Painting help

[Jon Taylor]

As a relative novice to the hobby, I am looking to tackle painting and kit bashing a couple of playmobil coaches that I have. I have read threads on here concerning primers, paints etc, but the whole area is a little bit of a mystery to me! I note that some model manufacturers do both enamel and acrylic paints, so which one of these is best, and can you apply them without primer? I have also read here that some use Halfords own brand paints and primers so wondered whether I could have some recommendations please? They also do special “plastic primer” to further confuse matters!

I attach three photos below following a recent visit to Halfords of the different paints and primers on offer.

Any hints, tips or help would be gratefully received.

Thanks,

Jon

 

[Sarah Winfield]

I use the Halford's white primer for painting my little ships. It seems to give a slightly dull finish which takes acrylic nicely.

The ships are produced using a polyurethane resin. I don't make the ships but I do paint them and a decent undercoat is important.

Sarah Winfield.

 

[playmofire]

I use acrylic paints with an appropriate primer, Plastic primer is used when painting on plastic to give a better "grip" to the paint coat which follows.

I have used paints made up for me at Halfords, car makers paints (VW used to be my favourite) and off the shelf car paints from motoring stores.

Ideally, you want to paint on warm, dry day and with no wind if working outside. I find heating the surface with a hair dryer is useful to get the paint to dry faster or if the day is cool or there is dampness in the air. Spraying when it is damp leads to a bloom on the surface.

 

[LGB-Sid]

I did use Halford's Plastic primer but switched to Hycote Plastic primer's as an alternative, as they were a better price than the Halford's version, and spraying PVC building with a primer uses quite a bit

 

[G-force1]

Think of 'primer' as the glue that holds the paint on. Use a colour of primer that is closest to your finish colour. If painting plastic then a plastic primer is best, it will flex better with the base material. Yes you can use plastic primer on other materials but generally it is a touch more expensive, therefore it depends on how big the item is. I've found that recently Halfords paint prices have moderated a little. Not before time, I certainly moaned at them every time I bought. Paint prices should be reflected in the oil price.

 

[Jon Taylor]

Thank you for the help everyone. It is very much appreciated! If my resulting efforts are not too awful, then I may well post a pic on here for your comments

 

[PhilP]

Thank you for the help everyone. It is very much appreciated! If my resulting efforts are not too awful, then I may well post a pic on here for your comments

Scary thought.. - Peer review!

I am still worried about slapping the paint on!

 

[dunnyrail]

All of the Halfords Primers are used by me with Matt Black as well, to be honest these are my primary colours though I have used BMW Imola Red 11, Rover Layland White for my DR red and creme Colours. For Green I use Ford Laurel Green for some of my Diesels. I have also used Car Plan Blue 51 for my mythical LLB Swiss Railway.

For Masking do not be tempted to use the DIY Shed cheep stuff or the white stuff. It is not fine enough for our needs. I exclusively now for fine lines use Tamiya Masking Tape, ok to use the cheeper stuff on top of this for masking a bigger area say where a coach has 2 colours.

As for that nice fine dividing line. Spray the complete vehicle one colour, then mask up spray the base colour again thinly over the joint. Then after a drying time do the second colour, this effectively seals the joint completely.

See the effect on this pic. Just a tiny bit of bleed through by the joint which in truth should have been filled.