Tru Color Airbrush paint...


goscrewyourselves

goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
Hi Guys,

After doing the scratch built model, using a rattle can and hand painting, I am re thinking my paint method. Both methods worked "okay" but didn't produce a fine enough finish.

As such, I am looking for "good" airbrush paint for doing any other painting. There has been talk about this Tru Color paint being very good and usable straight out of bottle, no mixing required and that, for me, is a bonus.

I am wondering just how good this stuff is from people who have used it. Specifically:

Is it really usable straight from the bottle?
What is the finish like?
How far does a bottle of it go? (I know this depends on how thick etc you put it on)
What do you use to clean your airbrush with using this paint?
Drying times?
Is a primer needed?
Does the cost of the stuff equate to the quality of it? (Value for money)

I know most of these questions can be answered on the Tru Color site, but this is from Tru Color. I'd really like to get the information from those who use it and have nothing to gain by being honest :)
 
Tony there were several mentions of using Tru Color in the thread about Floquil being discontinued.

I've been using Tru Color for about 5 - 6 months. Here are my conclusions.

It can be airbrushed straight out of the bottle although I found adding a little thinner after a bottle has been previously used helps. Tru Color is acetone based and I find acetone to be the best thinner to use.
The finish is a gloss which is nice for directly applying decals. When a gloss finish is not desired Testors Dullcoat can be applied with no harm to the color.
A bottle of paint seems to last me as long as any other 1 ounce paint product. It covers well.
I use plain old hardware store lacquer thinner to clean up my air brush.
Dry to the touch is relatively quick depending on ambient conditions but I allow 24 hours before a second color or decals are applied. Dry to the touch and actual curing time for the paint are 2 different things.
I have not used primer on plastic and the paint goes on well and does not attack the plastic. I haven't used it on any metal but I would most likely use a primer first.
I don't find the paint cost a factor based on my results. TC's thinner being acetone is a bit pricey so a quart of paint store acetone is the better value. Acetone evaporates very quickly so why spend a lot for a little?
 
Thanks Mike, and I did recall there being something about tru color in the forums.

I guess the best thing to do is buy a bottle of it and try it for myself. The one thing i do like is the fact that it can be used straight from the bottle. The down side is it being solvent based, making (for me anyway) the clean up a little messier than an acrylic paint that can be cleaned in the sink, so to speak.
 
My findings are about the same as Mikes. I haven't added any thinner to mine yet.....the paint seems to have a good shelf life and mine hasn't "thickened" to this point. I've done 5 locos and 3 passenger cars off a bottle, at which time the paint got too low in the bottle for my brush to pick it up. My "preferred" airbrush to simply shoot paint is a testors Aztec which I like because it lets me use the original paint bottle........I just screw the special lid (One lid works for 1 or 3 oz bottles and a second lid works for testors size bottles) onto the paint and screw the whole thing onto the brush, which makes cleanup super easy as well...no paint cup, the feed tube is a coffee stirrer cut to length, which I just throw away, then I just give the lid a couple of shots of thinner and put the lid back on the paint and I'm done. Tru color paint has worked great for this application. I've sprayed it onto both primed and unprimed surfaces with equal results. Sometimes I find the surface looks a little "bumpy" when first applied, but it always dries very smooth. I've also used it to touch up chips with good results....it looks obvious when you first apply it , but sucks down into the chip and dries smooth. Also, Tru color paint is a actually an "acrylic solvent based paint" so the polymers that bind the pigment to the model are acrylic, but the carrier is solvent based.......seems to work!
 
NH Mike said:
Tony there were several mentions of using Tru Color in the thread about Floquil being discontinued.

I've been using Tru Color for about 5 - 6 months. Here are my conclusions.

It can be airbrushed straight out of the bottle although I found adding a little thinner after a bottle has been previously used helps. Tru Color is acetone based and I find acetone to be the best thinner to use.
The finish is a gloss which is nice for directly applying decals. When a gloss finish is not desired Testors Dullcoat can be applied with no harm to the color.
A bottle of paint seems to last me as long as any other 1 ounce paint product. It covers well.
I use plain old hardware store lacquer thinner to clean up my air brush.
Dry to the touch is relatively quick depending on ambient conditions but I allow 24 hours before a second color or decals are applied. Dry to the touch and actual curing time for the paint are 2 different things.
I have not used primer on plastic and the paint goes on well and does not attack the plastic. I haven't used it on any metal but I would most likely use a primer first.
I don't find the paint cost a factor based on my results. TC's thinner being acetone is a bit pricey so a quart of paint store acetone is the better value. Acetone evaporates very quickly so why spend a lot for a little?
Click to expand...

I've been using acetone for cleanup as well as thinning on Tru Color, and it works beyond great and so easy I've even started using it for final acrylics cleanup (after I've rinsed with water to remove excess). Is there any particular reason to use the lacquer thinner instead?
 
No real reason to use it other than where I buy it the cost is less than a gallon of acetone, it also evaporates at a slower rate. I buy the acetone in smaller quantity for thinning Tru Color. Additionally I've been using it almost forever so I just continue to use it.
.
 
I have 82 bottles of TruColor paint on the shelf and I haven't had a single one that I would consider to be use-able for spraying without thinning. I "could" spray it without thinning, but it's too heavy as is and won't flow out without additional thinner. With proper thinning it should go on wet and perfectly smooth. If your paint isn't going down glass smooth, you need to add more thinner. I see SO many paint jobs on forums where the finish has a pebbly look to it. People just aren't thinning their paint adequately. If your finish isn't glass smooth and mirror finish, you need to adjust something.

Each pass of your airbrush should be wet enough that the next pass flows smoothly back into it. TruColor paint actually works better with too much thinner as opposed to not enough. You also need a wider spray pattern than what you are normally accustomed to due to the high flash point of this alcohol based finish.

The real beauty of TruColor paint is the fast dry time. I can easily mask and spray three colors in a single day. That alone is its biggest factor .... I used to have to wait days for Scalecoat to be dry enough to mask ! Absolutely love this stuff !

Mark.
 
If you don't need a gallon of acetone you can find I cheap in the cosmetics section. 100% acetone nail polish remover. They carry it at Dollar General stores here for less than $2.00 a pint. A gallon is probably still cheaper in the long run, but if you don't need that much this works great.
 
So, it strongly seems as Tru Color is the way to go to get optimum results,BUT can be touchy to use compared to perhaps other alternatives.

So now the only questions I have are regarding clean up and thinning. If I understand the posts correctly, Tru Color is an Acrylic paint but Solvent based. As such, it requires a Solvent based product, such as Acetone, for both Thinning and Cleaning.

With that being said, is there a thinning ratio for Tru Color to Acetone? IE: 1 part paint to 2 parts Acetone; 1 part paint to 4 parts Acetone; 2 parts paint to 1 part Acetone, etc? I did note that Mark said it is better to be too thin than not thinned enough.

Finally, and this should be a gimme, I do assume you can mix Tru Color Paints with each other, ie: add white to another color to lighten it if need be and so forth.
 
No problem mixing colors to get a different shade or whatever you are looking to do. A new bottle I thin about 20% for spraying. As it gets used up it usually requires more thinner. Unlike Floquil and other solvent paints it doesn't congeal. What does happen is the acetone evaporates. Depending on pressure and type of airbrush you'll have to do a few test shots to see what works best for you. I use a Paasche single action with 25 psi and get glass smooth coats. If you over thin it don't panic, additional coats will bring up the color without hiding detail. Like anything else it just takes a bit to get used to working with it.
 
Mark R. said:
I have 82 bottles of TruColor paint on the shelf and I haven't had a single one that I would consider to be use-able for spraying without thinning. I "could" spray it without thinning, but it's too heavy as is and won't flow out without additional thinner. With proper thinning it should go on wet and perfectly smooth. If your paint isn't going down glass smooth, you need to add more thinner. I see SO many paint jobs on forums where the finish has a pebbly look to it. People just aren't thinning their paint adequately. If your finish isn't glass smooth and mirror finish, you need to adjust something.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've definitely been having trouble adjusting. I had just about figured things out spraying acrylics and then now having to switch to Tru Color. It seems to spray fine straight out of the bottle, but like you said the finish isn't what it ought to be. Thanks for putting this out there, because when they said "ready to spray" I actually believed them :rolleyes:
 
NH Mike said:
No problem mixing colors to get a different shade or whatever you are looking to do. A new bottle I thin about 20% for spraying. As it gets used up it usually requires more thinner. Unlike Floquil and other solvent paints it doesn't congeal. What does happen is the acetone evaporates. Depending on pressure and type of airbrush you'll have to do a few test shots to see what works best for you. I use a Paasche single action with 25 psi and get glass smooth coats. If you over thin it don't panic, additional coats will bring up the color without hiding detail. Like anything else it just takes a bit to get used to working with it.
Click to expand...

NH Mike,

Thank you and as this will be my first attempt at using an airbrush, a Paasche Talon with an appropriate Paasche Air Compressor, I will be learning everything at once, the paint process as well as the airbrush. I suppose the plus side is that I don't have to adjust to a a change of paint type or airbrush type.

I imagine I will be wasting a bit of paint to begin with, but hey, it will all be fun right! It will be fun right? :)
 
Tony - If this is your first experience with an airbrush, don't load it up with a $5.00 bottle of paint for learning .... you WILL waste a lot before you really have a handle on it. Add some food coloring to some water (make a strong color) and spray patterns on last nights newspaper. This will allow you to see how different air pressures affect the spray pattern, as well as tip opening variances. Get a feel for how it works. Practice airbrushing parallel lines that are all consistent in width.

You can go through all the colored water you want and will cost basically nothing and you'll eliminate the stress of knowing you're not shoving expensive paint through your gun trying to figure out how it works.

Good luck - and most of all .... have fun.

Mark.
 
Mark,

Thank you for that advice, and given in a timely fashion whats more. This evening I did order a quantity of Tru Color paints and did expect to waste most of them through practice. The idea of using water and food coloring is brilliant! By the time the real paint arrives, I should have the whole house painted :)
 
I used Tru-Color on a railroad car for a customer. I was really happy with it. It sprays right out of the bottle, but I did add some acetone to thin it a little bit to make it flow better. It dries fast and I got nice clean lines where I had to mask. I have another job coming up that is going to be 4 or 5 colors. I'm going to use Tru-Color on it. I was a little worried about not being able to get Floquil anymore. Tru-Color seems to work better and carries the colors that I'll probably need.
 
I am sold on Tru Color for spraying and have ordered a few colors as per the recommendations here and from Tru Color. In the meantime, I have followed Marks advice and bought a few bottles of food dye/coloring to get the feel of the gun with. Wont say how THAT is going, but, I will be needing more coloring, paper and maybe someone to repaint the kitchen! :)
 
As with any paint your going to airbrush with, the ratio of paint to thinner doesn't matter, what matters is the consistency. What you want is the consistency of milk, somewhere between skim and 2%. Whether that takes 10 or 20% thinner doesn't matter.
 
I've found to get a really smooth finish with TruColor, you have to thin it even more than anything else we've been accustomed to. Took me a while to adjust myself. Thinned to what looked right based on other paints and it just wouldn't flow out right. Always took more thinner than I would have expected to get it to flow together on the surface. If it ain't glass smooth on your surface, it ain't thinned enough.

Even thinned as much as that, I can still get a solid white or yellow over a dark color in just a couple coats !

Mark.
 
Quite a few sites I have looked at, regarding thinning paint (generic) recommend thinning paint about 20% thinners of some kind. As said, that was a generic, average run of the mill suggestion with the condition that the paint may need to be thinned more or less.

From what I am understanding from you guys (who I listen to) Tru Color needs to be thinned more than "normal paint". If I were to mix a 1/2 oz of paint, would adding between 1/8th oz and 1/4 oz sound right? Somewhere between 25 and 50% thinners or does that sound too much?

If I needed a 1/2 oz of paint to do a job and I over thinned it, can it be thickened or am I best to start low on the thinners and gradually add more until it flows decently?
 
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