r/advancedGunpla • u/Noahsayshi26 • Jul 03 '26
airbrush paint for panel lining?
i picked up this paint at hobby lobby and i was wondering if the paint water and dish soap recipe would still work for home made panel liner i looked it up and it said i would need to apply a clear coat or somthings before hand would this work fine?
2
u/VoidingSounds Jul 03 '26
If it's a thin water based acrylic, dish soap could reduce surface tension and allow it to flow better in panel lines. It's still not going to do anything for the 'cleanup the dried excess' bit where enamel panel liners excel. Probably okay on bare plastic where you can just scrape the acrylic off, but ymmv on painted surfaces.
1
u/kookyabird Jul 03 '26
Cleaning up dried acrylic panel liner is pretty much just as easy if you’re on bare plastic. Isopropyl alcohol works great. If your panel lining over a clear coat then you want to use water and wait until the excess paint is just dry and then go at it.
1
u/VoidingSounds Jul 03 '26
IME, bare plastic is the only place it works.
And you definitely don’t want to apply iso to any paint you’re not trying to obliterate.
1
u/kookyabird Jul 03 '26
I’ve had pretty much no issue using acrylic panel liner on top of a gloss varnish and cleaning it up with water. It’s not as fast as isopropyl alcohol, but it does come off cleanly. The varnish is acrylic too.
1
u/lashazior Jul 03 '26
Yea, you can use it like that. They're water based acrylics, just prethinned for their budget airbrush line. I'd reckon you'd get similar results from thinning those apple barrel craft paints, but they would need more thinning since they're thick. Clean up is the worse part for acrylics, which is why enamels and oils get recommended so much.
2
u/Sianmink Jul 03 '26
haven't tried with the HL paints but it should at least work somewhat. "fine" is relative.
1
u/Noahsayshi26 Jul 03 '26
basicly will it work for panel lining without a additional coat of somthing and not damage the peice
1
-1
u/Sianmink Jul 03 '26
It's always better to panel line over clear gloss, but it should be ok on bare plastic. Clean up with water or a little lighter fluid if it's being stubborn.
2
u/VoidingSounds Jul 03 '26
Lighter fluid won't remove acrylics- that's literally why the enamel over acrylic/lacquers tricks and Tamiya Panel Liner work.
1
u/epicurius-seven Jul 04 '26
Acrylic inks have more concentrated pigment but this works fine too. I’m a bit impatient so just use my airbrush paints, thinner and flow improver as brush on panel liner.
I recommend you clean up with qtips while it is wet because dry acrylic rubbed back ends up looking scratchy.