Trumpeter 1:25 1964 Ford Futura Convertible

[BrianI]

Looks like airbrush is working again! tamiya flat black acrylic airbrushed on after masking the red body stripe. Will let the black cure for a day or so to be on the safe side, then I'll get some gloss coat on!

[BrianI]

Still very slow progress on this build.

I'm struggling to get a decent paint finish. I've painted the car using Tamiya flat acrylics, and I've brush painted 4 coats of Pledge Multisurface wax on top. Still very grainy finish, and no where near glossy!

I've just placed an order for a Micromesh Craft kit, so hopefully this will help get the paint work polished up. Fingers crossed it won't cause the paint & primer to peel off down to the bare plastic.

I must admit I'm kind of cheesed off with this build as it isn't progressing at all as fast as I would like it to be.

[Codger]

A polishing kit will go right through the Pledge. Plus will be very hard to get into those body creases. You can strip the Pledge with Windex or other ammonia window cleaner but that will probably attack the Tammy flats beneath.

If you're industrious, strip it all and start over. This time with Tammy primer and Tammy gloss lacquers. Instant shine in one step without clear or polish.

Flat acrylics are best suited for armor / aircraft work. Autos need the more durable lacquers and enamels. Lacquers are preferred.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Codger

[BrianI]

I've had a nightmare of a time trying to airbrush tamiya acrylics - they either go on grainy, orange peely, or they stay tacky. Hence me trying flat acrylics, then a gloss coat.

As an expirement I've stripped the bonnet, and resprayed it using tamiya gloss acrylics thinned 50% with cellulose thinners. Guess what? A horrible orange peel finish.

Thoroughly fed up with this build now!

[Codger]

I've had a nightmare of a time trying to airbrush tamiya acrylics - they either go on grainy, orange peely, or they stay tacky. Hence me trying flat acrylics, then a gloss coat.

As an expirement I've stripped the bonnet, and resprayed it using tamiya gloss acrylics thinned 50% with cellulose thinners. Guess what? A horrible orange peel finish.

Thoroughly fed up with this build now!

I'll say again; acrylics are wrong for what you're building. Much more suited for flat finish objects or figures.

[BrianI]

Cheers Codger.

Out of interest I tried to polish up the bonnet, which i had airbrushed with tamiya gloss acrylics thinned with cellulose thinners. The paint seems rather fragile, and has came away from the primer in places.

I think I'll strip the body shell, for the umpteenth time, and shelve this build for a while until I can get some lacquer based paints. Any recommendations? Or would it just be easier (if somewhat more expensive?) to get a couple of cans of automotive rattle can paint in gloss black & red?

[Codger]

Tamiya, Duplicolor, Testors - your choice. Just get lacquers and their same brand primers.

[BrianI]

That's the body shell stripped for the umpteenth time!

I'm getting rather frustrated with this build, so I think to save my sanity, I'm going to shelve it for a while and start on my 1:6 Robot B9 Lost in Space kit.

[Billydick]

Shame about this Brian But going to follow B9 instead. Got it in the stash.

Best wishes

BillyD

[sharknose156]

I'll say again; acrylics are wrong for what you're building. Much more suited for flat finish objects or figures.

BrianL don t give up this is what modeling is about. You already did it 5 times, judoos , so what s a 6 th time if it is right ?!

Codger is right you need to use lacquers.

Tamiya sprays decanted or Try Gravity paints. You can achieve the beautiful classic "black / red" spot on and you will be very happy to have overcome the challenge .

hope this helps!

[BrianI]

So long since the last update? Well, you'll be pleased to know I've pulled this kit off the shelf of doom.

I've stripped the body shell & bonnet, and reprimed with alclad grey primer and microfiller, thinned with a smidge of cellulose thinners, now that I have a spray booth rated for the use of cellulose thinners (a graphicair A300S D)

I've also bought a 100 pack of plastic teaspoons, so I can prime some of these and experiment with airbrushing tamiya acrylics thinned with cellulose thinners, and work on my technique for getting a shiny finish before going near the kit.

Initial tests look promising though, spraying an off cut of plasticard, unprimed, with tamiya acrylics thinned with Halfords cellulose thinners:

Watch this space though, whether I have any luck with airbrushing, or it ends up tears before bedtime....

[helios16v]

Hang in there. Glad to see this hasn't been abandoned. I know all about shelving a kit for a while due to frustration. I recently pulled an F-8E off the shelf that got boxed up in frustration a year ago.

[arni]

Stick with it,you have come too far to ditch the kit now.

[BrianI]

Before tackling the paint job on this kit, I thought I'd go back to basics with the airbrush, and do some tests to get a handle on the best paint:thinner mix for tamiya gloss acrylics.

i tried using cellulose thinners, 2 parts thinners to 1 part paint, and varied the psi from 10 - 25psi on my H&S Ultra 2 in 1 with 0.2mm needle. Seemed to spray reasonably at 25psi.

I then tried again, using tamiya x20a thinners, again 2 parts thinners to 1 part paint varying from 10-25psi. To cut a long story short, the sweet spot seems to be 2 parts X20A, 1 part paint at 25psi for my H&S Ultra 2 in 1 airbrush with 0.2mm needleset:

So I tried airbrushing a primed plastic teaspoon, with tamiya gloss black thinned 2 parts X20A to 1 part paint, at 25psi:

Still somewhat grainy, and no where near shiny, despite doing a few mist coats, then a wet coat. Even thinning the paint further and using the 0.4mm needleset gave a grainy result.

So back to the drawing board, I thought I'd micromesh one of my earlier airbrushed spoons, to give it a matt finish, and then try airbrushing alclad aqua gloss, using my ebay special double action airbrush with 0.35mm needle (which also has a preset function to prevent me from spraying too wet a coat of aquagloss)

Pretty shiny,although a few dust spots. But I reckon it would polish up with micromesh OK, then a final polish with micromesh micro-finish polish. But initially this is a rather good gloss coat, and very easy to apply. Start with a mist coat, then build up wetter coats without stopping to let the previous coat dry. Then immediately flush airbrush out with water!

So I think my easiest way forward will be to use tamiya flat paints, and gloss up using alclad aqua gloss. Much easier to paint, no need to worry about special thinners such as Mr Color Levelling Thinner, and a fool proof gloss coat.

I understand I could probably get an even better finish using something like Zero Paints 2K paint / clear coat system, this seems easier and more straight forward. Plus I have everything I need to hand.

So fingers crossed you will see some progress on the body shell this weekend!

Edited August 6, 2016 by BrianI

[Tzulscha]

Ooh! Shiny!

That looks like the ticket!

Write the frustration off as a learning experience.

Funny seeing this thread, I passed that exact same car on the way in to work this morning.

Black with a red trim line. It was a ragtop too.

Amazing.

[BrianI]

Yesterday evening I airbrushed the body shell, bonnet, and another spoon, tamiya flat black acrylic:

Checked on it today, and it's dried perfectly, with a nice flat finish.

I'll mask the body shell up, and airbrush medium grey, then red for the go faster stripe. But first of all I'll try that on the spoon!

Then hopefully it'll dry tomorrow, so I can brush on some gloss coat (Pledge Multi Surface Wax), rather than risk ruining it by attempting to airbrush alclad aqua gloss.

[BrianI]

Some progress at last, and hopefully now on the road to completion!

Body shell finally airbrushed tamiya flat black & flat red:

And drying under a plastic box after a second coat of Pledge Multi Surface Wax applied by Ye Olde Worlde Hairy Stick (My attempts at airbrushing alclad aqua gloss have been less than successful!)

Looking like the body shell is going to need umpteen coats, before I get a remotely shiny finish.....

[BrianI]

Oh fiddle sticks! (or words to that effect)

The coat of pledge multi surface wax I had applied earlier had dried rather rough.

So I thought I'd wet micromesh it using 6000 grit micromesh to try and save the paint job.

Only of the pledge multi surface wax to start to soften, and for some reason the underlying paint jobs started to lift and come away.....

So time to strip the kit for the umpteenth time....

Really at a loss on how to progress with this.

I want a nice shiny finish.

But I really struggle to airbrush tamiya gloss acrylics.

Using tamiya flat acrylics, I can airbrush these easily to give a nice flat finish.

But any attempt at airbrushing alclad aqua gloss results in a horrible orange peely finish.

And brush painting pledge multi surface wax doesn't seem to be particularly successful either (despite earlier success on plastic spoons)....

Answers on a post card please!

[Tzulscha]

I really like the Tamiya rattlecan laquers.

Stick well, dry fast, polish well.

Okay mebbe a bit stinky..

[griffsrw]

sorry to see you struggling so much. i think you would have succeeded with this latest paint job, but fell over with the application of future as a top shiny gloss, i would have gone for a decent gloss clear coat, and at this time my favorite choice has to be zero paint and zero clear. i have to be honest, it's the easiest paint i have come across to airbrush. i have no connection with zero by the way, other than being a customer

[mustang1989]

Your paint and masking work is so clean! Brian what works for me is a good ground work with Tamiya gray primer from a rattle can and wet sand any rough areas. After that it's the base coat which looks like you've got that down pat. Ditch the Future/ Pledge for any kind of a gloss. I have to remember to be patient with the gloss coat especially if it's enamel based. I shoot mine on in light layers , continuing to move around the model but I always start at the bottom of the sides of the car moving side to side and working my way up the side of the body. I keep moving , never staying in one place too long and work my way around the body and keep building gradually until I get a decent shine. Then..................I put it away for up to a week in a dust free environment to let it all gas out. Just forget its even there and move on to another part of the build for a week. After the weeks time has lapsed, wet sand any rough or "orange peeled" areas with grits between 3200 all the way to 12000 grit being careful of raised areas and corners ( I've sanded down to primer in these spots more than I care to admit) and use the Novus three stage polishing system next. I polish all my models with a chamois that you can pick up from an auto parts store. You cant get much softer than cow skin to get a near scratch free shine. It takes a lot of patience but it will result in a show room shine every time. If I forgot something or you need anything more just let me know and I'll be glad to help. Take care,

Joe

Edited August 15, 2016 by mustang1989

[BrianI]

Thanks for the replies, Griffsrw & Joe.

Zero paints looks like it could be a way forward, especially using the premixed 1K clear coat on top of zero paints. However what is putting me off ordering some, is I think my issues may be partly down to poor airbrushing technique, not adequately thinning paint, and rushing the gloss coats. I'd rather try and get my airbrushing techniques improved first, before shelling out on somewhat expensive Zero paints!

I normally thinned tamiya acrylic paints using either 3 parts thinners to 2 parts paint, or 1 part thinners to 1 part paint, normally using either cellulose thinners (which I found broke the pigments out of solution), or Tamiya X20A thinners. I then airbrushed using my H&S Ultra aibrush, with 0.2mm needlset, at 20-25psi

As a little experiment this afternoon, I've picked up one of my many plastic spoons I had primed previously

Then I thinned the heck out of the paint!

2 drops of tamiya flat black, to 8 drops X20A thinners (i.e. 80% thinners, 20% paint). I then dropped the compressor regulator to 10psi (which would probably be nearer 8psi at the brush). The paint sprayed beautifully on the test paper, no spatter or obvious grain.

I then sprayed some of this over thinned paint onto a plastic spoon, using light mist coats. The paint being very thin dried very quickly, so I was able to build up a few mist coats one after the other. Looking at the spoon after 10 minutes drying time, the resulting paint job is dead flat, if somewhat translucent, with very little paint grain visible. Another couple of coats should do it.

I had stripped the paint job of the bonnet, primed it yesterday using halfords primer, and I've just laid down a few mist coats of the 80:20 thinners:paint mix Dead flat finish, very little grain, but a few more coats needed to get adequate coverage.

So perhaps my issues with grainy paint jobs were due to not thinning the paint enough, which meant higher air pressures were needed, which resulted in the paint drying as it left the nozzle, meaning a gritty finish?

Hopefully this will get my paint work sorted out. I dare not take a photo yet, in case it all goes pear shaped! :badmood:So if you could all cross your eyes / fingers, that would be great!

If only I could figure out how to get a decent gloss finish by airbrushing alclad aqua gloss - previous attempts were somewhat orange peely. Perhaps mist coats would be the way forward?

[BrianI]

Some boring photos of an airbrushed spoon alert!

Reminder label for thinning ratio:

80% X20A to 20% Tamiya flat black acrylic

0.2mm needleset

10psi

A couple of coats misted on:

And then gently buffed up an hour later using paper towel, then a (clean) microfibre glasses cleaning cloth:

Now do I risk airbrushing tamiya gloss acrylic, thinned with the same ratio?

Hmmmmm

[BrianI]

Now do I risk airbrushing tamiya gloss acrylic, thinned with the same ratio?

Hmmmmm

Decided against it.

Tamiya flat acrylics, thinned to heck, seem to work for me!

So I'll let the crash test spoons dry overnight, then try to figure out airbrushing alclad aqua gloss!

[arni]

Try the Tammy cans,they work nicely,here are a couple of cars done with Tamiya cans.