Brush Painting Over RTR Paint

[Binky]

Apologies for the newbie question, I have some Dapol blue spot fish vans that I'd like to repaint as parcels SPVs, just like the prototype. I have some Humbrol acrylic BR blue that I plan on brush painting on and I plan on going for a well weathered look if that makes a difference.

 

Will I be ok without a primer as I'll be painting onto existing paint with a dark colour?

 

Thanks

[brossard]

Probably a good idea to prime the vans first.  This will even out any colour gradations from the original finish.

 

I have had good results from brush painting acrylic but you could get runs or blobs. 

 

A better method would be to airbrush.

 

After painting, I always spray gloss varnish, then apply transfers and finish with matte varnish.

 

This was brush painted:

 

 

Slaters 7mm LMS 20T brake.

 

John

[brian777999]

Whatever you use to paint the RTR wagon, give them a good wash in warm soapy water first. It will help your paint to adhere to the wagon as some of the coloured plastics seem to be quite ''greasy''. 

[Tim Chambers]

If "washing" ain't practical, I usually give the plastic a wipe over with a tissue/old hankie dipped in thinners/IPA-acts as an effective degreasant but be careful if transfers are present although should be OK if they are firmly attached! 

[Halvarras]

I've had issues with soap in the past so prefer to use a kitchen cream cleaner of the Jif......sorry, I mean Cif kind (showing my age there!), supermarket own brand is perfectly good, scrubbed in with a toothbrush and then scrubbed/rinsed off with plenty of water. Being white you can see any still hiding in corners. 

If such treatment would dislodge details then careful cleaning with white spirit or thinners on cotton buds will do, but beware of stray cotton fibres left behind (same with tissues). With this preparation I have never routinely primed models if I thought there was no need, but it does depend on the colours and materials involved.

 

When I started modelling in the 1960s I never cleaned anything before painting, nothing got primed and I used ordinary clear sticky tape for masking (sliced up on a piece of Perspex which partly killed the adhesive, not that that was the intention, I simply needed smaller pieces!) In the 1970s I built a few whitemetal & aluminium MTK kits in much the same blissfully ignorant manner and had very few problems. In retrospect I put this down to luck and what I perceive to be far better quality enamel paints back then. These days yellow drives me bananas.......

 

Right, I'm off to the shop to buy some Opal Fruits and Marathon bars.......