PE painting

[monkey]

hi all,

have trouble painting PEs. I try to paint the little things but paint (acrylic) always run to the spaces between two metal lines, ie. the metal on the radar has no paint, but the spaces between them collected lots of it and instead of being empty, it is solid. please help. thanks.

[coberg1]

i have one word: airbrush, that same thing happens to me with the superglue on unpainted brass. the airbrush puts a thin even coat of paint, although you may have to use more than one coat for thorough coverage. then glue the painted pieces in place. ive heard some people use paint as glue to secure the pieces into place but i haven't tried that yet.

[mike mccabe]

Hi
Make sure you give it a good wash first, a little bowl of warm water (in case anything comes off) and a tiny drop of washing up liquid is all you need, just swish it around a little and leave it to soak for a few minutes then rinse with clean water. For some parts instead of paint you may just want to use a permanent marker to colour it. Also I use enamels and have had no problems with this although as with all pe you have to handle it carefully otherwise the paint will come off no matter how you prepare it.

Mike

[kevinb120]

Hi
Make sure you give it a good wash first, a little bowl of warm water (in case anything comes off) and a tiny drop of washing up liquid is all you need, just swish it around a little and leave it to soak for a few minutes then rinse with clean water. For some parts instead of paint you may just want to use a permanent marker to colour it. Also I use enamels and have had no problems with this although as with all pe you have to handle it carefully otherwise the paint will come off no matter how you prepare it.

Mike

Yup, I do the same. I also run them very gently across a flat sheet of paper 600 grit or so if possible. Usually I use a flexi-file on top of the part to keep it from catching on my fingers and bending, It does not take much. If I use acrylic paint I prime them first. And like it's said above, if its primed, you can easilly use ultra fine marker pens to color them too, especially small red details like life presever ropes and aircraft details, since red is typically such a thick paint. Floquil spray figure primer is ultra fine grit and is made for metal(or plastic) and comes in grey/black/or white. Tamiya surface primers also stick very well to them and are fine grit. I used it to prepaint items like life preservers and windshield wipers on the fret by just masking the section off-then just clip and stick They are so light its much easier then cutting them off first, you can actually lick the tip of a toothpick and stick them right on the model(put a miniscule drop on the location) prepainted. But you do have to at least spray paint parts with any detail, even better is to airbrush.

[tony t]

If you are painting the railing with a brush (instead of airbrush), dilute the paint somewhat (I'd say by at least 20% water) on a palette first. If it still clogs up the inter-rail spaces, blow on it gently and that should pop the clog. Or dab it with a piece of tissue from the other side of the rail. Since the paint is thinner you might want to apply 2 or 3 coats.

Don't use your best brushes for this though, painting rails will destroy the nice pointy form of a good brush.

[kevinb120]

I dont brush paint PE but I do on other small parts. If you spray prime it a close color(grey/white/black-whatever), you can usually get away with only one brush color coat