Painting Plastruc and styrene

Transman,

Not only does the two small tanks in the front of the picture look familiar,  those two Sunoco tanks in the back probably have my fingerprints on them.

I always used Krylon spray paint. I swore by it. No runs and no orangepeel but, they changed the formula. I have had problems painting with it so I switched to Painters Touch by Rustoleum. The paint is not as good as Krylon but, you can get by with it. Sometimes the nozzles clog up so spray the cans upside down when you are finished painting. The biggest thing I found in painting plastic making sure there are no oils on the surface that you are going to paint. One example is if you eat something greasy while handling the model and then paint it, the paint will blotch up and not stick in that area. I always wash my hands before working on my models. If you have a doubt, clean the model with alchohol. The same problem exists from release agents used to mold plastic parts. You are best to wash the parts with soap and water before assembling and painting. I have had this problem with some kits. In the end, you may find your brush painting tecnique the best.

Alan Graziano

Hi Alan
Enjoyed my visit very much
The small tanks in the front left are 2 PVC caps I glued together,and painted with lowe's sample container  gray
The 2 bigger one's in the back with the Sunoco sticker's are your's from Joe's train Station,They are dated underneath,(98 or 99 I think.)
The green transformers I made over the weekend,
The squareish one is made of .040,the little round one is a lowe's PVC cap,the fin's on it are two pieces of .040 glued together,all the way around.
The little roof tank on the far right is the one you gave me,I mounted it over 2 sets of H-8,Will detail them later,haven't figured out yet what I want to do for all my rooftop detail.
And now,last but not least, After anxting since I saw you over making roof's for tank's,I gave it a shot.I bought an  exacto circle cutter, I used the .020 sheets my brother in law gave me,and made my first roof top.The one that is gray is the one you gave me,so making the tank was pretty easy,the seam is pointing toward the back.
The one on the left,that  roof is my second attempt,the first one I cut the pie slice a little to big,the second one is a little better,
Theres a minor gap toward the center,but I pointed it toward the back,and I'll probably put a ladder over it also.
I think the big tanks are going to be my summer project,I think I'll go with white tanks
Probably make them Sunoco.
But anyway,thanks for the info.

Transman,

Good job. The oil facility is taking shape. To make it easier, try using .010" abs or styrene for your next roofs. The thinner material is a lot easier to work with.

Alan Graziano

Thank's

I'm stumbling along with it

I do a little,enjoy it,and think about what will be next.

The reason I used .020,

From what my brother in law gave me already,and  after what I did already,I still have two 50X24 " sheets,and he can get me more.These pieces were out of his trash scraps.

Transman:

On all my plastic whether from Plastruct or Home Depot I use Rust-Oleum Plastic primer as a base coat after wiping off the plastic with steel wool or cleaning as Alan suggseted. Using the plastic primer (an off white color) eliminates the need to buy the expensive spray cans whether Krylon Fusion for Plastic or the smaller Testors cans. You can purchase just about any spray can you want and pay around $4.

The only time I use a brush is for detail work and it is always over a primed plastic surface, not the bare plastic.

Joe

So then more or less,the little bottles of one oz. polyscale paints are plastic paint.

Now if i paint a piece of styrene with lets say the aged concrete color ,and take it to Lowe's where they computer match it up,and get a 7oz sample size,

what are they giving me?just the color  match?,or chemically are they giving me a plastic paint,or should I look into that.

Thanks everybody

Transman:

Home Depot will just give you the color. They will probably ask you to pick the paint manufacturer out but as long as you prime with the Rustoleum Plastic Primer the type of paint you select should not matter though I would ask them to make it compatible with Rustoleum plastic primer.

Almost all paints including Krylon Fusion for plastic or Testors really don't like sticking to plastic. Simply spray a sample tube and start rubbing it you will see what I mean. The plastic primer reduces this tendency a lot but won't eliminate it.

Joe

Thanks

Thank's Dennis

I do more brush painting than I do spray

 I'm seeing the important thing that everybody is saying is the washing step

You're welcome, Trainman.

Acrylic and/or latex based paints do not adhere well to bare plastic. So as others have said, using a primer is important. Again, any spray primer will work.

Dennis

Thanks so much for this thread.  I recently purchased 7 Ameritown buildings and I could not figure out why the acrylic paints were beading up on some surfaces (the shiny ones) but not others.