As a retired automotive diagnostician, I really believed in testing. My bosses hated me for it because it took time. For instance. We had a vehicle that came in with the brakes locking up. He wanted me to put calipers on it. I said, we should test the brake fluid for oil or some other petroleum based substance because that cause the rubber seals to swell anywhere that an oily substance would come in contact with it. I extracted the brake fluid from the master cylinder and kept on my toolbox because... well.. what can I say, I am a science superfreak. He told me to gravity bleed it. Well, his calipers didn't work. He said I didn't bleed it right so I showed him in the book that I did follow protocol for the proper bleeding sequence. Then he had me put on a proportioning valve and that didn't work. Long story short he finally gave in and I told him I saved the brake fluid from the master cylinder. So, I took a beaker of water and slowly poured a little bit of the brake fluid into it. Brake fluid dissolves in water as so it did and an oily substance floated on top. He called the customer and she said she put motor oil in the master cylinder. That swelled up all the seals in the hydraulic system. She was pissed that now the repair bill was a lot more money. We could have avoided her getting mad by testing the brake fluid which takes all of 2 minutes. So I really love this video because I would have screwed up a King Tiger model with the octopus camo pattern on it. I spent many hours on it this video has proven to be invaluable to me. You can't beat testing. So I appreciate you taking your time to make and post this video. Watch this video fellow modelers. It aint no joke. Save yourself some trouble and money and listen to what this man has to say. Don't be like my boss and be a know it all. You will regret it.
Will...Very informative video on pigment fixers. I have been meaning to try Mona Lisa's Odorless Paint Thinner which is a 100% mineral spirits on a current project. Now I can move ahead without concerns about how it will react with the acrylic bast paint finish. Thanks for testing these products for us.
Thank you Will for this video. Personally I could never understand why some people would potentially risk ruining all their hard work in order to save a few dollars. Please keep doing what you have been doing and keep in all your personal experiences. In my opinion they make your videos unique. Greetings from Australia.
Awesome video. I've never tried using pigments before and only use acrylic paints so have been concerned that the purpose made pigment fixers would eat into and damage my paint work. Cheers for clearing that up for me.
Thanks for the test Wil, when I use MS or RA to afix pigments to model I wait after the pigments are dried and only clinging on the model then I can easily tweak the look by flaking off the unwanted acumulations. .. once I like what I see... then I take out the big guns and use real pigment fixer... interesting results with Future KUTGW buddy!
Cool science experiment highlighting the results of different solutions with pigments. The beginning made me laugh and made me think of my first trip to Shenzhen, China when I was served a fish platter complete with head and eyes still twitching on the plate. I was told by my boss before the trip that the dish is considered a honor to have served to you and it's an insult not to eat it all. But, I'm happy that I wasn't served a glutinous horse piss soaked chicken egg!! Those two week trips took in 4 countries plus Hong Kong in one hit. Starting in HK, going into Shenzhen, China, then back to HK, flight into Singapore, then up to Malaysia, back to Singapore, then flight into Tokyo, then Tokyo to JFK. Cheers : )
Great test Dr Ruebenstien! Interesting to see how the products all differ and glad I've been using MIG fixer on my AFV.. It works.. However I use a larger brush to drop the fixer into the pigment. so as not to disturb my piles of mud.. I wonder how the other method, which you omited, of White Glue and water would have stood up your tests?
all good to know, I've heard of people using lighter fluid too but i guess that would give the same results as the alcohol thinner, i recently switched from pva to vallejo glaze medium which so far seems to be doing the job well, paint it on and apply pigment over it and job done.
Thanks for this video. I still am unsure if it's a good idea to try it for my model. It's a 1:16 Bell UH-1 and I would like to spread some of the famous red dirt of Vietnam over the underside. Just 'dust', no thick crusts. My real problem is that I will take it outside to fly it once in a while. Will the pigment fixer be strong enough or will the 'dirt' gradually disappear? Sealing it with clear paint will probably ruin it at once, right?
Great test, and not surprised by the outcome.....I often question why people will use home brew to replace tried and tested products, that companies spend time and effort in R&D especially in the world of airbrushing & paints.
Great testing! I spent a week worrying about what to use instead of pigment fixer on a Gunpla build as the plastics on those can be eaten alive by most thinners if you have not covered everything in primer perfectly. Having seem this now it's a good job I didn't use acrylic thinners instead! In the end I used TINY amounts of the pigment fixer kept well away from any joints where it could seep in and do damage, and everywhere else I just coated the dry pigments in a layer of Humbrol 49 Matte varnish. Seems to have worked okay, so I guess it is the same principle as your Future test, but without water, but obviously the varnish did fade away some of the pigments. Ah, the unusual stresses that Gunpla kits create ^_^ Have you tried using neat Future instead of diluted, would that create less surface tension? If so I would imagine that would allow the Future to create the rock-hard shell but maybe preserve the grain and texture?
That's really interesting Will and has helped me a lot. I have a question: would you varnish a model painted with Acrylics before applying pigment? What happens if you matt varnish over the pigment once it has been fixed (and dried) with pigment fixer? Thx!
nope. no need for extra clear coats. as for clears on top of pigments....maybe. lighter tones especially tend to disappear under a clear. it just depends but since i usually do pigments last i tend not to clear over them.
Great video. I was looking for a way I could use pigments to muddy up a tank I'm building. On a previous build, I had moderate success with water, white glue, pigment and sand from the yard. The texture was good, but I messed up the color. This time, I went ahead with the future/water/pigment PLUS a drop of dish washing liquid. You have to watch the liquid to pigment ratio, but so far it looks pretty good. Thanks again.
As far as the egg eating story, I think if you are hungry enough you might decide to eat it. Or if you are Chinese and are from that unique culture, you might eat it as a joke to play on foreigners. But, if you are from the McDonalds, Taco Bell, Outback Steak House culture it might be more than a little off putting. Google Lutefisk (not sure of the spelling) a Norwegian fish food that is really gross as far as how it is made and how it tastes. Really enjoyed the experiment and a little surprised that the Mig worked as well as it did.
There’s one more trick. Don’t use overpriced pigments. Use chalk pastels. They dissolve in thinner and have already binder to keep them as a hard chalk. They stick to the model with a matte natural look.
Thanks for the test. I disagree with your conclusions. Using the pigment fixer affects so much the color and final appearance of the pigments that you are never going to get that natural dusty look that is what pigments are supposed to be for. The mistake here is putting pigments adherence as the main goal. Ultimately, If you what better adherence you can use superglue and you will get very strongly fixed pigments, but they are not going to look good probably. I prefer to use pastel chalk with mineral spirits. Pastel chalks have a bonding agent (that is what keeps them in form of chalk) which doesn't affect the natural color of the pigment. If you want to use pigments, then stick to acrylic thinner and just do not touch your models after that.
lmao read that back to yourself. then learn how to give feedback like a well adjusted adult instead of someone with no social skills. then stop and consider...do you think i actually give a fuck whether you think my free video that i make in my own time to pass on information is too long for your gnat-sized attention span? you seem pretty entitled so i doubt you'll get this but nobody is obligated to care what you think.
