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#3186715 - 01/23/11 06:17 PM What base coat color for metallic airbrush painting?  
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 25,138
RSColonel_131st Offline
Lifer
RSColonel_131st  Offline
Lifer

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 25,138
Vienna, 2nd rock left.
Hi all

Did my first experiments today with airbrushing after 10 years - using both a Revell "Cheap" Airbrush with the external mixing of air and color, and a 0.3mm double action HP-101.

I've never worked with the newish Revell Aqua Colors (Acryl-based, water thinable) before, so that also was an unknown.

Seems that all bright colors (Red for my Fokker Dr.1) need to go on white primary color? I only tried a coat of neutral grey and the resulting finished red was too dark by far. Back in my old days we didn't always prime the plastic, often just clean it toroughly, but it seems with these new colors a base paint is necessary.

I tried using the standard white as base paint, but it wouldn't stick for the life of it. I seem to remember white always having been a bit of a problem to spray.

I then tried "iron" metallic paint directly onto red plastic, and while it might eventually have worked after ten more coats, I was wondering what you guys use as base coat for metallic spraying. White might be tiresome, so maybe dark, even black?

One thing I found interesting is that thinning the paint with water and some alcohol seemed to work better than just using water alone.

Sorry for the rather unsorted questions - there's still a ton in my mind I need to figure out.

Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#3186836 - 01/23/11 08:50 PM Re: What base coat color for metallic airbrush painting? [Re: RSColonel_131st]  
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 25,138
RSColonel_131st Offline
Lifer
RSColonel_131st  Offline
Lifer

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 25,138
Vienna, 2nd rock left.
Hey, it's great to see you here at least semi-regularly wink

"Gloss Primer" you mean a clear, uncolored glossy paint? (I lack the correct english word...)

I was thinking that a dark gray or black wouldn't be too wrong, since I used that for dry-brushing the metal ammo boxes with some success.

Thanks for the advise about the polish. Didn't think about that, makes a whole lot of sense.

Any other color (normal aircraft colors both camouflage and gray) best applied on white? I'm really a bit saddened that my "Red Baron" is now a "Red Wine Baron", color wise...

#3186896 - 01/23/11 09:41 PM Re: What base coat color for metallic airbrush painting? [Re: RSColonel_131st]  
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 613
Laniakea_aka_Jeff Offline
Member
Laniakea_aka_Jeff  Offline
Member

Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 613
HI
Like Troll said, a gloss black primer is best if you want a high-shine polished metallic affect. If you want a duller appearance, go with a lighter gray or white color, preferably flat. Unfortunately, every brand of metallizer out there has different requirements for best effect, some being the complete opposite of others.
There's a good summary article on different metallizers found at aircraftresourcecenter.com. Just go to the 'Tools 'n Tips' and look for 'Bare Metal Finishes'. There are several good articles, including one on my favorite line, Alclad, though it's old enough to not have several newer shades like my favorite 'Airframe Aluminum' which I used on my Tojo in the other post.
One universal rule you can treat as gospel is to prep the plastic : get rid of ALL scratches and seam lines you don't want seen, and polish/buff it (NOT with a polishing compound), because ALL metallizers are going to show those blemishes better than if you drew a red circle around them with a sign saying, "Here's one!!"

As for your Red-Brown Baron, prime it with white primer like Mr. Surfacer, not regular white paint. Like Troll says, it sucks for coverage. That will make all the difference in the world for Red, Yellow and Orange colors. The general rule is they suck for coverage and opaqueness and the white helps to maintain the true color. Hope this helps.

Last edited by Laniakea; 01/23/11 09:44 PM.

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