Results Economically priced craft paint works well for painting models with an airbrush. The passenger cars above were painted using the methods described in this article.


Using Craft Paint as a Replacement for Polly Scale Acrylics


CRAFTSMAN/Gregory M. LaRocca, photographs by the author


Craft Paints Many companies produce acrylic craft paint that can be used for model railroad projects.


Like many of you, Testors’ an- nouncement that it was drop- ping the Polly Scale line of acryl- ic paints shocked me. Over the years, I had come to depend on Polly Scale to give me a smooth, consistent finish. Different bottles of the same color matched each other, and I had developed the skill and technique to get a finish as good as could be had with sol- vent-based paints.


Of course, there are other


paints out there, in both acryl- ics and solvent-based. I definitely did not want to use solvent-based paint, other than for clear coats. However, the acrylics available all have problems, such as a lack of specific railroad colors (which isn’t as big of an issue as I first thought, as discussed later), local availability, colors with the same name as those made by Polly Scale not matching (See the side- bar, “What’s in a Name?”), and not drying to a flat fin- ish. Finally, all model paints are, I think, too expensive.


What to do? Over the years, I have seen post- ings on various online forums by people ex- tolling the use of craft paints for structures. I am not totally unfamil- iar with craft paints — I have bought a couple of bottles of tans, grays,


38 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN


and black for various scenic ef- fects on my layout. Although they don’t come in colors such as Box- car Red or Dark Lark Gray, they do come in a wide assortment of colors, with many subtle shades of the same basic color. They are readily available in craft stores, art stores, and even my local hob- by shop, and they do dry nice and flat. But, use them on a model?! They’re thick; they leave brush marks; and, I recoiled in horror at the thought of trying to get craft paint through my airbrush. I’d be trying to spray at 100 pounds pressure! Fortunately, things weren’t quite that bad, and I already had part of the answer sitting on my workbench — Liquitex Airbrush Medium. Airbrush medium is ba- sically the liquid part of any acryl- ic paint. It consists of the acrylic polymers dissolved in water — add pigment, and you have paint. Its specific use is to dilute acryl-


USING CRAFT PAINT


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