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I bought a plastic fighter kit, now I want to paint it with an airbrush and some oil colors.

Now, I've got a question : Can I use Lucas oil color for painting plastic kits? Is it permanent after painting?

My colors :

Lucas oil colours

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You can try, but first you will want to degrease the plastic with a little rubbing alcohol (and prime it). The paint will not dry quickly unless you add a siccative like China dryer to the oil to thin it out.

That said, I doubt that your airbrush is designed for oil paints. If you do want to risk ruining and clogging it constantly, make sure to really make sure that the thinned paint is free of clots by passing it through a fine meshed filter. You MUST have a moisture trap installed, because otherwise you will be mixing moisture from the air into your oil - which you definitely do not want. Clean everything with acetone and wear a mask.

But really, that is not the right kind of paint. There are liquid enamels that are better suited to permanent applications, which you can probably find in the store where you got the model. But as Walrus notes in the comments, water based paints are the better choice.

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    Personally I exclusively use acrylic paints through my airbrush rather than enamels, but I definitely agree that oil paints are an odd choice for airbrushing. I'd also recommend priming the model before airbrushing in addition to degreasing it.
    – walrus
    Commented Feb 1, 2018 at 10:05
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    @walrus good point about the priming.
    – Nothingismagick
    Commented Feb 1, 2018 at 13:59
  • Enamels are definitely the right choice for plastic model painting, will adhere better than acrylics. They are harder to work with since they need stronger solvents. If you air brush, thin them to the consistency of milk or else they will never get through the nozzle (unless you are using industrial sized sprayer) and blast mineral spirits through as soon as you are done spraying or your going to kill your airbrush.
    – rebusB
    Commented Feb 9, 2019 at 2:15
  • And be sure to coat/varnish your paint afterwards.
    – Joachim ♦
    Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 13:57

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