Re: Painting - Blowmolds. Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
Ted, I apologize for the misunderstanding there in the candle thread. No offense taken at all.
I am glad to see the interest in other methods. I am always open to new and better ways of doing things, if something better than what I have found comes along I will use it. It is important to always be open to things. Usually, not always of course, but usually there will always be a better way to achieve what one is trying to accomplish.
As I said, I have nothing against the method Carrie has written, it is simply that I have found what personally I find to be a great step forward in painting molds.
Scott Loftus is right on the nose. Airbrushing is the method I use to paint with. Contrary to popular belief, it is not expensive to buy an airbrush kit. I have a Badger which is a well respected and well known brand. I purchased it for about $30. This is a starter kit and I plan to upgrade it to a fully featured model, however the starter models will work fine for beginners. Considering what we all spend on molds, I feel it is a worthy investment.
Regarding using a compressor. I personally have an industrial compressor, but, this is not needed. Canned airbrush propellant can be purchased at low cost. Again, I feel investing in a small air compressor will pay off in the long run, small compressors can be purchased quite cheaply. An airbrush does not require a large one. I have found 60 PSI to be a good pressure. If this is still too much there is always the canned propellant. My kit came complete with everything needed, the only accessory I bought was the propellant. Later I purchased the airbrush coil hose to attach to the compressor.
Regarding the paint. The paint I use is Createx Transparent. Do not use the opaque, as it is denser but also does not dry with a gloss. Check your labels.
A few reasons why I would recommend Createx as the only paint to use:
Fast drying, this paint is made to dry quickly.
Permanence. Airbrush paints are designed to withstand things such as being washed in a washing machine over and over and fading. Permanent on all surfaces when fully dry.
Transparency. The best for allowing light through. This is a transparency formulated paint. Layer it on a few times, the light will still shine through perfectly, but you will get a richer color without transparency issues. It is indistinguishable from the factory paint.
Designed for all surfaces. No surface prep is required except for it to be clean. This paint will adhere directly to un-prepped plastic.
Matching colors. Yes, their paints do match the original factory colors exactly. I am currently identifying which ones are the correct matches. They have many more colors available than would ever be found in spray paint and yes, they do also make a pre-made transparent flesh tone.
Easy clean up, should there be any over spray which is rare, a paper towel with water and your over spray is gone. Washing your gun and parts also requires only water, no solvents.
Low fume and spray emission, unlike spray paint, it does not fill the air with intense fumes and "paint dust". A mask is still recommended of course.
Stripping optional. If you have a only faded mold, you can paint directly over the original colors and it will blend perfectly, with no darkening. If you have chipping/flaking, then of course stripping should be used as the areas missing paint will automatically be lighter than the painted ones.
Mixing. Colors can be easily mixed to create different shades and custom colors.
As to an example of the control you have with a spray gun, one only needs to look to my post with the Empire candle. I wanted to test and see if anyone would pick up on that. Hence my little "rarer" quip. That is not a factory issued Noel candle, it was never made in that paint configuration, close, yes, but there are differences. That is a standard Empire #1501 Noel Candle which had a completely unpainted base and pointsettia. I painted the candle freeform, no taping off. The colors used, were: Createx Transparent Brite Red, Brite Green and Brite Yellow. Now I know these names sound like they are variations on standard colors, but recently Createx renamed their paints. Any color with the prefix "Brite" is in fact a standard color and should be interpreted as "Red", "Green" and so on. Here is the image again:
Finally, heat your area to be painted, I can't stress this enough. Heat up the plastic with either a good quality hair dryer or heat gun. You don't need to get it too hot, just warm enough to the touch. The molecules in the plastic and the paint are the same, which makes them reject each other. Heating the plastic will change the polarity and bond your paint to the mold. Yes the paint adheres well when sprayed on cold plastic, but over time I believe this would not hold up as well.
That is enough to get everyone started, remember, if you mess up, take a wet paper towel, wipe it off promptly and start over. Solvents are not needed. Make a paint pallet, a piece of cardboard will do fine. Use this to test your paint and spray radius before painting the mold. I will be doing a full outline of this as I progress, but this should give everyone a general starting point.
I hope this is beneficial to everyone, I feel it is a step forward and thus worth sharing. I am happy to see the interest.
Kev
Last edited on Thursday March 6th, 2008 06:36 pm by Kev
Great write up, Thanks for posting this How To
Its been in my mind since my friend in Maryland had an Air Brush setup & used to custom paint boats - usually just graphics & other items
Question, how much $$ is the paint, and in what size do you buy?
I know this may differ depending upon the color. I'm sure Red gets used a lot
But is it sold in quarts, pints etc? I can't imagine using a gallon...except for red
And do you buy it locally or on the web?
$30 isn't much at all, my friend has a compressor I can "borrow" for "a while"
Do you paint anything else besides molds? Cars etc? I have a Motorcycle I would like to customize
I think adding custom touches to molds makes a world of difference
Especially for daytime viewing
and the Spray cans at $4 a pop can get very expensive
Last edited on Thursday March 6th, 2008 07:19 pm by David Balch
You can purchase the paint in 2 oz. size up to 128 oz. (One gallon.) This site here is the best I have found so far. The color charts are out of date, but the text list is current as is the price list: http://www.dixieart.com/Createx_Transparent_Colors.html
I have been buying 4 oz. bottles locally at the A.C. Moore store in the Holyoke Mall. I will now be ordering from this site though as I can purchase in higher quantity at lower cost.
I haven't painted anything else with these paints, aside from reticular foam. I have restored a few machines, a scooter and 1960's Harley-Davidson golf cart, but I hadn't discovered the airbrushing when I did those.
Basically the most needed colors would be red, green, yellow and black.
Last edited on Thursday March 6th, 2008 07:36 pm by Kev
Kev, excellent how to and I am very appreciative of the information. I have looked at Createx's site in the past, its a supply treasure trove. I'm holding out for an airbrush model with compressor (as I'm also a woodcarver, I prefer to have a complete system). I have worked with airbrushes in the past, but no longer have one and haven't been able to quite cough up the $$ for what I want.
My question is, you mentioned you have a Badger, I'm familiar with that brand, but cannot seem to locate one for $30 or so? Did you buy that locally or on-line?
Thanks Kev, once again, excellent how-to and nice job on your blow mold!
Let me start with a disclaimer: This is not a promise or guarantee!
I just wanted to throw this out there and see if there's interest. For a variety of obscure reasons, my company is an authorized Badger reseller. If there was significant interest, I might be able to get some good prices on air guns, cans of compressed air, small compressors, and paints.
I have no idea what prices are off the top of my head, so I do not know if once shipping is added, the savings are any better than walking in your local craft store and buying stuff.
This is something I can look into though, so if anyone is interested I can look up prices and maybe organize a group buy or something.
WOW.....that's nice.....timing is good too
I'd be very interested, I have access to a compressor
I think shipping a compressor might be expensive, but I have no idea what size they sell with air brush setups
My friends is a big model made for nail guns etc
That is a wonderful offer, it is greatly appreciated. Count me in as well. I would love to upgrade.
Here are some other images to show how well the paint works, all but the candle you will remember from my picture I posted of my snowmen. I did a custom job on the Sun Hill snowman, which it turned out is a TPI edition, not SH. It now resembles the Poloron edition.
In this one everything has been painted but the scarf:
Here it is entirely finished:
Here it is illuminated:
Here is the Empire derby snowman, everything is painted except for the jacket and the top of the cane. I need to purchase the blue paint yet.
And another of the Empire candle.
If the red appears odd in some images, that is the camera, not the paint. You can see this by how it captured the original Empire blue wrong, on my screen at least it appears almost Day-Glo which it is not. It is the ordinary blue.
Last edited on Thursday March 6th, 2008 10:12 pm by Kev
Glad to see this is being discussed and not argued now . I have never tried painting blowmolds (probably because I never had any until now) but I have read both ways now and will probably lean toward this way. I have an air compressor, an hvlp gun that I have painted cars with and a real cheapie airbrush gun. I have never mastered the art of the spray can other than to spray it over primer for block sanding so this was perfect timing.
I had planned to try Carrie's way because I did not know how to proceed otherwise but this way seems less odorous all around. I will still wear a face mask (hopefully this is less toxic than basecoat/clearcoat). Just need to wait for warmer days now and less rain.
Couple of questions. Do you dilute it with anything? How many oz would a small toy soldier require? I would need fleshtone, red, black...Do you paint the white or is that the color of the plastic?
Thanks for the wonderful write up Kev! This needs a stickie!
I have not diluted the paint, I haven't found a need to.
To give an idea of the amount of paint used, all of the red on the Empire derby snowman used about a quarter of a 4 oz. bottle. A little goes a long way, which saves money. 2 oz. of each color would be enough to cover one soldier.
All white areas are the the natural plastic, not painted.
DanglinModifiers wrote: Let me start with a disclaimer: This is not a promise or guarantee!
I just wanted to throw this out there and see if there's interest. For a variety of obscure reasons, my company is an authorized Badger reseller. If there was significant interest, I might be able to get some good prices on air guns, cans of compressed air, small compressors, and paints.
I have no idea what prices are off the top of my head, so I do not know if once shipping is added, the savings are any better than walking in your local craft store and buying stuff.
This is something I can look into though, so if anyone is interested I can look up prices and maybe organize a group buy or something.
Steve, thank you for checking into this. I am very much interested, so please include me in your planning.
I want to point out that I did use a stencil on parts of the snowmen, and taped off some other parts. One of the downsides to the cheaper guns is they don't have the super fine adjustments. They will go down to about an inch. When you get into the areas that are tight you will want to run some painters tape. You will not need to cover everything with newspaper, the overspray will only be about an inch. If we are so lucky to get the nicer guns, the overspray issue will completely non existant. But as you can see it depends, the candle was fine freeform, but I needed to do the snowmen with stencils/minor taping off.
Another point, although the paint will dry fast to the touch, you will want to let it set before allowing it to be used and abused. It does need a standard set time.
I went and dug out out my Badger box, the model I bought was the 250. I was incorrect about buying the can seperately, it came in the box as I just discovered. I purchased it at A.C. Moore, same as the paints. Here it is, currently on sale: http://www.a2zhobbies.com/Badger/Model_250/BAD-250-4.html
Thanks for the information on the Badger. The air brush method is definitely superior to taping off and using spray paint.
I appreciate the information and will cough up the money to purchase the system I've been eyeing for some time. Now that I have seen your results, I'm very excited. Thanks, Kev. Blow mold restorations have just taken another step forward.
It may hold up on outdoor furniture, certainly would be worth a shot at trying it.
I just noticed this on the Dixie Art site, this is really great news on the new paints/formulations:
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM CREATEX
2005-06 NEW Createx Airbrush Color Additions and Product Improvements.
Createx is pleased to announce several exciting new additions to its popular line of ready to spray Airbrush Colors.
5311 Pearl Pineapple
5312 Pearl Tangerine
5313 Pearl Lime
5314 Pearl Plum
5133 Canary Yellow
5134 Maui Blue
5135 Purple
Createx Colors takes its Airbrush Colors to the next level.
Createx Colors has incorporated several product revisions to its popular line of Airbrush Colors. The company has significantly improved the color flow, color selection and overall performance.
The new colors feature an advanced suspension/thickening system which allows the colors, when shaken, to thin out to a very flowable consistency (this process is called psuedoplasticity). Once it is sprayed out onto the surface the product sets up to sit slightly on top of the surface requiring fewer coats to be applied while offering a brighter color. Due to this revised consistency some air pressure adjustments may need to be lowered to compensate for these flow advancements.
The new colors also contain several improvements in the area of tip drying and fine lines. This will allow the artist to spray a micro line without colors wicking or spreading. This is especially important for the professional airbrush artist. The airbrush artist will also notice how the colors have a “softer” feel on the trigger with less air pressure. Colors will respond better and have a silky flow. The older formulation would often require frequent stops or jerky trigger motions. This new product requires minimal effort to achieve smooth unending lines. These modifications allow the artist to “work” the needle less and improve overall user satisfaction. This may require airbrush artists to make some slight technique adjustments.
The other major change is in the Transparent Colors. These have been adjusted for improved color brightness and pigment intensity. Some of the colors may appear lighter than in the past, but the color, once applied to the surface will outperform its previous counterpart. New specialty pigments (concentrated colorants) have been utilized and exciting new colors such as Canary Yellow, Maui Blue and Purple have been added. Some old standards like Violet, Caribbean Blue and Tropical Green have been dramatically improved. In the Pearlized Color line exciting new shades including Pearlized Tangerine, Pineapple, Lime Green and Plum have been added.
Overall, the new color line is much brighter and is closer to the actual bottled color when it is sprayed. The previous color line formulation had a tendency to look very dark in the bottles but dried to a much lighter shade. The new colors maintain a closer look to the wet color without losing any of the pigment concentration. This allows for artists to have a better idea when choosing the color in the bottle. In fact, the colors have a higher solid content than ever before with superior color intensity and brightness.
Call Createx Colors at 1-800-243-2712 to request a color chart and information brochure.
Last edited on Friday March 7th, 2008 01:30 am by Kev
I'm sorry for hijacking your thread, hopefully I'm adding to the discussion!
I got the info on Badger. Looks like we get 40-50% off, it's different on every item.
As an example, the kit Kev posted with the airbrush, hose, and can of air I can get at $18.50, but only sold in cases of 12. Plus shipping here, plus shipping to you.
Any of their more expensive airbrushes are sold in packs of 1, so I can have those drop shipped to you and save some money.
If I can do an order over $1500, shipping to me is free, which would save us some money.
Let's see some other stuff...
The cans of air I can get, small under $5, larger under $7. That's if I can do a case of 12, it's a bit more for sub-case quantities.
Paint I would be able to get at a little under $2 for an oz. But this is not the brand of paint Kev was discussing, so I have no idea how it will work on molds.
Again, still not a promise or guarantee! Just exploring with you. Prices not guaranteed! I only quickly read the info and may have missed something! I have no experience selling, or putting together these kind of orders. I'm just seeing if you guys think this would be worth setting up.
I'm going to look over the information this weekend, and probably post a separate thread as I understand it more and think about details of how to make this work easily for everyone involved. Anyone with experience doing this, I'd appreciate your advice!
Kev wrote:
Finally, heat your area to be painted, I can't stress this enough. Heat up the plastic with either a good quality hair dryer or heat gun. You don't need to get it too hot, just warm enough to the touch. The molecules in the plastic and the paint are the same, which makes them reject each other. Heating the plastic will change the polarity and bond your paint to the mold. Yes the paint adheres well when sprayed on cold plastic, but over time I believe this would not hold up as well.
I like your repaints, and I see a lot of possibilities for this method. How does heating change the polarity? This sounds a trifle Star-Trekky to me. "Beam us up Mr. Scott". "I canna lock on, Captain. I'ma gonna hafta reverse the polarity!"
____________________ I wish you a hopeful Christmas...
Rhonda