Do you/can you use nail polish for paint.

[Heartattaq]

Hi all. just a quick question can nail polish be used as paint? I live in a town where I have to order paints to use as their  are none available where I live. I am just getting back into the hobby after a very long abcense and the paint I had is no longer any good.  My wife, on the other hand, has about 9362 different colours of nail polish.

I am wondering if I can utilize these as a paint source. If so what would I use to thin them, as I imagine the paint goes on quite thick. 

Will this damage the model in any way. Any opinions and info on the topic is greatly appreciated.

[John Pol]

You need to put on a primer or the nail polish will eat the plastic. I use airbrush when I use nail polish. I also live in canada and most of my hobby stuff comes from on line even my paint

[DPNM]

Welcome back Derick.

I use nail polish for finishes. Nail-polish has some really nice pearls.

Thin with lacquer thinner right around 1 to 1. One bottle nail-polish to one bottle lacquer thinner should be close.

As John said, you will need to primer your model first. I use Dupli-Color primers I buy from a local auto parts store. Then again, I'm in the US.

I airbrush my nail-polish also.

Edited March 21, 2019 by DPNM

[89AKurt]

I heard about this decades ago.  Yes, primer first.

This project used pearl white.  I recently noticed a fine crazing, so not sure if it's the nail 'polish' or the clear (forget what I used).

Sorry for poor quality picture, I should take some new shots.  This has held up well.  One interesting thing, the windows have become tinted from UV rays.  I built this in the 90s.

[Heartattaq]

1 hour ago, John Pol said:

You need to put on a primer or the nail polish will eat the plastic. I use airbrush when I use nail polish. I also live in canada and most of my hobby stuff comes from on line even my paint

I am in Canada as well. Northern ontario, so the majority of my stuff has to come from online. Have you found some good places to order online John? Only ones I have found were online and the shipping for some places was like 40.00 it was outrageous.

 

[High octane]

While I don't spray nail polish I have heard and also known a number of guys who do with great success. Go for it!

[John Pol]

57 minutes ago, Heartattaq said:

I am in Canada as well. Northern ontario, so the majority of my stuff has to come from online. Have you found some good places to order online John? Only ones I have found were online and the shipping for some places was like 40.00 it was outrageous.

 

this place https://www.sunwardhobbies.ca/  http://www.greathobbies.com/  https://www.mapleairbrushsupplies.com/  this are the ones I order from with great service and if you spend a certain amount with two of them free shipping. Any other help just PM me and I will help you anyway I can

P.S. I`m in Guelph use to live in Hamilton

Edited March 22, 2019 by John Pol

[fordf-100]

I also use nail polish a lot. Everything the guys have said is correct and I just want to add that certain nail polish is more transparent than others (especially yellow's). I use a similar base color

but that might not work since paint is harder for you to get so several coats may be needed. It sparays on very nice and will give you great results!

[Heartattaq]

Thank you all for your advice. I am glad I didnt just start slapping it on, and asked here first. Would have been mortified to see the color start eating at the plastic.

[Impalow]

Nail polish is fantastic in my opinion... but you do need to put it over a primer as others have mentioned...  Tamiya white primer is my personal choice.

I also use automotive urethane clear overtop of it, and it works just fine...  you can also just polish it since its usually just lacquer.

Here are some examples:

Wet-n-wild disturbia

Wet-n-wild Lime light and various purples.

and then this i used the wildshine colors..

[Bill Eh?]

As far as thinning goes, this video from Doctor Crank's Lab-RAT-ory might help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w8KFSUjEl4

 

[Heartattaq]

Wow Eric those are some outstanding finishes.

[U_ser_ID]

Some really nice paint jobs from just nail polish! Got me interested in raiding the wife's collection. Just need to get an airbrush...

[carrucha]

Very useful info.  Thanks guys.

[peteski]

Yes you can use it for painting model cars, and yes I do.  There are dozens of really nice colors available (and while some cost over $10/bottle, there are lots of cheap ones too - look in dollar stores).  These are similar to 1:1 automotive lacquers - you need to use the same methods you would use for painting your model with 1:1 automotive lacquers. You need a primer/barrier coat over bare styrene.

Here is my last build where I uses a nail polish.

 

Nail polish is very viscous and needs to be thinned for airbrushing.  I used PPG medium temperature reducer (thinner).  I don't have the ratio (I thin it until I think it is usable), but it was probably around 50/50 ratio.  I used Tamiya fine white primer for the undercoat (decanted and airbrushed).  Then I applied a Testors Wet Look clear. No sanding/polishing/waxing was done to this model.

As far as the number of coats and thinning ratios go, I don't really keep track (and I've built this model few years ago).  I should make notes of my panting procedures, but I always forget to. Plus, that would  further slow down my already-slow builds.

Edited March 26, 2019 by peteski

[Khils]

15 minutes ago, peteski said:

I used Tamiya fine white primer for the undercoat.

I am paying close attention to this thread.....priming procedure?    Was that decanted & air brushed also???? # of coats?

[peteski]

8 minutes ago, Khils said:

I am paying close attention to this thread.....priming procedure?    Was that decanted & air brushed also???? # of coats?

I update my earlier post with some of the info you asked for. Sorry, my documentation skills are poor.

[Spex84]

I have purchased a bunch of nail polish over the years but have yet to get a project finished enough to paint!

I just wanted to point out what was briefly mentioned above--maybe check with the wife before borrowing nail polish. I was shocked when I went looking around town and discovered how expensive some nail polish is. Total daylight robbery! Makes hobby paints look cheap!

Dollar stores are the place to go if you want the more affordable stuff.

[rsxse240]

This is Sinful Colors nail polish over Testors Model Master flat black (as primer/base).

I thinned it about 1 part paint to 1 and ¼ medium temperature lacquer thinner from the auto paint store.  I found Kleen Strip (or typical hardware store brand) is very "hot" and dries too quickly and gives the paint no time to flow out, leaving a very rough texture.

[Dave G.]

On 4/7/2019 at 2:55 PM, rsxse240 said:

This is Sinful Colors nail polish over Testors Model Master flat black (as primer/base).

I thinned it about 1 part paint to 1 and ¼ medium temperature lacquer thinner from the auto paint store.  I found Kleen Strip (or typical hardware store brand) is very "hot" and dries too quickly and gives the paint no time to flow out, leaving a very rough texture.

With hardware store Kleen Strip if it's going on dry, thus rough, there are some things you can do.

1 Reduce your working air pressure till the nail polish goes on wetter. Too much air pressure dries it before it hits the surface.

2 move the airbrush in closer to the model surface ( same reason as above, the distance can cause drying too).

3 Mix the thinner 50/50 with xylene then thin as usual with that blend ( depending on the weather I sometimes use straight xylene or a blend rich in xylene).

4 Increase the fluid flow .

Model Master enamel isn't a good idea as a base under lacquer products. You will find out why in due time.

Edited April 8, 2019 by Dave G.

[peteski]

Blending some VM&P Naphtha with the thinner will also slow down its evaporation.

[rsxse240]

On 4/8/2019 at 5:51 PM, Dave G. said:

With hardware store Kleen Strip if it's going on dry, thus rough, there are some things you can do.

1 Reduce your working air pressure till the nail polish goes on wetter. Too much air pressure dries it before it hits the surface.

2 move the airbrush in closer to the model surface ( same reason as above, the distance can cause drying too).

3 Mix the thinner 50/50 with xylene then thin as usual with that blend ( depending on the weather I sometimes use straight xylene or a blend rich in xylene).

4 Increase the fluid flow .

Model Master enamel isn't a good idea as a base under lacquer products. You will find out why in due time.

I haven't had a problem with sinful colors yet.  And though they won't tell what they're using as a base, it thins with Testors reducer, and even mixes with their paint, so I presume it is enamel.  Also, since it is so cheap, I would guess the maker isn't using lacquer as a base.  I use lacquer thinner as it expedites the drying/curing process and it is readily available at reasonable prices.

[aurfalien]

Has any one used nail powder dip?

[rsxse240]

I can't say that I have ever heard of 

1 hour ago, aurfalien said:

Has any one used nail powder dip?

I can't say that I have ever heard of it.  

 

Edit:

I just looked it up on YouTube and it doesn't seem feasible for modelling application, but that doesn't mean it isn't good for ANYTHING in modelling.

Edited April 10, 2019 by rsxse240

[peteski]

10 hours ago, rsxse240 said:

I haven't had a problem with sinful colors yet.  And though they won't tell what they're using as a base, it thins with Testors reducer, and even mixes with their paint, so I presume it is enamel.  Also, since it is so cheap, I would guess the maker isn't using lacquer as a base.  I use lacquer thinner as it expedites the drying/curing process and it is readily available at reasonable prices.

I'm pretty sure that all nail polishes are lacquers. But that doesn't change the fact that both, lacquers and enamels (the organic-solvent based ones) can usually be thinned with a standard lacquer thinner, acetone or xylene.