Liquitex Artist's Acrylic Paint On Lexan

[markbt73]

This may be an old trick, or I may have stumbled onto something, but I used Liquitex Artist's acrylic paint for the body of my Hotshot, and it worked great!

Here is the stuff I used: http://www.dickblick.com/zz006/17/

I applied two coats with a brush, and let it dry overnight before handling. The paint went on thick, and stayed rubbery and flexible after it dried. It's very opaque, and obviously the brush strokes don't show on the outside. A "tape test" confirmed that the paint sticks very well to the lexan. I don't think it etched into the plastic at all the way the solvent-based paints do, but if it sticks, who cares? It's a lot easier to work with.

I'm reserving final judgment on adhesion until after I've bashed the car around a bit, but it seems to stick really well.

Obviously, if you want metallics or pearls, this won't work, and you can't spray it. But for solid colors, I know what I'm using to paint bodies from now on... Anybody else ever do this?

[Vin87]

I"m curious if it would stay on the shell on impact

[terry.sc]

Acrylics are perfectly fine, Parma Faskolor paint are acrylics and there is a huge range available. To spray them thin the paint with window cleaner such as Windex, but to spray them you do need a compressor that will supply air at up to 60psi.

[markbt73]

Yeah, I've used Faskolor before a bunch of times, but I can't easily spray paint where I live, so I wanted something I could brush on while sitting at the kitchen table. What's nice about the Liquitex is that it's so opaque- I probably could have gotten away with one coat, but with two it's flawless. And the color is really bright and rich. To get that sort of brightness out of other paints would have required a white backing coat.

As for adhesion, the paint is really flexible, so I don't think it will chip in a crash. I did a standard tape test on a scrap piece (let the paint dry, then cut slits in the paint with an x-acto knife, then stick a piece of masking tape over the slits and peel it off to see if the paint lifts) and it didn't budge. Again, time will tell, but I have high hopes.

Just an idea for someone to try, especially if you already have some art supplies sitting around the house, like I do.