What Type of Paint Is in a 123 Art Set
Introduction
This article will provide general information about the different types of paint mediums that are usually used by scale modellers.
There are many different types of paint on the market. For modellers, acrylics and enamels are the almost widely used and each i has information technology's advocates. However, there are several other types that can come in useful from time to time and it is a proficient thought to exist aware of all the different types and their characteristics.
Common Ingredients Of Paint
All paints are made up of the following constituents:
Paint
This is what gives the paint it's colour and power to hide what is underneath it (opacity). The paint is all important, peculiarly to modellers. Because of the fine particular and sparse coats demanded by modellers, the pigments in model paints have to exist ground much finer than conventional paints. Permanence or 'calorie-free fastness' is also an important cistron when because pigments – some cheaper paints will comprise pigments that may fade over time, particularly when exposed to bright sunlight.
In metallic paints the pigment is often very finely ground particles of metal. Varnishes are often paints with the absenteeism of any pigment.
Binder / Vehicle
This is the substance that makes the pigment particles stick to each other and makes the pigment stick to the surface. The binder also determines many of the qualities of the pigment such equally how hard or flexible it will be when dry, how fast it will dry and how resistant it will be to abrasion and chemical attack. Information technology is the binder that is the main deviation between the different types of paint. Typical binders are acrylic resin and linseed oil.
Liquid / Solvent / Carrier/ Dispersant
This component can exist called whatever one of the in a higher place names and information technology serves a number of purposes. A paint with merely pigment and folder would probably exist a thick unusable paste. The liquid is used to thin this to a consistency where it can be practical as a thin layer and where it will dry in a reasonable time. The corporeality of liquid determines the consistency of the pigment i.e. how thick or thin it is and cheaper paints volition tend to take more than liquid and be thinner because this is the cheapest ingredient. Typical liquids used are white spirit, turpentine, water, cellulose and alcohol.
Additives
A paint may comprise just the iii components above, simply some manufacturers will include small amounts of additives intended to impact the characterisics of the paint. These additives often explain why paints of different manufacturers carry differently.
Some of the effects of additives are:
- speed up or irksome down drying fourth dimension;
- Go on the paint dispersed i.eastward. cease it settling to the bottom;
- modify the surface texture (make the paint finsih more glossy or matt);
- preservatives;
- modify surface tension and ameliorate menstruum:
Types Of Paint
The types of paint covered in this commodity are:
- Acrylic
- Enamel (modelling)
- Gouache
- Lacquers
- Oil
- Tempera
- Water Color
Acrylic
Acrylic paints accept an acrylic resin binder and employ water and/or alcohol as a liquid. They are piece of cake and safe to employ, permanent, quick drying, low odour and are suitable for castor and airbrush. Currently, they are probably the nigh popular type of paint used in scale modelling.
Since acrylics tin can be thinned and equipment cleaned with booze or h2o they are very user friendly. However, care is needed because they tin can dry very rapidly and when dried are hard to remove – airbrushes should be flushed with thinner every few minutes of use with acrylics. Nearly manufacturers produce thinners for utilise with their ain ranges and to be admittedly safe you should stick with these. Water and alcohol volition human activity as a thinner with most paint ranges, but will not always give such good results and it is non always possible to mix acrylic paints from unlike manufacturers.
Acrylic paints have been available for a very long time, but traditionally were used by artists for painting pictures. Acrylics came as a thick paste in tubes which was either practical with a palette knife, or thinned with water for use by brush. When specific ranges were introduced for modellers in small pots, their low odour and depression toxicity were emphasised rather than any of their other qualities. This gave the impression that they were suited to younger modellers and not equal to the existing enamel paints used past 'serious' modellers.
This is a pity because although acrylics are very different to enamels, they are every bit every bit good which is why they are used so widely today. Nonetheless, information technology has taken a long time to squash the image of acrylics beingness for children. The one application where acrylics do not do well is where unlike colours need to be blended seamlessly, such as is frequently the case with effigy painting. Some figure painters will use acrylics for the habiliment, but stick with oils and emamels to paint the confront.
Saftey Advice: Whatever blazon of paint you are using yous should wear a good respirator when airbrushing.
A wide range of additives are available for acrylics to brand them more or less glossy, transparent (coat) and tedious drying fourth dimension.
Modelling Enamels
Modelling enamels have an oil binder and spirit based liquid (white spirit or turpentine). I use the term 'Modellilng Enamel' on purpose to distinguish them from the normal enamel paints that are glossy paints used to encompass kitchen appliances and frequently hardened in a kiln. Modelling enamals are quite different every bit they are air-drying and can be either a sleeky or matt/flat finish. Modelling enamels are actually thinned down oil paints and can generally exist mixed successfully with oil paints.
Modelling enamels were the start type of pigment to be specifically produced for modellers. They were generally offered for auction in small metal tins and the introduction of colours made to exactly match military shipping and vehicles was revolutionary and welcomed with open arms past modellers worldwide.
Today, enamels are widely bachelor from many manufacturers in a huge range of colours matched but by the ranges of acrylics bachelor. Like acrylics they encompass well and produce a durable end. They are not every bit user friendly equally acrylics because they accept to be thinned with spirits that are inflammable, toxic and smell bad, but this disadvantage should not be over emphasised. Providing the room is well ventilated at that place should not normally be a problem. Enamels have the advantage that they are slower drying and even after they have go touch on dry they tin can be softened over again and removed with spirits which makes them less stressful when used in airbrushes.
I will non express whatsoever opinion as to whether acrylics or enamels are best considering to favour either one would atomic number 82 to me securely offending a large part of the modelling community. Suffice it to say that I use both regularly and would hate to be without either.
Gouache
Gouache (sometimes called Poster paint) is a water based paint similar to h2o colours (see beneath). It differs from water colours in having a coarser paint and an additional inert white paint such as chalk added. It has no applied utilize for modellers and is included here for completeness.
Lacquers (cellulose)
Care is needed with this term as information technology is oft used to describe any sort of glossy protecive blanket, for instance furniture is oft described equally having a lacquered cease. Sometimes a paint may be descibed as a lacquer when in fact it is an acrylic or enamel based gloss varnish.
- Highly toxic and very stiff smelling!
- Fast drying;
- Very combustible;
- Hard, durable, shiny stop (although some flat lacquers are available).
Cellulose paints are widely used in the auto industry and when you consider how hard wearing the paint chore on a car has to be, you lot will realise how durable lacquer paints can be.
Considering lacquers are very fast drying, highly toxic, flammable and very unforgiving they can be a real hurting to use. However, they are pop with some modellers. The shiny hard wearing coat is platonic for auto models – especially radio control which need to survive the real world. Lacquers are also smashing for realistic metallic finishes and 1 of the most popular ranges of metallic lacquers is made by Alclad and since full details of how to utilize them are on their website I will not repeat them here.
Another range of lacquer paints pop with modellers is the 'Mr Color' range from Gunze Sangyo (not to be dislocated with their 'Mr Hobby' paint range). Tamiya produce a range of lacquer spray cans and Testors produce some clear lacquer coats under their Model Master range.
There is a wierd contradiction with lacquer paints and plastic modelling. Cellulose melts plastic, so y'all might think that you lot would not want to go a lacquer paint in direct contact with the plastic surface. However, in that location are some lacquer based spray primers. Because the lacquer spray is so thin, it dries inside seconds before it does whatsoever damage to the plastic surface, but information technology merely has enough time to key into the plastic giving it very good grip.
Lacquers will nearly certainly need to be applied very thin past spray can or airbrush in a very well ventilated area and with a protective mask. Utilize only cellulose thinners and employ them well and often if you value your airbrush. Alcohol, h2o and acrylic thinners will have no outcome on lacquer paints except to make an dreadful mess – you have been warned. If anyone knows of a way to remove dried lacquer paint please let me know.
1 trouble yous might find with using lacquer paints is getting hold of them in the first place. Due to their flammability many mail service order and Internet shops will not ship them airmail so y'all might have to find a local source.
Personally, I would only use lacquer paints every bit a last resort, since I want to relish my hobby and they are just likewise unpleasant to work with. Even so, some modellers swear by them.
Lacquers have quite a history and at that place is a bully commodity nearly them on Wikipedia . In that location is also a groovy article about using Alclad paints at Swannysmodels.com .
Oil Paints
Oil paints come as a thick paste in metal tubes like toothpaste. Some artists may apply the paint thickly with a palette knife, but modellers volition always have to add together considerable amounts of thinner to get the paint to a consistency useful for scale modelling. They can be thinned with linseed oil which makes them sleeky and boring to dry, or turps which makes them more matt/flat and speeds up the drying fourth dimension (although it is near impossible to get a true matt/flatt finish with oil paints).
For modelling purposes, oils are almost exclusively used for castor awarding – I have never heard of anyone airbrushing oils. They are popular with figure painters because they have a very slow drying fourth dimension so can exist blended giving soft edges. They are also frequently used for detail painting, filters and washes. Oils would not be considered suitable for painting a whole model.
Oil paints can seem expensive, but practiced quality oils are very thick and dense so concluding a very, very long fourth dimension. With regard to quality, it should be noted that many of the better known manufacturers of oils (Winsor & Newton, Daler Rowney) brand oil paints in two qualities. The best quality is e'er known equally 'Artists' with the cheaper and inferior going by a variety of names like 'Students' and 'Georgian'. E'er buy artists' quality, the pigments will exist finer, more dense and accept greater permanence.
Tempera
Similar to water colours (encounter below) but the binder is a gluey material such as egg yolk. It has very limited uses, but I accept heard of one modeller using it for weathering and as a wash to show up panel lines. Like Gouache this is besides sometimes referred to as 'Poster' paint.
Water Colours
Water Colours use a water-soluble carbohydrate equally a binder and water as the liquid. They take been traditionally used by artists for hundreds of years. A feature shared with oil paints is that the main manufacturers make them in ii grades with 'Artists' quality be the all-time and the 1 that modellers should stick with.
The most important feature of water colours is that they never become permanent. Fifty-fifty when completely dry they tin be removed and done away with water. This apparent disadvantage is what makes some modellers love them. They are of no use for painting the main body of a model, but can be very useful for weathering, or applying a launder to show upwardly surface details or panel lines. Provided the model has been given a protective coat of varnish, the modeller can experiment with the watercolours in the knowledge that if the finished await is not good, then it can exist washed away and they can start again. Although water colours are non permanent, they can exist sealed in with a coat of varnish when the modeller is satisfied with the consequence. In this respect water colours are very forgiving.
Water colours are sold in two forms. They come as a paste in tubes, like oil paints, but the tubes are oftentimes smaller. They are also bachelor in blocks frequently sold equally sets. The blocks are called pans or half-pans depending on their size. These blocks are basically stale paint, but every bit mentioned above, h2o colours tin can ever be brought into liquid form again with the addition of h2o. The pans are very portable and so are popular with h2o colour artists who pigment in the field. Modellers volition probably notice the tubes more than easy to use.
Mixing Different Paints
The following are general guidelines. It would be impossible to test every brand of paint with every other brand, so information technology is advisable to practice a exam before applying any homemade paint mixture to your model.
As a very general dominion, oil based paints more often than not mix well with each other, h2o-based paints may mix but care is needed. Never try to mix any water based paint with any oil based paint. Oil and water do not mix!
Enamels mix well with each other, even different brands and all can be thinned with white spirit or turps. The same applies to oil paints. About enamels too seem to mix well with oil paints.
All acrylics can be thinned with water although the manufacturer's own thinner may do a amend task. Some acrylics can be thinned with isopropryl alcohol although the only advantage over the proper thinner is that it is cheaper. Acrylics from one brand may mix with those from another, sometimes they volition not and volition grade into lumps. If you really need to mix two brands of acrylics, then do a thorough exam showtime and see how the mixture dries.
Watercolors should exist thinned only with water and not mixed with whatever other type of paint.
From time to time, manufacturers change their paint formula, so even if a mixture worked some time in the past, do not assume that information technology will always exist and then.
Drying and Curing
Simply because a paint has become touch dry does not mean that it has fully cured. Acrylics may announced dry out after only a few minutes but continue to cure and harden for several days. A paint will appear dry as presently as the 'liquid/solvent' in it has dried or evaporated. However, it will not be fully cured and hard until the folder has also dried or set.
It is commonly possible to airbrush thin coats of pigment 1 after some other as presently as the previous glaze has lost its sheen. Much more intendance is needed with brush painting when the coats are thicker and the brush may dislodge the previous paint layer.
It is also important to avoid sealing in a glaze of paint that has not fully dried with another coat of a different type. For example, if putting a coat of acrylic varnish over a layer of enamel paint or vice versa you demand to actually certain that the coat being covered has fully cured.
0
Signing you up!
Like what You Read?
If then, join to receive updates and receive Complimentary He-162 Painting & Weathering Video Guide.
We hate spam simply every bit much equally you lot
Signing yous up!
Like what You Read?
If so, join to receive updates and receive FREE He-162 Painting & Weathering Video Guide.
We hate spam merely as much equally you lot
Signing yous up!
Like what You Read?
If and then, join to receive updates and receive FREE He-162 Painting & Weathering Video Guide.
We hate spam just as much as you
Source: http://www.scalemodelguide.com/painting-weathering/painting-guide/paint-types/