Not a lot of experience working with acrylics

[jpolacchi]

I don't have a lot of experience working with acrylics other than on water color paper. I'm also looking at using acrylics which are not marketed as "hobby/model finishing" paints like Tamiya. These are Doc Martin's acrylic inks which mainly can be purchased from online stores or ordered through a well supplied art store. Small bottles...maybe... 1/2 oz.? These acrylics are technically not acrylic paints, but are marketed as "acrylic ink", but are more or less "acrylic paints" as they are made up of the same components (pigments and acrylic binder). They thin out with water or it was also recommended to use "Isopropyl alcohol" at a 50/50 ratio. These are the only acrylics on the market currently I have found and know of that are iridescent and can be airbrushed with a good range of pearlescent colors to choose from. They have high/heavy pigment and are very opaque. The only way to make them more translucent or transparent is by adding an acrylic base airbrush medium to them like Golden or maybe Liquitex which will take some experimenting to adjust the colors and finish. Acrylics base mediums are not water clear when you use them, they are milky looking, like..."Elmer's glue" and dry/cure water clear. That being said, does anyone think there will be issues with adhesion on non porous surfaces using these? I'm also considering laying down a base coat (not to mention primers) which may be either an enamel or lacquer and would there be any issues of using these acrylic inks for finishing? What should be used to seal between coats? Can a clear coat of lacquer be sprayed over to seal the colors between masking/using templates and give different finishes between; gloss, semi gloss and flat finishes, or once acrylics are used, stick with acrylics? Can a lacquer or enamel be used over an acrylic finish? I also am not sure how to get clean, crisp, sharp lines from taping or using masks or templates with acrylics? Should the tape or masks be pulled after it initially dries, or do you wait a few days/week to fully cure before pulling tape and masks? I know i asked a lot of questions, but I'm hoping someone out there knows more than me about using acrylics than I do.

[Kylwell]

I've sprayed quite a bit of Daler-Rowney Pearlescent ink. They work much better with a good base coat of white and a seal coat afterwords. They're now particularly soft like old Createx were but better safe than sorry.

[jpolacchi]

You were able to airbrush the Daler Rowny Iridescent inks? I was told you can't shoot those through an airbrush and that the pigments were too big and clog the nozzle and needle.

[Kylwell]

I used a .35 needle to spray them. That's a medium size. IIRC I added a bit of clear gloss acrylic to the mix to help them stick.

[jpolacchi]

Did you do that with a single action airbrush or were you shooting with a double action brush? How much PSI? Yeah, even the Daler Rowney bottles don't say you can airbrush those iridescent inks. Kinda misleading. Unless I'm going for an "opaque" color, I was going to goof around to see how transparent I could make colors like that. Which isn't as easy as that sounds. Airbrush mediums are opaque until they cure. So, you can't really see what you are doing or the result until they at least dry. I was thinking of starting with like a 50/50 mix of the ink and hi-flo airbrush medium like Golden unless Daler Rowney has an airbrush medium? Then thin it out with water as much as possible. I'd push it to 50% and see what it does on a plastic surface and adjust it from there. The 3:1 ration still sounds too heavy to me, but acrylics are different animals compared to enamels and lacquers. I want to achieve transparent to semi transparent colors mainly so the iridescents can be layered with one another with additional colors.

[seam-filler]

I want to achieve transparent to semi transparent colors mainly so the iridescents can be layered with one another with additional colors.

Acrylics really lend themselves to semi-transparent finishes. Thin the paint slightly more than usual and just mist on the paint with your airbrush from a lightly greater distance (say, 6 to eight inches)- not a proper coat of paint, just a gentle misting. I'm using a double-action airbrush at around 15-20psi (although TBH I don't get too hung up about pressure).

I've used this to get tonal differences on metallic finishes and even after the mist coat, they still look metallic.

[jpolacchi]

6-8 inches distance? That's gonna be a lot of masking. Well, I was kinda expecting to anyway. It's just what it requires. I'm just kinda excited that the Daler Downey iridescent inks can be airbrushed because I gave up wanting to use those. One guy I sort of learned to airbrush from always worked really close to his work. I mean like 1/4-1/2 inch from the working surface, but he was shooting urethanes which could be thinned to water consistency and he ran his compressor under 10PSI. Absolutely no overspray. He was an amazing airbrush artist, but not a terrific instructor. Hey, do you know anything about playing with the gloss finishes on acrylics? How can you adjust the finish? Can you mix different ratios or matte, semi gloss and gloss coats, or can you add a dulling powder in it to play with the sheen? I'm not sure if you can do that with an acrylic medium or not?

[Kylwell]

Did you do that with a single action airbrush or were you shooting with a double action brush? How much PSI? Yeah, even the Daler Rowney bottles don't say you can airbrush those iridescent inks. Kinda misleading. Unless I'm going for an "opaque" color, I was going to goof around to see how transparent I could make colors like that. Which isn't as easy as that sounds. Airbrush mediums are opaque until they cure. So, you can't really see what you are doing or the result until they at least dry. I was thinking of starting with like a 50/50 mix of the ink and hi-flo airbrush medium like Golden unless Daler Rowney has an airbrush medium? Then thin it out with water as much as possible. I'd push it to 50% and see what it does on a plastic surface and adjust it from there. The 3:1 ration still sounds too heavy to me, but acrylics are different animals compared to enamels and lacquers. I want to achieve transparent to semi transparent colors mainly so the iridescents can be layered with one another with additional colors.

It was a siphon feed Iwata. Can't remember the model, probably an Eclipse. If I remember I did have to bump the PSI up to 20 or 30 psi. I've got a .5 HP-CS that'll eat glitter if need be now. If it's liquid enough I'll try to spray it.

I don't think DR has an A/B medium. Back then I used Future as a gloss medium. More recently I've used Alclad's Aqua Gloss to good effect. A drop or 2 of retarder helps too.

I'll have to look @ some of the iridescent inks next time I'm at the art store.

[jpolacchi]

I inquired about some things on the Daler Rowney web site, again they told me you can't airbrush the iridescents. I wonder why they made the damn iridescent inks if they wouldn't make it so you could shoot it through a double action? Probably came down to cost. Finer, higher quality pigments probably cost too much. I think that almost any airbrush acrylic medium would suffice. I used Liquitex with the Daler Rowney FW inks and it worked fine. Although I wasn't airbrushing them, that doesn't matter. There were no weird reactions. I'd probably use Golden as they are pretty available. I'd use Shminke, but they are way harder to get and SUPER expensive. Not just because Shminke is an import, but the quality is basically, "automotive finish" quality, but they are acrylics. They have a few different products to increase flow, retarders and a clear gloss, semi-gloss and matte finishes. I have an Iwata Eclipse too. Nice airbrush. I wish I could get my Binks compressor to work. So, if I start thinning out the DR iridecents with airbrush medium 50/50 to start and experiment with, how much do you think I could thin them out with water? Is 50% too high? Typically they tell you 3:1. It just too heavy I.M.O. You have to crank up the compressor to 20,25,30 psi. I'm hoping to run the paint at a much lower psi. As low as possible anyway. I read also that if you add dish soap (X amount of whatever that is?) that it not only breaks surface tension which I guess is a thing with acrylics, but acts as a retarder also? I'm hoping that while making the iridescent transparent or semi-transparent that I can thin them a bit more aggressively? I'm just not sure how to go about doing that? I thought if I thinned the airbrush medium with 50-70% water I could get away with thininng the acrylic mix I come up with a lot more. I'd have to try it I guess? Any ideas?

[seam-filler]

There are acrylic iridescent and iridescent paints designed for airbrush out there... Jo Sonja's, Createx. Mission Models, Chestnut, Jacquard & Hobbynox. Most of the suggest a needle size of 0.2mm or larger.

[Kylwell]

I would avoid adding soap. While it does reduce surface tension it also reduces bonding making the surface really, really, soft. A commercial surfacant will do also reduce the surface tension but won't affect bonding.

To be honest I've never asked if something was airbrushable. I just see if it'll work and go from there. Thin it out a little, add some of this and that, change the pressure, grab the big brush etc. I'm pretty sure Barabara Rombley's Art Glitter isn't for use in an airbrush but with a big enough needle it sprays down fine.

As a note, you'll want to use the Microfine size glitter or smaller. https://polishandpigments.blogspot.com/ ... ation.html

[jpolacchi]

Yeah, I know there are a few other brands out there that have "pearls or iridescent colors" but often not the right ones I'm looking for. They may have two or three, but not all of them. To date, Daler Rowney and Doc Martin's inks are the only ones that have anything close to what I need. There was a lacquer paint out there (I forget the name) that has a line of transparent pearlescent/iridescent colors. I just don't know if I want to mess with them? Even they required some tinkering. More than the acrylic inks I'm eye balling. There are some pearlescent powders I know others have used. HOK had some but they did away with the dry powders which would have been ideal. I can't get anything lacquer here anyway. I can't even buy solvent because they did away with all of that. It's all this alternative, environmentally friendly green crap and I need stuff like; Acetone, MEK, Mineral/white spirits, lacquer thinner and another I can't recall at the moment. I can't buy it and most of that stuff can't (or won't) be shipped across state lines. I have to drive out of state to buy it.