alpinestar

Please help me!! Why is it when i airbrush a flat coat on my models, it always dries semi-gloss (or sometimes fully gloss)?

I've just sprayed an aircraft using Microscale Micro Flat with my Testors Aztek airbrush and its dried gloss!!! I've tried thinning it with water and acrylic thinners, both dry gloss.....

Any tips as to how i can achieve that matt finish? What is the best product to use? Come on people, get thinking, it's driving me bonkers!!!!

Hope someone can help,

Chris.

Bunkerbarge

My first thought would be that you are not mixing the paint enough before you are watering it down.

Clear matt finishes, even though looking clear and mixed, still consist of the same constituents as any other paint, i.e. a carrier containing suspended pigments and solids. Obviously clear does not have the pigments included but to get the matt effect you must mix the coating very very thoroughly to ensure the solids are evenly held in suspension.

There could also be a tendancy to loose the matt effect if you mix the clear with too much water or thinners as, of course you are spreading the solids too thinly on the surface to generate the correct matt effect.

The fasct that you say 'sometimes' fully gloss would indicate an inconsistency somewhere which I would think quite likely to be the mix of the clear in the first place.

I would start by very thoroughly mixing up the clear and doing a test with a brush on a sample. If that dries matt successfully then you know the paint is OK and you can progress from there.

Keep us informed as to how it goes.

alpinestar

Thanks for the info mate, after inspecting the Micro Flat bottle, I found a great blob of "matter"(!) lurking at the bottom! After a thouough mix I did a test spray thinned with water and Hey Presto!, a nice flat finish with just a hint of sheen....perfect.

Please don't ridicule me too much, I'm only small , lol.

Chris.

Bunkerbarge

Glad I could help.

wonwinglo

*** Chris that matter is only a form of fine pumice,if ever you need to matt paint that you think is a bit too glossy just add a bit of fine talc,really stir anything like this ever so throughly with a wooden stick,I notice that a lot of the Revell paints are not as matt as they should be and can sometimes benefit from a bit of matting agent ie talc,I learned about this from watching how they make paint in a factory,everything is made as gloss at first then in goes the agent to make batches of matt.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

Phoenix

good tip

does this work with enamel paints too wonwinglo?

Nigel.D

Yep talc is the universal flattening agent

Phoenix

hehe

thanks

Bunkerbarge

I always mix matt paints, enamel, acrylics or whatever, with a piece of bent copper wire (removed from a piece of 2.5 mm flat TC&E) stuck in my battery drill.

I shape it into something like a coat hanger shape so that it goes into the corners and acts as a suitable paddle without throwing the stuff out of the pot!

wonwinglo

*** Yes,enamel,cellulose,acrylic as Nigel says it is the universal product,go for the better quality talcs as they are ground finer,and your models and workshop smell like a boudoir.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/