Pearl paint

[Fury556]

Hi Guys,

Sorry if this has been asked before - I tried a quick search but couldn't see anything. 

I'm hoping to do a future model in pearl/flip paint but can't find much in terms of guidance on what to do, or indeed what not to do. I'm after a green/purple flip and can see Tamiya to a PS-46 which looks perfect, however it's stated as not for use on plastic models, only polycarb stuff. 

Does anyone have any recommendations on what to use, or if the PS stuff can be used, but in a certain way?

Thanks!

[astroracer]

In order to use a "hot" paint over styrene the plastic needs to be primed with an automotive type primer. DuPont's Sandable Grey and PlastiKote's Grey primers both work very well for this purpose. Wash the body in hot water with a little Dawn dish soap to cut the oils. Scrub the body with some medium ScotchBrite while washing to give the primer a "tooth" to stick to.

As a side note, nail polish comes in a myriad of those flip/flop colors. As long as you are using the automotive primer the nail polish will spray over that beautifully. It is lacquer based and 2 or 3 bottles will do a model car. Find it at the dollar stores for a dollar a bottle...

Mark

Edited September 1, 2017 by astroracer

[Ace-Garageguy]

Bear in mind that many "automotive" primers, including the ones recommended above, are now much too "hot" to be sprayed out-of-the-can on current styrene models.

This has been covered at some length here on the board, and the reason is two-fold.

1) Many current and recent models are made of a much softer and less solvent-resistant grade of "styrene" than in years past. Shooting Duplicolor primer out of the can, for instance, on some recent Revell models, will result in horrible surface crazing.

2) The primer manufacturers seem to be constantly tinkering with (probably to save a few cents per can) the formulations, and many offshore manufacturers simply don't give a damm about following the formulas accurately. Add this to an almost total lack of quality-control stateside on products made elsewhere, and you have a real problem.

So BEFORE you commit to spraying ANYTHING on a model you care about, TEST EXTENSIVELY...and NOT ON SPOONS. Plastic spoons ARE NOT always representative of kit-styrene, and many modelers have horror stories from using spoon-tested materials on models. Your testing, to be valid, MUST be done on the undersides of the actual model you're working on.

[Jon Haigwood]

I have been using the Autoair Colors paint and you can buy the Pearl in individual color or mix the pearl with the transparent colors'

On my current build that is pearl white with pearl blue panels. I found the pearl white (Createx) has more of  champagne color so I used the Ceramcoat pearl over Duplicolor gloss white to get the color I want. For the blue I just add the pearl to transparent blue. The have other paint effects like color shift and hi-lit interference that you should be able to mix in for different effects . 

[Mike Chernecki]

I have used the Chromatic Flip paint from Zero Paints. These type of pearls require a black base and the pearl top coat applied in very thin coats until the desired effect is achieved. 

[Fury556]

Nice - thanks for the replies people - that Zero Paints stuff looks like it could be a winner

[JollySipper]

Hey, friend, DupliColor makes a color shift paint.

 

[crazyjim]

There's a new paint place - Tru-Color.  I have samples and you might want to check them out.

[1st 700 Quad]

I always get looked at funny when I buy several bottles of the same color fingernail polish at the dollar store. There are some great colors, though, that will look great on models.

Steve