Paint and Airbrush

[Pascal78]

Hi, I'm going to start to paint my first new savage ss 4.6 body this week and i was wondering what kind of paint i should use. I was at walmart today to get baby formula for my kids and stoped in the toys section because i saw paint and air brush kit for toy car models, so i wanted to know if this kind of paint was good for lexan bodys. The paint and air brush kit are from TESTORS. www.testors.com Please let me know if its good or not because its not expensive air brush kit is $29.99 cnd and little paint bottles are $1.17 cnd each or $7.99 for a pack of 10 bottles. Thank you.

[Piggy89373]

Pascal, the airbrush will work, but the testors enamels will not. You can spray them, but don't expect them to last longer than a few blinks. Lexan is a very unforgiving wench and only likes paints designed for polycarbonates. So, the bad news is you'll have to pick up some polycarbonate specific paints such as Faskolor, Createx, Pactra, or Tamiya. Which ever paint you get, be sure it's designed for use on polycarbonate. The good news is these paints are readily found at your lhs and the staff should be able to assist you.

Once you get the paints you're after, there's some extra work you'll need to do. Do a search for whichever paint you purchased and spend the time to read through what you find. Get a good feel for what you need to do to spray your particular paint. This will save you a lot of headaches and frustration. Hope this helps.

[mikevillena]

Pascal - Definitely AVOID plastic model paints, plastic lawnchair paint and automotive touch-up paints (rattle can lacquers). The paint MUST BE made specifically for Polycarbonate and able to flex without flaking or chipping. Don't even think of trying anything else. Trust me, I've learned the hard way! The bulk of the top painters here use either Createx, Auto-Air (sp?) or Spazstix (lacquer). Tamiya also makes Acrylic paint for polycarbonate and a polycarbonate specific lacquer in rattle can. If you choose to use an inexpensive airbrush (mostly plastic, Wal-Mart variety), stay away from the lacquers as the requisite cleaning solvents will weaken the plastic components of the airbrush. Another must do is proper paint prep. At the very least, wash the bodyshell thoroughly before painting. :)

[Pascal78]

Well thats good to know, good thing i asked first. Thank you very much, that help a lot. So what do you think would be a good beginner paint between the ones you said. ?

[Farwar]

A good beginner paint would be something waterbased. They are easier to clean up and are non toxic. They just need water to clean up instead of using smelly solvents.The most used waterbased paints are Createx, Auto-Air, and Faskolor. When you paint with them, it is wise to wear at least a dust mask or respirator because you still dont want it drying in your lungs.