clevermanka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clevermanka) wrote2011-05-31 01:42 pm
clevermanka) wrote2011-05-31 01:42 pm
Entry tags:
Painting plastic
Artist/crafty people: What brand of paints do you recommend for painting on plastic? I've been playing around with different brands and am amazed at how certain acrylic paints do or don't play well with a plastic surface--even one primed with Krylon Fusion.
For example, a super cheap brand called Apple Barrel gives fantastic opaque matte coverage with one coat. But Golden's heavy-body acrylics are surprisingly thin when applied to a 3-D surface, and multiple coats tend to clot and clump. Also, multiple coats are annoying and time-consuming.
I'm not devoted to acrylics. They're just what I have on hand. If you have suggestions for other paint types, shoot them my way, and brand names are highly appreciated.
Any other tips or tricks?
For example, a super cheap brand called Apple Barrel gives fantastic opaque matte coverage with one coat. But Golden's heavy-body acrylics are surprisingly thin when applied to a 3-D surface, and multiple coats tend to clot and clump. Also, multiple coats are annoying and time-consuming.
I'm not devoted to acrylics. They're just what I have on hand. If you have suggestions for other paint types, shoot them my way, and brand names are highly appreciated.
Any other tips or tricks?
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hm.. well, with painting model cars, we used enamels.
George's Hobby House would be my suggestion for info.
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And this lil article (http://www.scaleautomag.com/en/sitecore/content/Home/How%20to%20and%20Models/How%20To/2008/12/Great%20paint%20from%20spray%20cans%20Part%20I.aspx) has some good technical tips for spray primer and paint.
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When you primed with Krylon Fusion paint, was it a gloss? If so, that isn't likely to give any "tooth" for the acrylic paint to hold on to. I have had excellent results with auto body primer, providing a painting surface to work on. My favorite brand is Duplicolor, which comes in black, white or gray, and can be usually found at O'Reilly's Auto Parts stores. Even using auto body primer, there becomes the issue of the adhesion of the primer to the surface. If it has been sanded lightly with fine sandpaper, that provides something for the primer to adhere.
In regards to paint itself, many people use the craft store acrylics, but for my miniatures I use various hobby paints made for painting such miniatures (Games Workshop, Reaper, Vallejo), which might be considered expensive because of the small amount of paint in each bottle. Not usually preferable when painting a larger surface. These usually have a higher pigment than binder. I didn't enjoy using Apple Barrel acrylics, because they usually needed more coats because there was less pigment there. One of my friends used Delta Ceramcoat with decent results, which was slightly more expensive than Apple Barrel, and supposedly more pigment than AB.
By way of example of my use- A few years ago, I did
These are just some of MY thoughts on the matter. I hope some of this might help.
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All but one of my Fusion paints has some sort of tooth. Two are pretty heavily textured--which means the paint sticks, but the texture shows through, which isn't always optimal.
I'll definitely be checking out the game and hobby store for paints. Thank you for the brand recommendations!
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What kind of plastic are you painting on? This makes a huge difference. Painting on plastics in general has a set of rules that applies to most painting tho.
Sand it. If the surface is glossy it will almost never hold paint. Even etching primers can have problems with glossy surfaces... "But thomas, I want the final surface to be glossy. won't it help to not sand it.." no! sand it.
Clean it. Ammonia based cleaner is good for most plastics. Some solvents will etch your plastic (good, this helps paint stick) some Solvents will dissolve your plastic (bad). Alcohol is also pretty safe. Lots of plastics have mold releases still coating them... some of these are invisible and hard to remove.
Let you first coat actually dry! This may take longer than you think, especially with plastics. My bet is that your krylon takes 7 or so days to get to full performance... Acrylic paints, particularly fineart ones (golden) are designed with color as a first priority rather than adhesion or drying time, so these qualities may vary widely between colors.
There are a ton of technical specifics that would take hours to go into... It's better if you give your specific requirements.
My quickee advice is: Acrylics are east to work with and versatile, but you will never get a true glossy look... Your cheaper paints will stick better, but the colors will be crap. Prime for these with acrylic gesso. it sticks to almost everything.
Enamels are much more technical and harder to clean, but can get a nice gloss. Model paints (testors) are the bottom of the barrel here. For the best (and most expensive) go with OneShot.
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I've been giving 24 hours dry time on the Krylon coat. Which is obviously not nearly long enough.
Prime for these with acrylic gesso
Oooo! I even have that!
I've been thinking about OneShot.That's what people I know use for pinstriping cars, so it's gotta be great stuff. I wonder if there's anywhere local that sells it.
Thanks so much for all the info!
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