Best Touch-up Paint

[braddo]

So i'm ready to enter the world of touching-up playfields.

Any recommendations on what brand-name touch up paint i should buy to do the best job?

I've also read water-based is best is this correct??

[Retropin]

Water based are OK.. in all honesty every paint type has its advantages and disadvantages.

Water based or acrylics dry darker, so if you are colour matching then you need to make sure you colour match to the dried acrylic colour and not the wet.

Enamels are nice to use as you can colour match easily, but you can only do one colour a day as they take ages to dry.

My paint of choice is acrylic lacquer - dries VERY fast and retains its colour... in fact it dries too fast most of the time and so i use retarder thinners to keep it fluid for longer.

Whatever paint you use... bear in mind what sort of seal you are going to put over it - most CC's eat paint, so you need to make sure that your paint and CC are compatible.

If its an EM or SS game, then CC looks odd. For a perfectly safe and original look to the finish, i use polyurathane... its slightly yellowing same as original coating, goes on nice and then - same as original coating. But for an original finish and NOT high gloss, then a mix of 80% gloss and 20% low sheen gives a finish that has the same shine as original lacquer finish.

Hope this helps..

Gav

[braddo]

Cheers Gav that helps a lot. I don't have a lot to touch up so i wasn't planning on sealing at all, just touch up a handful of small worn areas with paint, that's all. I'll look further into it before I do anything.

[FirePower]

I don't have a lot to touch up so i wasn't planning on sealing at all, just touch up a handful of small worn areas with paint, that's all. I'll look further into it before I do anything.

With a similar problem, just small areas with a bit of touchup to do, I tried this on my Gorgar using acrylic paints.  Good range of colours at art shops and cheap - come in tubes about $4 each.  I found it easy-ish to match colour, but a chunk of yellow did dry darker.  In busy areas of the playfiled it was pretty easy to match and have it blend in.  I put some pics in a resto thread which I'll get back to one day.  Like you I hoped to get away with no sealing - big mistake as when I polished all the paint lifted - this upset me somewhat! 

I think I might try again with enamel as it should be tougher - I didn't really want to either coat it or put mylar on top, but maybe you need to?    People tell me the tiny little tins of paint we used to paint models with - about 20c diameter and 25mm high  are enamel - so I plan to try these - probably in a black area first and then try waxing it.   

[braddo]

Wow that's a bummer FP! Touch-up paint that was on my Gorgar from before I purchased it was starting to wear (around bonus inserts), but it's not too bad. I've since polished it with Novus-2 and waxed, and it's stayed good since then. Touch-ups on my Flash however, which were there prior to my purchase, have not moved at all, and are real solid even after novus and wax but I don't know what either paints on either machine are. Model paint in the tins (as you described) might be worth checking out I live around the corner from a model shop i might buy some black and white first and see how things go. I'll let you know. I really don't want to use mylar or contact cause removing the stuff in the future will lift more paint! I also don't want to have to strip the PF's and seal the whole thing I'd rather keep it original. Surely since the machines are now in home use, wear will be slow and to a minimum??

[FirePower]

The TOP dvd's (which I enjoy and reckon are really good) suggest using superglue to fill and protect paint around inserts and I plan to try some of this. You can buy it in "buckets" really chaep from Deal Extreme

[Retropin]

The small HUMBROL enamel paints are nice to use.. they have a perfect consistency to flow off a brush very nicely. I do a lot of the free hand black lines with these.

You can always just "spot "seal the touch ups.

Either just dab a small amount of coating on with a brush.. OR.... cut a hole in a piece of paper the size of the touch up - hold just above the PF and give a VERY short and sharp spray with a can of polyurathane... you need to do a tiny amount holding the can about  6 inches above the paper. The coating will spray through the hole and disperse outwards leaving no visible lines and will blend in nicely.. allow to dry completely and cut back with T cut or similar - buffs it right into the PF..

Another disadvantage of water based acrylic is they tend to shrink when drying.... no matter what paint you use ensure PF spot is grease free by wiping with metho first, or ANY paint will just lift

[FirePower]

Thanks for the tip Retropin - sounds worth a try, might get back onto Gorgar at Easter.  I was just so p!ssed off I've left it alone, partly annoyed, partly not wanting to make it worse.

[braddo]

short and sharp spray with a can of polyurathane... you need to do a tiny amount holding the can about  6 inches above the paper. The coating will spray through the hole and disperse outwards leaving no visible lines and will blend in nicely

I'm going to try this Retropin. When it comes to a can of polyurathane, is there any brand or type you would recommend?

[Retropin]

Nah - $10 special from bunnings will see you good!

[braddo]

OK RP thanks mate, i'll grab some model paint, a can of this stuff and try it out on some timber. I'll post the results.