Polly Scale Acrylic

Polly S Railroad Paints

These are pure water based, certified nontoxic acrylic paints. They can be applied with a paintbrush or an airbrush. For better coverage acrylic paints must be stirred, not shaken.

For airbrushing:

• Paint must be thinned using Testors Universal Acrylic Thinner No. 50496. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on the thinner bottle for the thinner to paint ratio.
• Some times the darker pigmented paints (reds, browns, blacks, etc.) may need to have a little more thinner added for airbrushing. The modeler can adjust the thinning ratio. A good ratio starting point would be 60/40: 60% thinner to 40% paint (6 drops of thinner to 4 drops of paint).
• Recommend air pressure for airbrushing is around 12 psi. Higher pressures cause paint to dry on the airbrush tip and in the air on the way to the model’s surface. 25 to 50 psi is not required or recommended.
• Airbrush cleanup: Use Testors Universal Acrylic Cleaner No. 50497 or denatured alcohol (available at any hardware store or home improvement center).
• Model’s surface must be primed with Tamiya primer. Can use the dedicated Tamiya primers, or thinned Tamiya bottled paint airbrushed as the primer.

For painting with a paint brush:

• Paint should be thinned with a few drops of Testors Universal Acrylic thinner No. 50496 causing the paint to flow better from the brush. The paint will be opaque as it is applied. Several coats of paint will need to be applied to build coverage and intensity of the color.
• Allow 20 minutes to dry between coats of paint.
• Paint dries without brush strokes.
• Paintbrush cleanup: soap and water, then rinse in clean water.

Drying time:

• Dries to the touch in 20 minutes. When airbrushing it is best to wait 12 hours to allow the paint to cure before recoating. Drying time can be accelerated using a hair dryer on the low heat setting.