Hi Jim,
Not long - maybe a half hour or so.
But I haven't really experimented with different durations to see what works best.
The change in opacity occurs as the Bestine dries/evaporates.
And it's smelly stuff - remember the smell of those tin cans of rubber cement in elementary school?
Eric
Eric,
How long do you soak the parts in Bestline?
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I also have some Shapeways parts - I washed them in a warm soapy water and rinsed them - Then let them air dry. I then removed them from the sprue and used them on some diesel detailing projects. Another wash/rinse/air dry before I primed the model with a grey paint. Prime is always a good idea. With a mix of grey/white/black/metal detail parts, you want a good base coat so that the final finish is even across all of the different base colors of the model and it's parts. This is very important with colors like C&NW yellow and MILW orange...
I've used their frosted ultra detail (FUD) plastic on a few projects.
I started with a bath of Bestine, which is a rubber cement thinner available at artist's supply shops. Then I washed the parts as you would any plastic part in dishwasing liquid.
Finally, I sprayed on a primer compatible with the finish paint. The last parts I painted, I used Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2x gray primer, but the Polly Scale paint I airbrushed over that developed some cracks. Most likely, that's because I was pushing the project for deadline and didn't let the primer cure completely.
The FUD can be porous, so brush-painting gets tedious as it soaks up the paint. I didn't have this problem with primed parts.
I had some detail parts 3D printed by Shapeways. Now I am wondering the best way to paint them. They were printed in the regular frosted, matte finish plastic. Am I right to assume I can prime and paint these just as I would styrene with good results? Someone with experience here help me please. Thanks.
Ron
Owner and superintendant of the N scale Texas Colorado & Western Railway, a protolanced representaion of the BNSF from Fort Worth, TX through Wichita Falls TX and into Colorado.
Check out the TC&WRy on at https://www.facebook.com/TCWRy
Check out my MRR How-To YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/RonsTrainsNThings