Its bound to be some of ya'll fruity T-dubs that love to assemble plastic models. In one of my classes my students and I are building plastic models. We are hand painting most parts w/ enamel testors paint. They look fairly nice. The body of course needs to be sprayed on. I picked up a Paasche airbrush a few weeks ago and some general airbrush ready acrylic paint. After painting they look great but scratch SUPER easy, plus the plastic model glue eats away the acrylic paint. Today I tried testor acryl paint and havn't seen how that does yet.

The question is how or what do I use to paint so that the paint doesn't scratch off.

Links would be great too.



[Edited on February 13, 2006 at 11:46 AM. Reason : /]

2/13/2006 11:45:18 AM

the glue is gonna eat the paint, paint after you glue
and i just used aerosol for most of the stuff (airbrush was a pita)

2/13/2006 11:50:30 AM

simple answer: use a primer basecoat like you do in real world applications.

Then use thinned down multiple coats.

for a blue body I'd do:

White basecoat
3 coats of thinned airbrused gloss finish

2/13/2006 11:56:21 AM

yeah, don't glue on the paint.......model cement is meant for bare plastic

i used to have really good success with Testor's Model Master aeresol paint cans, always seemed to come out shiny and bubble free

i used to use the Testor's airbrush acrylic in my airbrush and it worked good as well, maybe the paint you are using is just crap?

Also, lightly sanding what you're going to airbrush with like 600 grit sandpaper before you paint it helps with adhesion a lot

[Edited on February 13, 2006 at 2:20 PM. Reason : ]

2/13/2006 2:19:33 PM

I used to lightly sand the body..that seemed to help the paint stick much better. Use some VERY fine grit sandpaper.

2/13/2006 2:21:38 PM

i guess i should have mentioned sanding, but i figured it was standard prodecure
i even sanded before gluing

2/13/2006 2:25:29 PM

also follow the applying and drying instructions for your paint to the letter. Every kind of paint is different, some dramatically so.

Also clearcoats will help GREATLY in preventing visual scratches and blemishes. and wax and buff the thing just like a car, it will keep that clearcoat nice.\

Use a good plastic primer like Maugan suggested and make SURE you let it cure the full time needed. Most plastic paints need 5-7 days to properly bond. After that you can usually paint really quickly.

[Edited on February 13, 2006 at 3:17 PM. Reason : .]

2/13/2006 3:16:08 PM

what about that spray paint specifically for painting plastic interior pieces...

2/13/2006 4:45:09 PM

i'll try sanding w/ 600, primer, then color coat, then clear and see how that turns out.

What do you use to thin acrylic paints? Water?

2/13/2006 4:47:19 PM

^ you can get special plastic spray paint, no primer needed. depending on what you need it for. i did my nylint that way. works fine for me

2/13/2006 4:47:50 PM

i love the veiled insult while he's asking for help



I need some help painting my model car.... BUT IF YOU HELP ME, YOU'RE A MODEL CAR BUILDING FAG

2/13/2006 5:37:44 PM

it's okay, he's a fag on many other levels.

2/13/2006 5:41:44 PM