’ve found a rang of 15 to 25 pounds works best.

Here’s some guide lines.

Detail, small parts or fine lines: Thinner paint at lower air pressure, less paint flow.

Large area’s: Thicker paint at high air pressure, high paint flow.

All I can say is practice, try different pressures and paint flow.

Here’s some more good types.

Paint spatters: Paint to thick and or to low of air pressure.

Paint runs: Paint to thin and or to high air pressure.

Paint is transparent: Paint to thin.

Paint fisheyes: Water in line and or paint to thin. Oil on surface.

Start by laying a thin coat of paint down, see how she’s looking, adjusting the air pressure or paint flow. Then lay down a thin layer of paint everywhere. Go back where you started and lay down another layer. Be careful not to lay down to much as to make it run, if so you paint maybe to thin. Do not try and cover it in one coat, you may have to let it dry and come back again later. Before painting the second coat lightly sand with 600 grit paper, cleaning with washer fluid.

You may also notice more imperfections in the surface, gloss paints will bring out things flat paints hide. Once dry you can sand down any imperfections with 400 grit then 600 grit sandpaper. Once things look good you can lay down a final light coat of paint to finish it up.

If you fine you still have imperfections on the surface, you can wet sand it lightly with 400 grit then 600 grit. The is special paper called wet/dry for this. This process works well but care must be taken as to not take to much paint off. Sand the area needed fixing, dry it with paper towel to see if it’s taken care of. Then lightly sand everything again. Now you can thin you paint a bit a lay down you final thin layer of paint.

More to follow.....