Apple Barrel and Folk Art Craft Paints

[Snake45]

I've been looking at the "craft paints" at Walmart and have even bought a couple for some particular detailing work. I've been favorably impressed, and am thinking of adding them to my painting inventory. So far I've only brushed them on small areas. 

Thinking of trying to airbrush them. Might get my feet wet by doing an interior or two before trying them on a body. Has anyone airbrushed the Folk Art (enamel) and/or Apple barrel ("acrylic") paints? What's a good airbrush thinner? I assume I'll need a good primer on plastic; thinking that my beloved cheap Walmart Flat White should work as well as anything. Can the enamels be polished out (if/when I use them on a whole body), or should I count on letting them dry thoroughly and then coat with a clear lacquer or enamel? 

Any other advice on these? 

[peter31a]

The acrylic paint can be thinned with windshield washer fluid or rubbing alcohol.

[Snake45]

6 minutes ago, peter31a said:

The acrylic paint can be thinned with windshield washer fluid or rubbing alcohol.

Good to know. I actually thinned some of it with tap water for a particular wash I needed, and it worked great, but I don't think I'd want to try to airbrush it like that. 

[Psychographic]

I use the Createx 4012, I have used plain water also. People use water with a touch of glycerine, window cleaner, and a host of other things. A tip I can give you, don't spray it too wet, if it mottles from spraying it to heavy, you might as well strip it and start over, or at least let it dry for a day or so before trying to get an even coat.

 

This is Apple Barrel with a pearl nail polish over it and a urethane clear.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2018 by Psychographic

[Little Timmy]

I just started using an airbrush, and saw the "AppleBarrel" acrylic's were dirt cheep . So I tried them out on this airplane...

I thinned the paint with this.

Got this stuff at Hobby Lobby.  Say's it's for thinning Acrylic's.... seem's to work ok...... but I'm still "Expirimentin" with it.

I have had several people suggest "Windex" for thinning Acrylic paint, but I havent tried that yet.

[Casey]

 

[Snake45]

Thanks Casey. I didn't look back that far. 

[bauercrew]

Hey snake I see want to go into the craft paint ,,check my post I don't know how to link it ,but I have picture of the exact stuff I use,,it is a little expensive but the stuff goes a long way, I have tried the plain water for thinner but ended in a disaster, I love that cheap stuff I use it on everything including bodies,for me it was so nice to get away from all the smelly stuff,,and since its water based I use a hair dryer to dry the part and don't have to wait,,think the key is spraying LIGHT coats until coverage is what you looking for,,alot of people say whats the purpose if it takes longer to spray why not just use our regular model paints with less coats, thanks to that fact it don't stink I really enjoy modeling again,not to mention EASY cleanup,,,,,,It just takes patients and learning something new and a procedure that works for you.anyway sorry for long post hope you get the hang of it

Bill

[Snake45]

Interesting experiment today. I have a toy show-bought '66 Mustang I got a couple years ago with a very nice dark green paint job on it, but it needed touching up in a couple spots. I've bought every kind of dark green paint I could find locally (Krylon, Rustoleum, Short Cuts, etc) and none of them is a match. So I got some of the Folk Art Enamel green and black and mixed a few drops of each until I got the color as close as I could. I spotted it in (with a brush) and it's not 100% perfect, but it's so close that the fixes aren't obvious, you have to go looking for them. The stuff seems to be sticking to the plastic well, too. 

Not sure I'd have tried this on an "A build," but it seemed like a good enough fix for this Glue Bomb Rescue. 

[Jon Haigwood]

You might try using Future as a reducer . It was recommended to use it 50/50 with Createx but Apple Barrel may be thicker.  

[Snake45]

2 minutes ago, Jon Haigwood said:

You might try using Future as a reducer . It was recommended to use it 50/50 with Createx but Apple Barrel may be thicker.  

Funny you should say that. One of my projects is an original annual '65 Vette roadster that came to me painted some hideous purple color. I'll strip it off eventually, but just for fun I tried polishing it out and darned if it didn't shine up nicely! Only problem is there are a few bare spots that need to be touched up. I've tried every kind of enamel in town and nothing comes close. Bought about four kinds of acrylics and found one that's acceptable, but when I put it on, when dry it will wipe right off. Was thinking of mixing some Future into it as a binder. 

Here's the Vette in question. 

 

 

[Jon Haigwood]

Found these video's on Createx and Future a couple weeks ago. They are about 5 years old but give some good info on using Createx and other acrylics such as Apple Barrel. There is this intro video and 6 others on how to use the combo. If I remember right he did not recommend using Apple Barrell  and similar paints because of their thickness you would need to reduce them so much that you will not have much pigment, but as some posts show here that may not be the case. Worth a look see. 

 

[Snake45]

I don't remember what brand the purple I need is. I bought at least four acrylics, so chances are it's not Apple Barrel. I'll have to find it and see.

[kitbash1]

On 4/4/2018 at 8:14 PM, peter31a said:

The acrylic paint can be thinned with windshield washer fluid or rubbing alcohol.

It can also be thinned with Windex.

[Snake45]

Windex is basically thinned ammonia. 

[Psychographic]

And ammonia can strip chrome. I use Windex Rain (no Ammonia) for cleaning water bases. I have sprayed with it to see how well it worked. It was OK, nothing special.

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, Psychographic said:

And ammonia can strip chrome.

Yup--and so fast you can almost watch it happen. 

It'll strip Future so fast you can't see it happen. Of course, it was designed to be stripped (off the floor) with ammonia. 

[tmathew1us]

A couple things to watch out for using these acrylics

 - I always strain the paint through panty hose first.  As they are cheap paints, sometimes they have clumps, and I have had small clumps obstruct my airbrush

- I usually thin them with windshield washer fluid

- another key, as mentioned, is to spray in very light coats. This medium is very tricky, though, in that it sprays very thin and can easily run. After airbrushing, I immediately put the body in front of a fan to try to get the liquid carrier and washer fluid to evaporate and leave the paint. As its comes out as a very thin coat, I haven;t had much luck polishing it, I usually clearcoat it first. Alternatively, you can sand out imperfections with wet sanding very easily, and then respray.