You know it’s not a good start to trying out a new hobby technique when the new tube of oil paint explodes when you open it…

So yesterday I picked up some oil paints and some odourless thinner. They are Winsor and Newton series 1 paints and I was quite surprised how expensive they are, but since that’s what all the other hobbyists around here seem to recommend that’s what I went with. I’m waiting for my painting tutor Jas to get back from an overseas trip but figured what the hell I might as well have a go at using the oils to blacken the panel lines.

I got everything set up and unscrewed the lid from the tube of black paint. Bam! There must have been a LOT of excess pressure in the tube as I ended up with black oil paint [i]everywhere[/i]. Not a good start! Fortunately the SAW wasn’t in the immediate vicinity so it avoided any paint shrapnel. To say I was not impressed would be an understatement. Now I was under the impression that oils are supposed to be a breeze to clean up using thinners. Not so. I now have a jumper covered in black specks and marks all over my messy work hobby bench (where I do my airbrushing and casting).

Still I decided I’ve made a mess I might as well continue on. So I grabbed the railguns from the SAW. I mixed up a wash by dropping some black paint into some thinners and started applying it to the panel lines on the railguns. Capillary action works well and sucks the wash everywhere. I was starting to feel confident! But I then noticed that as the was mixture dried there was very little pigment left over. So I had to do each panel line a couple of times. Oh well not such a big deal. I did find that by ensuring constant agitation of the jar in which I made the wash I could achieve a better pigmentation – I guess the paint separates from the thinner pretty quickly.

OK we’re halfway there. I let it dry for a short while and then got out the Q-tips. I dunked them in the thinners, wiped off the excess and then began wiping the excess oil paint from around the panel lines. What a mess! I found that although the bulk of the paint was removed, what was left was a faint smudge of black around the area. No amount of rubbing, even with a fresh Q-tip would help. So at the moment my railguns look like this:

I guessing the problem here is that my clear coat is not glassy enough. I’m using Pascoes Long Life, since Johnson’s Klear and Pledge One Go are no longer available here in Oz, but from other reports Pascoes is supposed to work just fine. Perhaps I need to concentrate on getting a more consistent, physically flat coating so that the oil paint can’t sit in the tiny divots in the finish caused by an uneven coat?

The only good thing is that I didn’t get too excited and do the main chassis and legs of the SAW, so I’ve got a chance to give it some more coats of clear first. I might just have to wait until Jas gets back before I can work up the courage to do that!

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