acrylic or not acylic..that is the question!

[Guest]

Pro's and cons please sirs. Before I go and buy a load of acrylic paint.... I'm gonna do airbrushing on big areas and brush paint the details so was planning/thinking I'd get a load of the Vallejo air paints??

[spanner570]

Tin hats on everyone!.............Incoming!

[Guest]

Ooooo, can of worms time. First advice don't buy a load of anything. Paints are very subjective and some people swear by one brand while others swear at them. I would suggest just a couple of pots of whatever colour you need and see how they suit you.


If you are going acrylic then Vallejo are decent for air and hair brush some can do wonders with them, some cannot use them at all.


I appreciate that this doesn't directly help you but it is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. I am a huge acrylic fan but I know that enamel paints are superior in so many ways. But, I hate the smell of them in the house and the cleaning up but they are still the best.


Some acrylics I have used for ages, I am now struggling to get a good finish with but I don't know why. Could be me getting lazy with my thinning and cleaning or it could be that the paint formula has been changed slightly over the years and they now don't work with the thinners I have used before, I just don't know.


Getting it right is a big trial and error thing so don't invest too much in one brand until you know you are going to get the finish you want.

[Guest]

What Graham said! Buy a single item of the same(ish) colour from the major brands & test them out. You can make it easier & cheaper by getting some Ultimate Airbrush Thinner which works with all the different brands of acrylic paint.

[Guest]

Here we go just my opinion but I use tamiya acrylic for airbrush and occasionally some old enamel tinlets for small detail sometimes but I do here Vallejo brushes very well


Roger

[Gern]

Graham's right. Don't buy large quantities of one particular brand. Try and get an assortment of both acrylics and enamels and try them all. You'll almost certainly find one that suits you better than the others. Get lots of practise with the one you like best and if it works well for you, that's the one to go for.

[Guest]

Ok brilliant... I think I'll start with acrylic purely on the smell factor and see if I like the finish. Not been to the local model shop yet so will see what brands they keep.

[grumpa]

I personally think that dwelling on brands and technical stuff is getting away from the art of modeling itself. Use whatever you're comfortable with and concentrate on trying to capture the utmost realism in your projects. I personally use cheapo craft paints because they are easily {and cheaply} available. If it takes me a year to finish my current project then so be it {won't take that long} I just want everything I do to be by leaps and bounds better than my last offering................Jim

[Guest]

I use enamels, can't get on with acrylics (although since I won the complete set of model air from valejo I suppose I will have to learn) the only trouble I find with acrylics is they are so fragile and come off just from handling the model.

[Guest]

I use enamels, can't get on with acrylics (although since I won the complete set of model air from valejo I suppose I will have to learn) the only trouble I find with acrylics is they are so fragile and come off just from handling the model.

See what I mean about differences. I have heard many times that acrylic comes off if you handle it. In all the models I have painted in acrylic over the years, I have never had this happen. One of the problems is that it dries to a certain stage very quickly but it isn't really cured. Handle a lot at this early stage and it will stain with oils from the skin etc but, although many report it coming off, I personally have never experienced this.

[Guest]

I use enamels, can't get on with acrylics (although since I won the complete set of model air from valejo I suppose I will have to learn) the only trouble I find with acrylics is they are so fragile and come off just from handling the model.

How many in the set? I'll stick a score in the post now if you want rid of them :P

[Guest]

Don't know off hand at work now, can't sell them would seem ungrateful were a prize for Modeler of the year, I think there's 70 odd and they are £250+ for the full set

[PaulTRose]

my two pennuth


back in the day i used enamels cos thats all there was so when i got back into this lark i automatically started buying enamels again


due to my health problems i dont like the smell.....neither does the memsahib......when i got into airbrushing it became even worse


thats when i tried acrylics.....first revell aquas then vallejo......never looked back...no smell, easy cleaning


still have some enamels but its just for things like washes or detail painting

[Guest]

Don't know off hand at work now, can't sell them would seem ungrateful were a prize for Modeler of the year, I think there's 70 odd and they are £250+ for the full set

70 colours! Cor blimey! If you really don't get on with them tho drop me a mail!


Maybe I could pay the shop here to send you a gift voucher/put you in credit ,in exchange for some enamels. Don't think a score would cut it tho might have to up the offer! Hahaha

[BarryW]

Some good advice about trying in small quantities. I used to use enamel tins in the 'old days' and tried out Humbrol acrylics when they were first released and loved the easy clean up but I did not really take to the Humbrol acrylics as they seemed 'watery'.


30 year later, returned to the hobby, bought my airbrush and initially bought some Humbrol acrylic and enamels. I was not really very happy with the rsults on my initial test subjects and on a whim I tried out Vallejo Model Air - after my first experience immediately I dropped Humbrol completely and switched wholesale to VMA.


Advantages of acrylics (Vallejo MA in particular)


1/ Easy to use eye dropper bottles. They make it so easy and clean to dispense the right amount of colour into a colour cup or pallet.


2/ Easy clean up in water of brushes.


3/ I have turned to the use of enamel weathering washes and using acrylic as the paint and/or varnish is ideal when using these. I have not seen a range of acrylic based weathering washes good as the enamel ones that are available. That said of course, you could use an acrylic varnish over an enamel paint to prep for weathering with enamels.


4/ Colour range of VMA and now with the excellent AKI range as well, not to mention Hataka and MIG all with the eye dropper bottles the choice of colours cannot be beaten.


5/ Non-toxic and a lack of odour.


Disadvantages of acrylics


1/ They are more fragile than enamels. You need to use a good primer to give them something to grip. Not everyone, as per the posts abopve, has a problem with this and it is manageable. As for primer, there are other good reasons for it and I would use it anway even if using enamels as part of surface prep.


2/ You do need to adapt to them and cannot expect them to work like enamels.


3/ While they have a short drying time that can be considered in one way as an advantage this can be a problem with tip drying on the airbrush but flow enhancer helps with this.


4/ When they are 'touch dry' they are not fully cured and need to be left to properly cure before masking over.


I consider the disadvantages of acrylics to be outweighed by the advantages.