Painting resin kits and figures

[BrianC]

Another 'Noddy' question from a garden railway virgin.

Thus far we have been using concrete buildings and I've enjoyed painting these using leftover household undercoat, gloss, etc., and spraying the unpainted areas with clearcoat from car aerosols. All nice and easy and free and so far all have survived well outside for the first winter!

We decided to buy a couple of small resin kits and some figures at G-Rail yesterday. The recommendation is to use a good quality acrylic paint. This could be another no-cost option, as our daughter is moving out and leaving behind a lot of her art materials, including acrylics. My concern is whether this water-based medium is really suitable for long-term outdoor use. Are there specific acrylic paints for the purpose, or can I go ahead and use whatever is available (bearing in mind that I don't want to have to repaint things every year)?

Supplementary questions:
Should the painted items really be protected with clearcoat (or similar) and if, so what is the cheapest source once my current limited supply expires?

 

[mikeyh]

Yes but difficult to paint a figure with an aerosol can! I paint all my figures with ordinary acrylics and then varnish them ( matt), mind you my figures (all 80 of them) dont get left out in the winter.

Mikey

 

[BrianC]

my current limited supply expires

I may be mistaken, but are not most aerosol can paints for cars, acrylic nowadays?

Dunno - 'my current limited supply' dates back at least 20 years!

 

[Gizzy]

Another 'Noddy' question from a garden railway virgin.

Thus far we have been using concrete buildings and I've enjoyed painting these using leftover household undercoat, gloss, etc., and spraying the unpainted areas with clearcoat from car aerosols. All nice and easy and free and so far all have survived well outside for the first winter!

We decided to buy a couple of small resin kits and some figures at G-Rail yesterday. The recommendation is to use a good quality acrylic paint. This could be another no-cost option, as our daughter is moving out and leaving behind a lot of her art materials, including acrylics. My concern is whether this water-based medium is really suitable for long-term outdoor use. Are there specific acrylic paints for the purpose, or can I go ahead and use whatever is available (bearing in mind that I don't want to have to repaint things every year)?

Supplementary questions:
Should the painted items really be protected with clearcoat (or similar) and if, so what is the cheapest source once my current limited supply expires?

I've used acrylics for my figures in the garden. I like the fact that brushes can be cleaned under the tap and not with thinners as with an enamel paint.

Once dried, the paint so far appears to be weather proof. The only colour I've used that has faded due to the sun, was a fluorescent orange (painted onto a yellow jacketed figure), so I have today repainted this figure and I've applied some varnish this time aroundto see if that helps to protect it. The other figures where I've used this colour, over a black paint (to give the effect of dirty overalls), have not weathered at all, but then they are not exposed so much to direct sun light....

 

[korm kormsen]

Yes but difficult to paint a figure with an aerosol can!

not that difficult...
just spray a little paint into the cap of a plastic bottle, and take it from there with a brush.

 

[peterbunce]

Hi,

Quote -- Should the painted items really be protected with clearcoat (or similar) and if, so what is the cheapest source once my current limited supply expires?

Yes I would use Johnsons Klear from the supermarkets (not Tesco's they are using thier own make for products, and I don't think there is one for this stuff); that is sold as a kitchen floor wax varnish, and is acrylic. I have a bottle of the old stuff - see below.

A word of warning - the stuff has been upgraded allegedly (but not sure if that includes us!) it now has the word 'wax' in its blurb, and is reputed to have a brown cast to it - can't be seen as the container is now opaqe white (it was clear).

The finish is satin, it can have a wisk over of a thin layer of paint to dull it down.

NG trains have the American matt varnish 'Dullcote' BUT it is in an aerosol pack, (3 togerther in one pack only) their website is at http://www.ngtrains.com/Pages/Misc/miscellaneous.htm