Humbrol Enamel

[Doylie]

Hi, I was after a little help please?

I've finished covering a Tiger Moth in silver Oratex and want to paint part of it with humbrol enamel (the yellow stripes) and was wondering if it needs thinning and are there any other things i need to be aware of ?

Its a long time since i've built a model and it looks quite nice , i don't want to spoil it!.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[PeterF]

I have used Humbrol enamel a couple of times brushed on and never thinned it. I suggest you test it on a scrap of the Oratex first to make sure that there is no reaction between the two.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Agree, cover a bit of scrap and try it, may need a little thinning but a test will tell for sure.

[Dwain Dibley.]

All the humbrol paint that comes with Airfix now is waterbased, so no probs at all. 

D.D.

[Geoff S]

How is the water-based Humbrol identified?  Most of mine is quite old and in those tiny tins but a local dept store (Boyes in Ripley, Derbys) usually has a good stock which has probably been there for some time so perhaps not water-based.  I usually thin mine and clean brushes with white spirit but I prefer water-based paint because of the easy clean up.  I use quite a lot of Valspar for example.

 

 

[Dwain Dibley.]

Comes in plastic containers Geoff.

D.D.

[Geoff S]

Thanks, Dwain.  Should be easy to spot, then.  All the Humbrol I've ever seen has been in tins, usually those ridiculously small ones.

[Dwain Dibley.]

They go an amazingly long way tho, don't they.

D.D.

[PeterF]

When I painted the Mossie in my avatar picture (for scale, that is an 82" span) I bought the colours from a Boyes store, all the old solvent based enamels in tins, light grey, PRU blue and sand, I think it was about 18 tins in all from memory , I had rather an odd look at the till. The tins had been there for a while and had separated into an almost solid plug of pigment and the solvent / oil. I emptied the tins into glass mixing jars and got it all mixed up and it went on a treat. All matt colours and then a coat of Poly-C gave it a nice semi matt finish.

 

 

[Dwain Dibley.]

That's a cracking finish Peter.

Here is a pic of the water based Humbrol "tub". I noticed that the Revell tins I have are water based too. The Humbrol tins are oil based.

D.D.

 

 

My Stash, some of these are over 10 years old

[Denis Watkins]

If you have proper smelly Humbrol Enamel Doylie,

As the lads say, test it.

If you have to thin it, do not go more than 10% as good properties are lost.

For spraying, I thin about 5%, to be milk consistency.

Non water based still works well with white spirit.

 

Even with water based paint, don't go overboard thinning, as properties of paint are lost.

And don't paint in this cold weather.

You need to above 5°C, 

10°C is better, but ideally paint on or above 15°C air temperature

[Doylie]

Thanks for all the answers, ive tried a bit on a scrap piece covered in Oratex and it works fine. Getting a nice clean edge, now that's another matter!!! (only joking, masking tape is fine, not perfect, but as they say good enough for a blind man on a galloping horse! 

Thanks

[Dave Garrett 1]

Thanks lads, I am about to encounter exactly the same issue with my DB Sports & Scale Tiger moth?