please help with blending enamels??

[jim1215]

happy new year all, i been saying i wanted to try my enamels that ive had for sometime , my brand is floquil & some humbrol , i like the look of the finish , i have been using acrylics and that took me plenty of practice and reading here to get a decent end result .i have been studying past threads on enamels and my confusing comes in with blending , am i mixing the two colors like i mix with acrylics(on a palette ) or am i doing that on the figure and blending wet on wet . also am i thinning my floquil and humbrol paints with floquil thinner . my floquil jars with about 3 minutes mixing seem pretty thin to me already . again need some help here , like i said acrylics was a diffrent world .

p.s. vallejo acrylics are nice because there are so many colors to shade and highlight with , but a pain for me to buy over the internet , there is really no where in n.y. to buy , i am old fashioned i guess and enjoy going to the hobby store , where floquils are ready available , thanks so much jimmy

 

[ralpht]

Humbrol and Floquil

I don't know what part of NY you are in, but I have dealt with sentinel model figures for some time. He stocked vallejo and andrea last I checked. He described his location to me once but I can't remember if he is just out of the city or more upstate. If you put sentinel in your browser he should turn up.
I used humbrols a long time ago and mixed on a palette as I went along for color desired. Can't speak to wet on wet.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Hello Jimmy!

Im working almost only with Humbrols.

Even if it is possible to work wet in wet I strongly suggest you start with blending wet on dry and then when mastering your basics try to blend it wet in wet.

The main advantage with working on a dry surface is that it allows you to make errors, correct them, wiping them away and in severals sessions without risking damaging previous work nor have to do it in one session.

So make sure the previous step is dry for at least 12 hours before moving on to the next step whether it be basecolour, primer or any other step.

What you do is mixing shadows and highlights usually starting from the basecolour and build them up with different tones.

Thin the paint a little more than usually and paint the shadow/highlight where it supposed to be. About 15-60 secons later you feather the edges by gentle stroking a fine soft brush as the Winsor & Newton Series 7 along the edge to be feathered. Use as large brush as you can but usually size 1 or 0 does the job for 54mm figures. Soft strokes repeatadly along the edge and the brush should be very, very lightly moistened in dillutant such as White Spirit. Remember that there should be so little dillutant in the brush you can barely feel it. Also dont forget to clean the brush now and then as colour from the feathering build up in it. Work you way through the shadows and highlights this way. And dont be afraid to add more a few days later when your view on your work has changed a bit.

If you work wet on dry and it doesnt turn out as hoped, you can moisten the brush some more and wipe it away and try again. Im a bit of a sloppy painter myself so I use this quite often to trim the shadows/highlights down in shape as well. This works for other things as well such as heraldy, patterns and other detail.

Also remember all shadows and highlights doesnt have to be feathered depending on their form. And its easier to start with really good sculpted figures as you dont have to compensate poor sculpting with painting.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Janne Nilsson

 

[jim1215]

thanks for the response , first as far as sentinel , i visited neils office in larchmont and bought some kits i did not know he sold paints , thank you janne , if i want to add, say darker red to my red base for shadows do i mix this on a business card together and build up from there , and also adding my thinner ?same with highlights , this is what i would do with acrylics and build up layers ? there is still some confusion , all my feathering should be done with a round brush ? any info would help thanks jimmy

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Hi Jimmy!

As a Pallete I tend to use this platic kind available in art-stores.

I have a few and I clad them in Aluminum foil to avoid having to clean them after use. And as you more paint in a colour of the highlight or shadow more than putting on a glaze they dont have to be as thin as Acrylics but slightly thinner than the basecoat.

I use round brush as described above. If you like a flat better, why not? Its not written in stone. Experiment and find out how you like to work.

Cheers
Janne Nilsson

 

[damkid2]

Bill horan's book "Military Modeling Masterclass" chapter 1 has a great section on painting. He's one of the best enamel painters ever. I use Oil paints for flesh, acrylics and oils for eyes. Acrylics work best for cloth. I used to use Humbrols and Oils only. Over the years I have honed my painting skills by incorporating using different types of paints and techniques to paint a figure.