What covers what when it comes to painting?

What can cover what in the world of painting?.?.?



This is another common question I see a couple times a week.



First it requires defining each type of paint. Not by the name on the bottle or can, but by what they clean up with or are thinned by.

The reason this is important is that in recent years many manufacturers have started using the term “acrylic” in their names when they are actually not an acrylic in the true form.



True acrylic paint is water soluble; it is comprised of a pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion using water as a carrier liquid. As the water evaporates the acrylic polymer creates a pigmented film on the areas that were painted.



In a nutshell, Acrylic = water based/water cleanup/water thinned

acrylic lacquers are solvent based paints that use acrylic resins dissolved in lacquer thinner, as opposed to "traditional" acrylics, these must be treated as lacquers



Acrylic enamels are solvent based paints that use those same acrylic resins and dissolve them in thinners suck as mineral spirits or enamel thinner. These must be treated as enamels



Examples of true acrylic paints: vallejo, mission models, scale 75, Citadel, lifecolour, humbrol acrylic etc...



Examples of lacquers in the hobby would be: SMS paints, Zero paints, Gravity colors, Tamiya Lacquer, AK interactive Real Colors line.



Examples of enamels: MCW finishes, Humbrol tinlets, Testors enamels



The easiest way to explain the biggest problem people have in this hobby when painting using different paint mediums. All boils down to the basics of what the carrier is.



Acrylic- water based- impervious to anything as a top coat once fully dry



Enamel- can be covered by acrylic top coats or more enamel provided the recoat windows are followed and there has been sufficient drying time. You cannot top coat enamel with Lacquer based paints ** , as the carrier or base is “hotter” than the base of the enamel paint and will cause lifting (wrinkling of the undercoat as the lacquer thinner attacks the lower layers of paint)

Lacquer paints can be top coated with anything without worry because the carrier liquid (lacquer thinner) is already basically the hottest thing that will be in the mix, cooler thinners like mineral spirits, mentholated spirits or water (for acrylics) will have no effect on the hotter base coat.



** because true acrylic is basically impervious to pretty much anything, you can use clear acrylics as barrier coats. For example if I had a base coat of enamel and wanted to either do a 2 tone paint job or add a colored accent and the only thing I had in the color I wanted to use was lacquer. I could lay down an acrylic clear coat and let it dry. Once dry I could feel free to use the lacquer without worry because the acrylic forms a barrier coat for protection of the lower layers of paint.



Also as a side note, paints like Tamiya and Mr Hobby Color are actually alcohol based (x20a thinner is predominantly isopropyl alcohol with a couple additives to aid in leveling and retarding drying time) These paints should be treated as you would an enamel, lacquer thinner will lift/wrinkle the surface if overcoated.