Working with Humbrol

[Rusty]

Hi All

Now something one of the guys at the club has shown me is how easy Humbrol can be to work with. He has some really nicely painted WW2 Armour (Sorry not GHQ) but i have a general question when working with Humbrol paints:

His method is to take a large brush and drybrush the model with the front tip of the brush as the paint drys a little the brush gets a sortof tacky/stiff feeling and the paint starts to build up after a bit paint a differant area allowing the one just done to dry a little. This does work and ive even tried it but something isnt right and i need help. His models are nice and flat not shiny and no he hasnt used a matt varnish either.

After mixing the paint and dabbing the brush and drybrushing the colour on it starts shiny, ok thought to myself should sort itself out and dry flat, well it hasnt its still a bit shiny.

What can i do??

Is this because im drybrushing and not continually mixing the paint??

[dougeagle]

You should get a hold of Ritter. He's a member on this forum and he uses Humbrols for his painting.

Here's his site, check it out, send him an email.

http://www3.telus.net/Ritterkrieg/

I hope he doesn't mind me doing so.

He also has some pic's in one of the threads called, show us your stuff.

[BattlerBritain]

Rusty,

I use Humbrol all the time, including for dry brushing (the only technique I know).

If the paint is shiny and it's meant to be matt then you need to stir the paint more thoroughly before applying. I use the hard end of the brush and stir gently for a minute or so, then clean with kitchen roll paper.

It may also be a good idea to do a test run first by painting some scrap piece and let the paint dry and see how it dries (matt or shiny).

Also, what Humbrol colour (number) are you using?

I have had the odd tin that just wouldn't dry matt at all, matt black being the worst offender. Humbrol quality has suffered in the last few years.

But generally stirring cures it.

Hope this helps,

Battler

[Rusty]

Well used the Humbrol 94 for my Dunkelgelb. Now the first application left it shiny. But after i built it up and left it overnight i gave it one more pass to clean the colour up

And yep it dried Matt..

But i also had a pot of Matt Varnish lying around and used a test area and that worked as well.

So problem solved.

[SeaHarrier2006]

Hi Rusty,

I use Humbrol for painting my ship models, and have had no problem with Matt paint being shiny when sprayed of brushed on. I usually stir the paint the paint for about 30 seconds when i start, making sure the paint at the bottom of the tinnlet has been mixed well with the rest of the paint in the tin. I then stir the paint again about every 10 mins after that to make sure the paint stays consistant.

Hope this helps in your problem,

SeaHarrier2006

[highpriestrsw2]

I owned a few pots of Humbrol and I put a BB into my pots to help mix the paint better. All you have to do is shake the pots vigorously for about 30 seconds and then give it a little stir. (just for good measure)
I've never had the Matte drying shiny problem this way.

By the way-where do you guys purchase your Humbrol?
I live in MI (USA) and it took a lot of pestering the local model shop here to even get the few pots I had of Humbrol (and they cost me an arm and a leg too!) <They>

I generally use Vallejo acrylic military model colors. (because I'm out of Humbrol) and I get a great price on the Vallejo stuff at The War Store online (www.thewarstore.com).

Have you guys used the GHQ paints?
I haven't but the prices seem pretty decent.
(also if it's what they use to paint their gallery and catalog models they must be pretty good paints. Their paint schemes are gorgeous!)

[av8rmongo]

Hey guys, there's a train store near here that's going out of business in mid-June and has 15% entire stock until then. They have a display rack with some Humbrol paint - don't ask which ones - if anyone wants I can pick some up (if they're available) I would just need to know which number you want.

Paul