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Derek's Humbrol paint mix cocktail...


Derek B

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Hi Guys,

 

Just thought I'd tell of one of my old paint mix tricks, which I developed during my time with the RAF Exhibition Production Flight (EPF) at RAF Henlow as a model maker (I spent a lot of time their spraying all manner of paints). This works well with the 'old' Humbrol paints; i.e. the good ones full of lead and all of the unhealthy subtances that actually make it spread and cover so well). The idea is to produce a paint mix that will do the following:

 

It has to cover well.

It has to be thin enough to be able to spray camouflage patterns free-hand, at low pressure, producing almost pencil thin demarcation lines.

It has to be hard and glossy enough to accept decals.

It has to shrink in order to show fine detail.

It has to be able to use any colour from the Humbrol range, irrespective of whether it is matt, gloss, satin or metallic.

It has to have a long pot life in order to spray evenly without clogging the airbrush tip.

 

So, how did I achieve this? After much experimenting, I produced a mix of Humbrol paint (usually matt, but could be any base), gloss polyuretane varnish, brush wash or cellulose thinners (brush wash is a little less agressive on the plastic) and norrmal white spirit or Humbrol thinners. You mix approximately 25% of each component, but this can vary a little, depending upon which type of paint you are using (e.g. slightly more thinners or gloss paint for matt paint - depending upon how much of a satin finish you wish to achieve - or slightly less for gloss paints, etc).

 

Mix everything thoroughly, and spray at low pressure (about 15-20 psi). As the paint dries, it shrinks (thanks to the brush was), revealing all of the detail, and dries hard and semi-glossy (thanks to the varnish), which means it is easy to sand if you have any imperfections requiring a respray. It dries quicker than straight thinned paint as well. As it is very thin, you have to be careful with the first couple of coats or so - dust it on thinly, and allow it to become touch dry before applying a second coat (anyone with has had experience with Alclad paints should have no trouble with this process).

 

After this, you can build up the coats, and paint thickness, quite quickly. The brush wash also prevents the paint from clogging the airbrush paint tip, so you can take your time concentrating on spraying. As the mixture is so fine (it can be mixed too fine if you're not careful - especially with any coarse matt pigments), and as you're using low spraying pressure, it is possible to build up very subtle (less than 1mm of overspray) camouflage patterns and demarcation lines - good for exhaust stains as well. As usual, given the mix, don't spray near naked flames, unless you are heavily into flame throwers, and make sure you wear a suitable mask (filter one that is, not the gimp one!).

 

I have not used this technique for many years now (mid-1980's), and maybe paint technology has moved on to the point where it is no longer really necessary. Neither have I have tried it on the current range of Humbrol 'Super Enamels', so I cannot comment on how effective it would be today. However, it always produced good results for me and if anyone would care to give it a go on current enamels, and report back on their findings, I would be delighted on the feedback.

 

HTH

 

Derek

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Interesting, that's quite similar to the formula Peter Cooke came up with.

He gets amazing results as you may know. I have considered playing around

with it myself.

Thanks Derek ;)

 

Hi Mike,

 

You are absolutly correct - this method was first used (to my knowledge) by Peter Cook (I read something about it in 1984 - this provided me with the inspiration needed to experiment with it a little more). So, credit where credit is due to Peter - he is a great modeller. It does work (still) very well, especially for fine free-hand camouflage painting, so I would be interested to find out how other modellers may fair with this technique.

 

Cheers

 

Derek

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  • 9 years later...

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