Polyscale question

[My_name_1s_MUD]

Is Polyscale sprayable out of the bottle or do you have to thin it? If so, is Windex acceptable to thin it?

THANKS!

[zeus60]

I'd recommend adding a little Tamiya thinner. Although PollyScale is probably sprayable right from the bottle, the Tamiya thinner has a retarder which will keep it from drying too quickly.

I have not had good luck using Windex.

HTH.

Stacey

[Mark M.]

They have acrylic paint thinner for use in air brushes. That's what I use. I've got some Polyscale in my collection and i'm sure I've airbrushed it at least once before. I never mess around with windex or future as a thinner. I just use real thinner.

Just don't let any drop of the thinner touch the jar of paint itself. It will "cure" the paint overnight if you're not careful. Put the paint in another container, then add the thinner to that one.

[Chuck1945]

I have been using PollyScale for several years. Windex is good for cleanup, but I would also not suggest it as a thinner. Polly S airbrush thinner works with the paint as well as anything I have tried. In my use at least, Tamiya X20A acrylic thinner has not worked any better then the Polly S thinner, tip clogging when attempting fine detail remains an issue with either type of thinner (H&S Evolution and Iwata HP-C airbrushes). Which is why I am slowly converting to Gunze acrylics.

[Old Blind Dog]

For airbrushing Polly Scale it really is necessary to do some thinning. Unthinned Polly Scale has a tendency to clump up and can also seriously clog the airbrush tip. I've used Polly Scale for something like 12 years now and have developed some techniques which seem to work quite well.

The good news is that Polly Scale can be thinned quite successfully with several different media. You can use distilled (or even tap) water, PollyS airbrush thinner or (perhaps best of all, as Zeus suggests) Tamiya X-20 A thinner (add about 15 drops to a new 1/2 oz bottle).

If you're using water to thin the Polly Scale, I'd highly recommend adding a few drops of Liquitex FlowAid Flow Enhancer (from art supply stores) to the paint. This will help avoid clogging at the tip and make the paint spray a bit more evenly.

I would not recommend using Windex as a primary thinner for Polly Scale (though it is superb for cleaning the airbrush after using PS). As with Tamiya acrylics, a tiny drop or two in the color cup before spraying PS doesn't hurt, but too much Windex will cause separation of the pigment and carrier elements and you'll end up spraying extremely thin, sticky, colored Windex on your model, necessitating a wipe-down and going back to square one.

I clean my airbrush before and after spraying Polly Scale with a 40:60 mixture of Isopropyl and Windex, and this seems to aleviate any problems with clogging.

Old Blind Dog

Edited June 4, 2007 by Old Blind Dog

[My_name_1s_MUD]

I normally airbrush Tamiya acrylics, so I have the Tamiya thinner. Thanks very much!

I have my Y-wing all primed and ready to go... here's the paint job I'm going for that was done with Polyscale paints...

http://www.starshipbuilder.com/forums/atta...mp;d=1142304970

[mlicari]

OBD speaks the truth! Spraying Polly Scale out of the bottle is like trying to shoot chili through your airbrush. Thinned down with distilled water, it works fine for a while, but has a tendency to dry on the tip quickly and frequently. Thinned with some Tamiya acrylic thinner, which has a retardant, it sprays quite well.

:huh:

Mike