Painting plastic model (refresher course)

[achuck49]

Good Afternoon,

S

In a week or two I plan on building a plastic paddle wheel model.  I believe that this is the correct order for painting

 

wash all of the parts in something like Dawn dish soap

spray primer over everything

remove pieces as necessary, assemble, and then paint.

 

Have I got it right???

 

Should I paint the parts while still attached to the (forgot the word) large collection of parts, then assemble?

 

Is enamel paint better/same/worse then acrylic?

 

Should I get a bunch of rattle cans containing the appropriate color paint?

 

Chuck

 

[Thistle17]

Chuck if you go to the web site for Model Railroader Hobbist Magazine and register you will be able to access a pretty amazing tutorial on painting. Its free for the download. Also the IPMS web site has some treatments on painting as well.

Joe

[achuck49]

Thanks!!!

 

Doing it now 

[wefalck]

I think these questions cannot be answered categorically. Points to consider:

 

- the glueing of styrene is rather a welding, so painted surfaces do not stick together

- you have to able to carefully remove all the flash, ejector marks and sometime reshape parts, when the moulds have not been carefully aligned; this may be best done, when the part is detached from the sprue

- when using enamel paints, there is no need for priming, as these paints usually slightly dissolve the styrene and therefore stick very well

- the fewer layers of paint, the better; this includes primers

- for a static model, that is not handled, I would carefully degrease the surface with dishwashing liquid and then even paint directly with acrylics (railway models are handled frequently and the railway modeller, therefore, would give you advice to the contrary)

- the amount of paint coming out of a spray-can cannot be controlled very well and using these is better left to large surface areas, such as hulls

- some parts are, indeed, easier to paint, when on the sprue, but this only works, when the area where the parts are attached can be hidden

- notwithstanding the glueing issue, it sometimes better to assemble parts of the same colour first, as you may need to clean-up excess glue and fill-in seams; the paint may also hide seams

- if possible, parts of different colour are better painted first and then assembled

[S.Coleman]

No primer for enamels.  Will keep that in mind.

[Canute]

You may want to keep in mind with translucent colors, such as red and yellow, that you should prime, if trying to cover a dark grey or black plastic.

 

And make sure the unprimed plastic is clean of mold release , oils and fingerprints. Wash in warm water with Dawn or similar dishwashing liquid. Also works on resin castings.

[thibaultron]

What is the name of the MRH painting article?

[Thistle17]

Ron if you go to this web address you will see the Painting Tutorial.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/26830

Joe

[Canute]

Excellent how-to and it lists acrylic equivalents in Vallejo, Badger ModelFlex and Model Master Acrylics for the old Floquil-Pollyscale line. And they do add more info on an as needed basis. Highly recommended.

[Jim Rogers]

Think about getting a Double Throw Air Brush. You have control on the amount of paint And the area painted in one pass. You will get much better results than with a bunch of spray cans.

[S.Coleman]

This topic cane up handy as I have a plastic 1:24 Caterpillar bulldozer to make up for my father. The plastic is pretty colored yellow but I will be painting the whole thing. Cheers. I'm not used to plastics so it will be interesting.