railroad model paints / water base or solvent base

[Anonymous]

Here is my situation :
I have always used scalecoat II and know just what to expect and never had a problem , I know what airbru***o use and thinning and air pessure for consistent results , now there is all this talk of water based paints and everyone I have talked to has a different opinion which is what I expected , I am doing a model for someone else and was sent testors enamel solvent based paint , I have never used it , and to match the color in scalecoat II will be a real challenge , I would like to go with water based paints but most of what I have been concerned with is the vapors of the solvents and if I use water based paints then there seems to be an issue of clogging airbrushes using water based paints and orange peel , the options I have looked into are model flex and testors acrylic , testors has a match for this french blue that I was sent also in floquil there is solvent based light blue , I never had good results with floquil with it having a flat finish and extra coat for decaling, so what I am looking for here is input or experience on water based paints to use with an airbrush , if it is something I have to get used to then I will suffer to mix a match with scalecoat II , unless testors enamel solvent based is a good paint compared with scalecoat II . I don't want to screw this model up and since it is a PK -2 undec it already has what seems to be a coat of gray on the outside and silver on the inside of the loco , I found this to be the case because I built a GP-7 into a slug unit and had to remove the fini***o get a good bond for gluing , any advise would help here . I am aware that is does take practice with an airbrush which I have and also with different brands of paint , also I have read the paint manufacturers recommended way or thinning and what airbrush is best , I have internal mix single and double action as well as external single action brushes , my all time favorite is the paasche H-3 for scalecoat II , easy to use and clean and a high gloss finish , many of the water based paints recommend an internal mix , I suppose for less chance of orange peel but with more chance of clogging and more time cleaning up , and a good chance of ruin to airbrush in my opinion .

William

[Anonymous]

Here is my situation :
I have always used scalecoat II and know just what to expect and never had a problem , I know what airbru***o use and thinning and air pessure for consistent results , now there is all this talk of water based paints and everyone I have talked to has a different opinion which is what I expected , I am doing a model for someone else and was sent testors enamel solvent based paint , I have never used it , and to match the color in scalecoat II will be a real challenge , I would like to go with water based paints but most of what I have been concerned with is the vapors of the solvents and if I use water based paints then there seems to be an issue of clogging airbrushes using water based paints and orange peel , the options I have looked into are model flex and testors acrylic , testors has a match for this french blue that I was sent also in floquil there is solvent based light blue , I never had good results with floquil with it having a flat finish and extra coat for decaling, so what I am looking for here is input or experience on water based paints to use with an airbrush , if it is something I have to get used to then I will suffer to mix a match with scalecoat II , unless testors enamel solvent based is a good paint compared with scalecoat II . I don't want to screw this model up and since it is a PK -2 undec it already has what seems to be a coat of gray on the outside and silver on the inside of the loco , I found this to be the case because I built a GP-7 into a slug unit and had to remove the fini***o get a good bond for gluing , any advise would help here . I am aware that is does take practice with an airbrush which I have and also with different brands of paint , also I have read the paint manufacturers recommended way or thinning and what airbrush is best , I have internal mix single and double action as well as external single action brushes , my all time favorite is the paasche H-3 for scalecoat II , easy to use and clean and a high gloss finish , many of the water based paints recommend an internal mix , I suppose for less chance of orange peel but with more chance of clogging and more time cleaning up , and a good chance of ruin to airbrush in my opinion .

William

[Anonymous]

blues90,

I have a preference for water based paints such as Tamiya for Military models to me it is a consistent paint.

Recently, I have used Testor's Flat Gull Grey in a spray can to give some of my fright cars a uniform grey. I am a brush painter and use spray paint cans to get large areas covered.

I hope someday to learn airbrushes, however.

Remember that solvent paints can be hard to mix or use at times and water based paints clean up easy and tends to dry "top dry" rather quickly.

To offer you a chance to understand a mix, perhaps a sheet of .030 syrene (Spelling: Plastic) will offer you a test bed in which to match your colors before applying it to that nice PK-2.

I also use Testor's Glosscote to give a decal something to hold onto and the dullcote to kill the shine. I hope this assists you in some small way.

Good Luck, Lee

[Anonymous]

blues90,

I have a preference for water based paints such as Tamiya for Military models to me it is a consistent paint.

Recently, I have used Testor's Flat Gull Grey in a spray can to give some of my fright cars a uniform grey. I am a brush painter and use spray paint cans to get large areas covered.

I hope someday to learn airbrushes, however.

Remember that solvent paints can be hard to mix or use at times and water based paints clean up easy and tends to dry "top dry" rather quickly.

To offer you a chance to understand a mix, perhaps a sheet of .030 syrene (Spelling: Plastic) will offer you a test bed in which to match your colors before applying it to that nice PK-2.

I also use Testor's Glosscote to give a decal something to hold onto and the dullcote to kill the shine. I hope this assists you in some small way.

Good Luck, Lee