"Do you use enamels with acrylics?" Topic

There is an old myth that you can't use the two together. This certainly applies to actually mixing the two together. Oil and water, and all that. I have tried it with leftover paint on a pallet and it turns into unusable goo.

The myth states that if you paint enamels over acrylics that the solvent will dissolve the acrylics underneath. Balderdash! I do it all the time.
With one caveat. I am a batch painter. "If it's Tuesday I am painting blue."
I am not one of those who knock off five figures a night, from soup to nuts. Now, in bulk my numbers may average out to that, but…

I find some enamels have superior properties to acrylics of the same color. Testor's flat white and yellow are terrific for one coat coverage over dark colors. Facings? Belts?
I also like Testor's Steel for gun barrels. I can control the thickness of the line better with a little thinner and the paint on a blister.

Testor's flats take The Dip very well too.

The chestnut brown is terrific for staining ballast or sand on bases.

Best of all they are quite cheap and readily available at chain craft stores like Hobby Lobby, Michael 's and A C Moore.

I have yet to find an acrylic metallic that looks as nice as an enamel metallic, so while I usually paint up my figures in acrylics, I always turn to enamels to finish up any shiny metallic surfaces. Testors metallics are far superior than anything I've found from GW, Reaper, Vallejo, etc.

Indeed.

Knights ?
Spray prime or undercoat with Walmart $.99 USD Flat Black and drybrush with Testor's Steel.

I forgot to mention that enamels are easier on brushes than acrylics.

Once acrylics gas off and dry they are basically impervious to most solvents; the lacquer thinner in most enamels will not disolve an acrylic base coat that is completely dry. If I base coat in acrylic and plan on weathering than I will apply a clear coat first so I will have a smooth surface to work on.

I still use the flat bright Humbrol enamels for the odd Chaos warrior armour and as mentioned the finish in nearly all enamel metallics seems to be superior.

Also reds and yellows cover well.

I use the paint that works for the color/effect that I want. A few times that has meant using enamels for limited areas, say a metallic or a leather or a wood area. You don't paint one over the other, you paint exclusively on an area with one or the other….

Some of us were never able to stay within the lines.

It is nice to see that there are many people who use enamels. I use them exclusively for figures foe the reasons already stated.

Been using a lot of AK and Mig weathering effects over my acrylics, they're enamels.

I have done but looking at my painting desk it can't have been for a while as I have no enamels on it.

x42

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only painter who uses enamel for metal. I paint a lot of medieval figures, and I just find that I like the finish of the enamel over acrylic for the armor and swords. I usually mix testors gun metal with silver for the varying shades.

Good information here. I have not touched enamels in ages. I may have to try some of the mentioned techniques.

Thanks everyone.

Yes – use both on same figure – but mostly use just acrylics these days.

The only time I've had trouble with enamels was when I used Testors Gold to highlight some Terminator armor and then brushed them with Minwax Tudor Satin (the "magic dip"). Even though the enamel had been dry for 24+ hours, the dip melted them off. Next time, I clearcoated the figs before applying the dip, and that seemed to work out fine.

I use Vallejo for the "uniform parts" and musket/rifle. Since a number of Vallejo paints are also available as "Arte Deco" (sáme producer, but 60ml bottles instead of 17ml, and múch cheaper)for simple colours (red, green, brown, etcetera) Arte Deco it is. Art Deco Gold for hair (just a few of them of course, most soldiers have brownish hair ;-))and Humbrol Gun Metal for the top of the rifle. Sabers and bayonets Revell Silver, saber grips Revell Gold. I find those Revell colours better than Humbrol Silver and Gold. Incidentally, since I use Army Painter Quickshade (Strong tone)I do this BEFORE using the metal colours.

Accidentally left the bulk of my enamels on the other side of the Divide after the Con in February so am using more of the acrylics that I got for the nieces and nephew to use.

Had always though used both to add variety to the available palette.

For the time being I am good with respect to metallics and solvent based stain/varnish as I have some old bottles of Floquil xylene based paints from back in the day. Was a real disappointment doing the first brush on of Minwax and seeing the cataphracts turn white after painting them with Model Master Steel and Brass…

Any pics?

Have used enamels as base coat on plastic kits and then completed camouflage with acrylics- worked well. Also done the metallic enamel thing.

Yes, many times. Acrylics take approx. 24 hours to dry, but many do not realize this.

I tried, in vain, to find a very interesting comment by a former tmp member about acrylics and enamels. One I have heeded. It was mostly about varnishing, inks and metallics but I think it applies equally to regular painting.

I'm paraphrasing of course.

Basically it went along the lines of you have to be wary of painting like over like, so for instance enamel over enamel is more likely to produce the "solvent effect". If you are one of those that likes to gloss then matte varnish then you should make sure that the two varnishes were of a different base. So if you like dullcoat (enamel) then you would be much better off using an acrylic gloss because the dullcoat would not dissolve the gloss varnish and produce a muddled effect requiring two or three applications. It was right on the money. Also if your figures are painted exclusively in enamel and your varnish of choice is enamel it is wise to give them a light coat of acrylic varnish to seal first to prevent any bleeding into the varnish layer.

With acrylics the effect is less noticeable but will occur if you paint too soon over a fresh application. Coopman is right on the money, acrylics touch dry very fast but hardening is a different matter, I like to use a hair dryer to make sure the paint is sufficiently hard, doesn't need to be hot just warm will be fine. Don't forget to let the figure cool down before painting!!!

Getting back to the story. A good example is when using enamel metals, seal with acrylic varnish and that will prevent the metal flake from floating off into the new paint layer. This doesn't seem to be a problem with acrylic metals, I think they use more medium than enamel metals. Also some sage advice regarding inks was, always mix a bit of medium in when applying them trying to seal them after is a pain as they are notorious for wanting to reactivate

And I'm throwing this out there to see if it will run.

I find that enamel paints (in general) have not improved over the last 20 years indeed some have gone backwards. Acrylic paints on the other hand have definitely improved, by some margin in fact.

I still use the cheap Testor's enamel brown. I do find that I get a better result from Citidel ink washes with acrylics though. For the most part I prefer enamel metalics for silver, brass, gold and chrome.

Yeah as far as enamels go I prefer Testors, I also agree that metallics are generally better in enamels though there is a couple of brands that makes rocking good metallics in a lacquer base but that is very hard on brushes.

For inks I have found artist archival inks (such as Rowney) have a much greater range and for the amount you get are much kinder on your pocket, well worth considering.