Hello all,

I picked up my modeling hobby again after some years, but ran into some problems here with my latest tank.
I painted it with acrylic paint of tamiya, thinned with isopropanol at about 50:50.
I was really happy with the result when I was painting it, but not so happy anymore when I started my wheatering.
To my surprise the white spirit I was using for my wash started chipping away my acrylic paint, something I thought was impossible...
The time between the painting and the wheatering is about 1 week.

What did I do wrong here? Do I need to protect my paint with something? Or do you use some other product then whitespirit? Or did I thin my acrylic too much?

I too am having this problem with revell aqua paint,thinning with water seems to lose its strengh.
Will try and see if tamiya thinners are better.

Hi Kjell,

White spirit is a paint stripper and too strong to use with acrylics. It might be OK with enamel paints but I avoid it as not only will it strip the paint but it will loosen your glue joints and also make the plastic very brittle. Don't know the technical stuff behind this.

MIG thinner for washed would be OK.

Cheers

Al

Straight spirits could indeed damage acryl finishes. And yes, thinning acryls makes them spray better, but does indeed dilute both the original paint vehicle and the incorporated bonding agents. Meaning; the paint coats may be more fragile even when dried a long time.

I do two things which seem to have helped me avoid this sort of problem:

I always completely prime my builds before ever I put any acryls on them, so the paint is not going onto naked styrene, and I use artist's turpenoids for doing those oil washes, followed by gently blow-drying to hasten evaporation.

I also strongly avoid doing any sort of rubbing of any turpenoid-washes on the finish. Between priming and using turpenoids, and drying and avoiding abrasion whenever I can, things have almost always worked pretty much as hoped!

Good Luck!

Bob

Hello Kjell,

Did you prime your model before painting the acrylics?

Cheers,
Joe

Of course, Prime, meaning first, would mean it goes on before the paint. No different than painting a home or a car, primer goes on first.

Washing your parts in a mild detergent will also help paint adhere better, especially using acrylics as of course we all know oil and water doesn't mix, so if you put acrylics over an oily surface, they just aren't going to stick that well.

Also, there is something to be said for using the proper thinner for your paint vs some other concoction. Any brand paint you use is going to thin easier and better with the thinner that the same company formulated to work with their paints over something else (alcohol, water, etc, etc). Yes they are more money, but your paint jobs will thank you for it, and will eliminate most of the problems people have with paint adhering to the plastic.

Scott,




?????

Of course the primer goes on first... never heard of it going
on after the base coat.



Cheers,
Joe