Newbie Questions Part 2...

[Tomathee]

Hi all, I've been progressing with my first model and over the past few sessions I've had a few issues/questions crop up. Rather than add to the couple that I dropped in my work in progress thread I thought I should do a separate thread to avoid clogging that one up, and probably take those ones off that thread so that somebody doesn't go to the trouble of answering over there as well.

First is to do with painting, and in particular white, don't know if it just shows up more in that colour or is more tricky to work with but I'm noticing a few areas where it is building up or looking a bit rough.

With these, it looks to have pooled at the tip, particularly bad on the bottom one.

On this door there is again some pooling in the recesses, only just noticed the marks around the middle, not really sure what they are so I'll probably have to sand or repaint anyway.

This one I took for the progress thread but thought I should include it, now it's zoomed in it shows up uneven on the front sections towards the bottom. It's only primer in this pic but I assume that would carry on with the top coat.

All of those parts had one or two coats of grey primer to cover the original black plastic. After the first coat I thought I'd try thinning for the second coat, not sure if it helped or not, seemed to get a lot of bubbles in the palette. Have ordered some pipettes to make life easier but as a rough guess it would have been something around 70:30 paint to thinner. For this issue I'm just curious of what I did wrong and how to avoid it next time, if there are particular tips for white paint (I thought use white primer, but then does it negate or make it difficult to tell how the white top coat is going?), or if I didn't thin to the proper ratio, although it may have been too late by then anyway if the first coat went on without any thinners. I don't know if I'll try and sand back or otherwise start fresh on these parts as they are nearly all either small and/or delicate, but for next time I definitely don't want to repeat any mistakes if I can help it.

For the next two issues, they conveniently appeared in one photo together. The landing gear in the background has a triangular shape on the side, this became clogged with paint. I think it's probably related to the issues above around paint thinning or lack thereof. Second issue is the cockpit, this could be a major basic error on my part but I thought I should ask and maybe test the limits of 'no such thing as a stupid question'. I used Humbrol No. 49 acrylic varnish, at the time I bought that and Satin Cote for the two options. Didn't want to use enamel unless I had to so I went for the acrylic. Not really sure what's gone wrong here, shows up on the black area most and towards the front, it looked better without so something has obviously gone wrong either in product selection or the application. Should I have gotten the 'Clear' varnish? I only saw gloss available and wasn't sure if gloss was the way to go over matt/satin so left it. Thinking that was my first mistake, not sure if alongside that other mishaps occurred, again with thinning perhaps, but I have no answer for why it looks the way it does around those front edges?

I recently bought a book (Airfix book of scale modelling) which I'm slowly reading through and may eventually get to some answers but if anyone here has tips or info that they wouldn't include in books I'd greatly appreciate it. I've not been put off so far and I'm certainly learning the patience aspect of the hobby, just want to get past these niggly bits and get on with moving forward.

Thanks if you lasted reading this far!

[Greenshirt]

First issue first...

White is a hard paint to...well paint. It doesn't cover well. I typically use a white primer for my white, painting that first from a rattle can then after a good cure of 24 hours I rub it down to get a nice smooth surface. If any underlying plastic color is showing through I paint, cure and rub again.

Seeing your model you're past that point, unless you want to strip and restart. If the latter then if using acrylics you can try an ammonia based cleaner, or a mild oven cleaner. Yes, an oven cleaner. Spray it on, wait a few seconds then scrub at the old paint with an old toothbrush (don't plan to reuse that toothbrush for any other duties). Also works well with enamels, but can sometimes attack the glue joints.

If you don't want to restart then rub the model down until you have a nice smooth surface. Then take a rattle can of white paint (not primer) and shoot a few coats, allowing it to dry between coats. Spray from a distance as you want the white to build up slowly.

White takes patience and practice to get a good finish.

For the second issue...

Your paint is too thick. Thin a bit and plan for multiple coats, allowing for thorough drying between each coat. Tha triangle is the scissor link between the wheel shaft/piston and the strut. It's meant to be "open" so what I do is paint carefully, very little on the brush and if the link gets a bit of paint in it I blow are through to clear it. Away from things you don't want paint on, the missus doesn't like paint droplets on the floor or wall.

For the third issue...

Humidity and temperature affect varnishes, in my experience. If the paint is already satin or gloss, no need to varnish it unless you need matte. Matte over gloss tends to get a frosty appearance of the humidity and temperature aren't right. I use a matte paint to begin with and varnish gloss, which typically doesn't exhibit this problem. For myself. I also use flat for everything, then satin or gloss varnish as necessary, staying away from matte varnishes.

Hope this helps.

Tim

[Graham Boak]

Pooling is happening because the paint is being added too thickly - much what Tim says. Basic rule is that three thin coats are better than one thick one.

The granular problem looks like dust - make sure your model is washed thoroughly clean and leave in a dust-free box to dry before painting, and keep in a dust free box between coats..

[Sgt.Squarehead]

As Tim suggests, spraying multiple thin coats and allowing each some time to dry will sort out most of these issues.....Less is often more.

[Tomathee]

Thanks guys, seems I correctly realised a couple of my mistakes and having it confirmed is helpful. Completely skipped over sanding after priming, that's a biggie I'll need to remember for the rest of it and going forward. Hopefully pipettes will help with thinning and I will do a bit more youtubing/reading on the subject. I only really needed the varnish for the two decals on the sides but wrongly went for doing the whole part, may repaint or take off the black part and do again. I definitely gave it a good wash beforehand and it goes away in the cupboard between work, it might be from sanding some other part nearby, again I may give it a quick sand over and repaint, that part is a little bigger so more likely to stand up to the working.

Cheers for the quick responses, if it takes me longer to get to part 3 then I'll know I'm improving!

[Marvel Onkey]

I've found varnish can go a bit odd if the paint you are putting it on is not properly dry, that might contribute to the streaky finish.

Also +1 on thinning paint thoroughly- flow improver is a godsend for brush painting.