Quistions, Quostions and Questions...

Hi...Xtracolours seem to be topical at the mo....so
in my stocks I have a number of Xtracolour enamels
but to date have not tried them, preferring to stick to Humbrol enamels.

I would like to try them though as the colour shades look great....
Has anyone any tips please re: thinning or not etc.??
Bearing in mind it'll be airbrushed using the most basic Humbrol thing.
It is a gloss finish I understand.
Is the airbrush easy to clean afterwards?
And does it have a long drying time?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Cheers
Peter
:-)

Pete --- I thin with Lacquer thinner. I use a medium speed lacquer thinner (read the can) A slow one you'll craze, and fast one you'll dry as soon as you leave the nozzle.Cuts down on the long drying time. Just don't saturate the model, build up a few light coats first, then a final gloss coat, and you should be fine. I have never use Humbol thinner, but with regular paint thinner (white spirit I believe yous guys call it,) they take a long .... long time to dry. They dry (when they do dry) to a nice shine, and no need to gloss coat for decals, I have found that even though they maybe dry to the touch, they really haven't completely dried, if you can still smell them, and excess handling may leave finger prints. (seems the body heat melts them) Yep, had a few aircrafts with the old "FBI id" on the wings......
I suggest you practice on some scrap plastic, or old bare model to get the feel of spraying with a lacquer thinner, and have plenty of fresh air coming in, and exhust fan going, and a nice resporator wouldn't hurt either.

HI peter
i love xtracolour
there an ace alternative to in my opinion the now failing in quality humbrol stuff
hannants do an extra fast drying thinner
now xtracolour are gloss by nature so you might need to varnish afterwards in matt etc...
if desired
this fast drying thinner will not craze the paint
either ,i painted an ME 110 in the gloss RLM colours thinned just 50/50 and it set no roughness and dried in less than 2 hours solid!
ready to place decals
i use them very often for aircraft

Hi Peter

Yes, Xtracolor paints are great. I don't use Hannants' own brand thinners - I just add a few drops of Rustin's Driers and the paint's are dry in about 30 mins.

Clean-up is the same as with any enamel - flush out the airbrush well with white spirit or cellulose thinners.

All the best

Rowan

Hey Merlin, is Rustin's Drier, the same as Japan Drier?

Guys, what about orange peel? This is what always scares me in gloss paints. I always have very hard time trying to avoid it, so instead I avoid airbrushing gloss paints. How are Xtracolours in this respect?

Pawel

I have been using Xtracolor for years. They're designed to be thinned with white spirit and they do dry gloss. However if you simply thin with white spirit they will, as stated take an age to dry (over a week). Thinning with cellulose thinner (laquer) will dramatically cut down the drying time, but I have had better results when thinning 50/50 white spirit/cellulose. The best combination, however is to use white spirit and a few drops of Rustin's Driers, as Rowan says. Another reason for using white spirit is that it's cheap, look for the cheapest you can get, no sweat. I get mine from B&Q 99p for 5 litres :-)
Airbrush is easy enough to clean, I use cellulose thinner for that, but white spirit will do.
The new colourcoates range, by White Ensign Models, is the same formula as Xtracolour, but dries semi-gloss. These paints have the same colour matched quality as Xtracolor but dry in 24 hours. The finish is actually smooth enough to apply decals to. They are also thinned with white spirit and the same applies to the use of cellulose thinner and Driers.


Don't honestly know, but more than likely. Rustin's is blue in colour, if that helps.
Mal

Hi Dave

Now that, I don't know...

According to the bottle, it's terebene. They dye it purple (presumably to discourage anyone from drinking it!), but the colour vanishes when you mix it with paint - I did my first test using white, just to make sure...






Hi Pawel,

Touch wood, I've never had a problem with "orange peel" - Xtracolors have always gone on really smooth and ready for decals.

All the best

Rowan

Hi all...
a few weeks ago i bought 2 sets of Xtracolour. I never try any of Xtracolour before....and according to the shop owner, i need Mineral Spirit to thin them. Is this true??

thanks

The only time I have ever gotten orange peel (from any maunufactures paint) is from too much pressure, too much paint, and too close to model.
I'll have to check at the local home depot for Rustin's, or something like it, and check it out. Thanks for that tip.