Painting brass with acrylic paints

[dm9538]

I just purchased my frist piece of brass, a caboose and it needs to be painted. I've painted plastic with Modelflex paints for years but I wonder if they can be used on brass and what the process is

[Big_Boy_4005]

I wouldn't. I think it would be too soft a finish. Even if you prime it proprely, I think it would have a hard time sticking.

When painting the wood trim in my house, I used a latex enamel. I'm finding out the hard way that it simply isn't durable in high traffic areas.

I recommend sticking with solvent based paint for brass. You can bake it and make it rock solid. I think you'll be happier in the long run.

[Anonymous]

I would tend to agree with Elliott on this one. Acrylic paints seem to be softer and seem, IMHO to not adhere to brass correctly.
I would either use Floquil or if you can find it, Accu-paint (acetone based).

[bogp40]

Big Boy 4005,
Not lelating to the subject, but you mentioned trim paint in your house. Don't think you went wrong by using acrylic instead of oil base on your trim. With the new VOC regulations, oil base house paints are a thing of the past. Excluding alykoid primers, semi-transparent stains and specialty coatings(conc. sealers etc), "Quality" brand name acrylic wall and trim paints are the only way to go. Surface must be preped washed/ sanded if nec. primed(Zinzer,Ben. Moore, Kilz etc) and 2 coats of finish. I will use a paint additive/ conditioner like Floetrol due to the "painting with Elmer's glue" conditions. Painting cabinetry and 6 panel doors are a problem due to the fast drying of all the new paint formulas. A conditioner retards drying and levels brush marks. Sorry you had trouble after all the hard work in painting. Sorry to get off the subject but I find this to be a common problem with trim paints. There's a lot of crap out there now that tries to pass a paint. Hope this can help someone.
Bob K.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Thanks for the tip Bob. I'm no stranger to touch ups, since no matter what the paint manufacturers say, it's difficult to wash any flat latex wall surface either. That doesn't even take into account any nicks and scratches that the walls get during the course of daily living.

Every few years it becomes necessary to run around with a putty knife, and follow up with a small roller to keep things looking good. I'll just have to add those spots of trim to my list.

By the way Dan, I only ever owned one piece of brass, and it just happened to be a caboose. I painted it with Scalecoat brand paint, and baked it. The problem was that I didn't do the best job with the airbrush, the paint was just fine. I tried to strip it down to start over, and I couldn't all of the paint off after I baked it.