Painting for External Plastic Buildings

[FBGR]

I have been a bit disappointed in the longevity of the paintwork on some of the external plastic buildings that I have build over the last few years.

Generally I have been using Humbrol Enamels, brush applied, but these have sometimes peeled off, and faded considerably, sometimes within a year or so.

Whereas I may have been occasionally a little lax in my surface preparation, the extent of the failures would suggest something more than this.

The 16mm Association Handbook suggests the use of acrylics for outside plastic, but the proprietor of my local model shop has suggested that they are unlikely to be much better than enamels. He also pointed out the reduced range of colours available.

I have very little experience with acrylics, and none in stock.

So my question to the Forum is – what is the best painting system for external plastic buildings?

I am just finished the construction of a ‘Factory Building’ and was looking forward to using my recently acquired skills at weathering to make something to be proud of.

JOhn

[peterbunce]

Hi,

I use PVC solid foam sheet genrally 5mm thick, for my buildings; all are scratch built., so far I have about 30 not all large, for my village, which stays out all the time there are 20.

For painting, I use Masonry Paint, and then a coat of ultra tough varnish; it is supposedly matt, but that varies! However the weather will dull any shine.

The lighter colors can fade (using acrylic - replicating unpainted wood fades a lot), but most colours stay well.



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[Narrow Minded]

I use acrylics extensively - and I'd disagree with the colour availability issue.
I can't comment on general longevity though, since the snail & slug population in our garden tend to eat areas of the paint quicker than any fading issues!
(One of the reasons I like Hedgehogs! )

[FBGR]

Thank you for your comments.

With the ‘factory building (shed)’ sitting here, all white plastic and unpainted, I just couldn’t wait very long for any answers to my questions. So I thought that I would have one more go at making the Enamels work.

This time I have been careful to rub down all surfaces with wire wool and/or glass fibre brush, and clean it all up as much as possible. I have made sure that each pot of paint is fully stirred and mixed before use and that each coat of paint is full gone off before applying the next coat. And that everywhere has at least four coats of paint not counting the weathering and varnishing.

Weathering has been carried out with thinned black and brown, with just a small amount of dry brushed white, grey or orange.

At the moment this ‘shed’ is just sitting here beside me waiting for the second coat of varnish applied yesterday to harden.

I hope to be able to place it on the FBGR at the weekend, after which I will be able to take a couple of pics for showing here.

JOhn

[FBGR]

Well here is the 'Shed'. It is now screwed down in this position, but I may move it a bit later.

The Shed.jpg (174.1 KiB) Viewed 3470 times

With the sun already beating down on it today, we shall have to see what degredation occurs.

Oh-well, repainting it every couple of years will give me something to, and I could add some more details like signage at that time.

JOhn

[LMS-Jools]

Nice Shed : )

[FBGR]

LMS-Jools – thanks for comment.

Here is another picture showing some detail.

The Shed detail.jpg (227.89 KiB) Viewed 3470 times

I think that masonry paint, which I believe tends to be rather thick, would be hide a lot of this detail.

JOhn

[MDLR]

Now THAT looks good!

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Excellent details! Love the craked flag stones