Customizing figures, Painting skintones?MiscPréc.Suiv.Préc.Suiv.

Mew-Lidia9 • Il y a 1 mois • #129369194The paint isn't shiny per se, but the way it looks is just off (I don'treallyknowhow to describe it), but I've been using tamiya on my bjd faceups, so I'm confident with it. Would Mr. Hobby Premium Topcat Flat be the same? I bought it for a vinyl doll faceup and failed miserably, though it doesn't seem to like my polymer clay things either, justvwant to make sure it's safe lol

Looks off...hhrmm, do you mean that the texture of your paint looks different than the texture of the factory used paint?

I have not been using Tamiya coat myself, so I'm afraid to answer that question. ^^'' Mr. Hobby Premium Topcat Flat is mostly meant to cover the paint of Garage and Model Kits and I would assume for your customization projects you also use acrylic or enamel paint, so it should work? I've used it myself on resin, PVC and clay sculptures.

Mew-Lidia9 • Il y a 1 mois • #129369194
Well, I don't quite mean plasticky as in shiny, but I don't really know how to describe it either ^^;
I've seen Mr. Color around, but at 2x the price of Tamiya. Unfortunately it seems Tamiya is the thing everyone uses, that'spracticallyall I can find (or Humbrol)... that's weird, I've never seen Vallejo around o.o maybe we're taking about a different SA? ( I'm talking about South Africa)
The airbrush itself is a ****, but the result definitely looks nice, though had some trouble with graininess at the start.
Would you reccomend the Mr. Color for the airbrush or the spray can?
Would the one for the airbrush need thinning?


Oh, South Africa... first time I've ever seen that referred to as such. Thought you meant South America. Mexico, Brazil, and all that jazz down there. But alrighty. Yeah, in that case I can see getting a lot of brands being more difficult. Tamiya is good, but Mr. Color is definitely better. It's usually the same price as Tamiya in most places, so I'm shocked to hear about the price difference. If you can't get anything else then Tamiya will definitely do fine, but if you can get Mr. Color then it's certainly recommended.

But yeah, I'd definitely recommend regular Mr. Color stuff for airbrush use. Even a crappy airbrush is going to do things better than a rattle can would. 100% need to thin it though. You want a milky consistency which is usually 1.5 thinner to 1 paint ratio for regular colors, and then 2 thinner to 1 paint for the clear topcoats (because they're way more viscous).

Even when I use paint that is very 'shiny' when I use Mr Hobby Flat on top it becomes super matte. Maybe you can try this one out? I recently used it on a statue I repaired and it blended perfectly with the rest.

should be thin layers

Mew-Lidia9 • Il y a 2 mois • #128769667Oops! I meant tacky as in ugly looking, not sticky, I guess it's not the best word to use ^^; but didn't know what else to use (also don't use tacky as in sticky as anything in SA).
I did use a Tamiya Laquer based primer beforehand though. I did hand paint them both with some thinning though (I didn't thin them too much for some reasons I'd rather not say), so the layering might be the issue. My paint is matte and I did spray with Tamiya TS-80 over it.
Because of some semi visible brush strokes, I did in fact decide to get an airbrush, but wanted to ask before I try again to avoid wasting too much paint (really expensive here T_T).
Ah, got'cha got'cha. If you already matte coated it and it still looks plastic'y and jank then you might need a few more layers of matte. I used to use Tamiya's TS-80 ages ago before I started airbrushing and it usually took me a few coats to get a nice finish. It still didn't compare to what an airbrush can do with proper lacquer Mr. Color loaded up into it, but it got the job done. Just give it some time to cure between each layer you do. Since it's a spray and lacquer you won't have to give it long, maybe 20-30 minutes depending on how humid it is by you (humidity greatly hampers curing).

If that still doesn't do it then it might be a layering issue since you're going by hands. Thinning the paint down some more and doing multiple thin layers will look better. But yeah, sadly brush strokes on things larger than typical minis can easily happen and be easily noticeable. You can eliminate them with good technique, but it's always best to just get an airbrush setup in this hobby imo. It just makes... everything easier heh.

I hear ya about the paint prices though. I've got a friend in Brazil who complains about them all the time. If it's not tooooo expensive definitely look into getting regular Mr. Color or Gaia Notes when you get your airbrush. Hard to beat those. Otherwise you can actually spray some of the good paints meant for hand painting like Citadel or Vallejo, so you might want to look into those as well. Vallejo is actually super good, plus I think they're from SA so the prices might be decent for you. More than the others anyways.

Mew-Lidia9 • Il y a 2 mois • #128769667Oops! I meant tacky as in ugly looking, not sticky, I guess it's not the best word to use ^^; but didn't know what else to use (also don't use tacky as in sticky as anything in SA).
I did use a Tamiya Laquer based primer beforehand though. I did hand paint them both with some thinning though (I didn't thin them too much for some reasons I'd rather not say), so the layering might be the issue. My paint is matte and I did spray with Tamiya TS-80 over it.
Because of some semi visible brush strokes, I did in fact decide to get an airbrush, but wanted to ask before I try again to avoid wasting too much paint (really expensive here T_T).

If you get visible brush strokes, you need to thin the colour even further. It is possible to create a smooth surface without airbrushing, but you need to apply the colour in many thin layers.
Some matte top coats are not fully matte. Should that be the case for yours, I suggest purchasing Vallejo's Satin Varnish and spraying it on top.

Now when you say tacky are you saying it's tacky to the touch or just -looks- that way? If it's actually tacky then you should probably strip the paint and redo it. Not all paints work on bare plastic very well and when they don't they generate this tacky feeling. It's also possible you put the paint on way too thick and it's having problems curing. Normally you'd prime the part you're painting (I assume you didn't do that since you didn't mention it) since it drastically increases paint adhesion and helps block reactions between paint and plastic. Do typical painting methods after that. The plastic'y look you're seeing is most likely just because the paint you're using is gloss (most are), and thus the finish will have the typical gloss/semi-gloss sheen most plastics do. The only way to get rid of this is either use matte paints, or use a matte topcoat. Matte topcoat is the answer here since you should always topcoat your work anyways (better looking finish, and durable protection). What you use will depend on how you're painting though. If you're not using an airbrush (you should really invest in one of these if you plan on painting again in the future) then you'll want spray can topcoats. Specifically the Mr. Color Mr. Topcoat cans as they're objectively the best hobby topcoat spray cans you'll find. You can also get some of their canned primer too if you don't have any of that. Other than that, if your issues are painting application related then we'd have to go over that on a case-by-case basis (maybe you're not thinning enough, maybe you're using the wrong thinner, maybe your paint is a bad choice for this type of project, temperature issues, etc etc).

Anyways, feel free to hit me up for any help you need. I've been doing everything from garage kit painting to outright custom models and figures for many years, so there's not much I couldn't either tell you or at least point you in the right direction for.