Flow improvement of acrylic paints

[Ken Pugh]

When hand lettering the numbers on my Fireball XL5, I used a new product that I purchased from A.C. Moore.   It is Golden Additives Acrylic Flow Release.  The 8 fl oz. bottle cost about $15-16, but since they frequently have 40% off coupons available, I decided to give it a try.  Keep in mind, this product must be thinned down at least 10:1 with water before mixing with paint.  I used it on Delta Ceramcoat acrylic paints.  With the discount coupon and thinning requirements, the product is not terribly expensive, as are most artists paint products.

I got a small spray bottle and mixed up some of the flow release.  This way I can just spray a little on a blob of paint and mix.  When I used it, the paint was still fairly thick but flowed beautifully.  I kept it thick for coverage.  I covered red with white paint and yellow with black paint.  The paint was applied with nice sable brushes.  The product is excellent.  I marked out my letters with pencil and hand brushed over them with the paint thinned with the flow release.  Coverage was very good and took only two coats to get a good, opaque letter.

This method will come in handy when doing the markings on Navy planes up to Korea era where the planes were painted dark blue and had white lettering.  Hand lettering is not real tough to do, it just takes some practice, like any skill.  Even when you shake a little, like I do, it still can be done.  The key, for me, is to lay out the letters with pencil first.  I use regular graphite pencil on black letters but have a white pencil for the white or light colored letters.

Ken Pugh

[lastvautour]

I just picked up a bottle of "Retarder" for $13.00 CDN. It come a a 6 oz bottle and the directions are the same as the product Ken mentions in his comments. I will report once trials have been conducted.

Lou

[Mothman]

What a disgrace that we have to even bother with such stuff.  Why?  because the fascists that rule our world will not allow us the freedom of choosing between quality paints like cellulose or deeply pigmented enamels or Floquil as we all remember it, before they turned it into something more akin to Humbrol muck.
Acrylic is the devil's work and always will be. 
If one has to do anything but thin a paint for spraying, it is clearly unfit for purpose. 
Fortunately, I have a selection of signwriters' enamels from my boat painting days, so I use that and thumb my nose at the worthless cretins who spend their miserable lives trying to ruin mine.

I recommend you lay in a stock of the more oft used colours in a product called One-Stroke Enamel from a sign writers' suppliers.  It is an American product, so many of you won't have a problem.  Englishmen can get it from Wrights of Lymm, Cheshire.  Since John Keep went napoo.  It is heavily pigmented free flowing enamel of the old school and therefore superb.  What Humbrol muck always should have been but always failed miserably to be.

Martin

[lastvautour]

?

[Mothman]

Lou, I think my point is perfectly clear.
Martin