AndersP

Very, very smart. I love how that despite being a 500cc bike AND fitted with a turbo, the speedo still shows 80mph as the highest whole number on the brochure shot. How things have changed.

Lovely. That gloss finish over the black is up there with the best I've ever seen. What brand of 2K did you use, and what was the thinner - fast, medium, slow? I've seen various 2k packages on Amazon and eBay, but I don't recognise any of the brands so haven't taken the plunge yet, but I do think trying 2K on a model is on my to-do-list. Anders

Why was this removed?

Absolutely wonderful. How did you manage to get the red transfers onto the wheel rims so perfectly?

Loving the beautiful glossy finish - it's perfect.

Although it's not web based, if you have a local branch of BOYES they stock it.

Lovely - absolutely lovely. Great work!

Thanks guys. I've actually stripped back the mini using Mr Muscle and it's come up virtually brand new. However, I'd also painted up a Tamiya motorcycle seat, using the same primer but this time I used Tamiya acrylic paint (black rubber) as a base coat, and then gave a couple of light coats with the Humbrol Clear Gloss Varnish. There was no crazing or softening of the paint surface. After soaking both of them in MM and then running under the hot tap, the Revell Aqua Color orange came of in stringy latex like chunks, whilst the Tamiya Acrylic just turned the water black and didn't seem to release any chunks of paint. I wonder if the issue was with the Revell Aqua Color (possibly because it was a gloss), or whether the issue didn't happen to the Tamiya because it was a matt finish(?).

+1 for the Mr Muscle spray oven cleaner! I've just stripped back my Tamiya Mini that I'd naievely primed with Humbrol Matt Enamel - Trainer Yellow. I'd then covered it in two or three coats of Revell Aqua Color Orange, and a further two coats of Humbrol Clear Gloss Varnish. The crazing of the gloss and softening of the colour coat meant that I'd have to strip it right back. I put all of the parts into one of those tupperware-like plastic Chinese takeaway cartons that up until now my wife has never understood me keeping, and sprayed a load of Mr Muscle in and watched the foam start expanding before putting the lid on and leaving for about an hour. When I went back I rinsed it all off under the hot tap and a lot of the acrylic stuff started to come away, or at least blister up exposing the enamel primer underneath. I then sprayed them with Mr Muscle again and went out for 4 hours. This time when I rinsed them (again, under the hot tap) everything just came straight off without scrubbing. The white plastic of the kit now has a very slight yellowed staining from the primer, but all of the paint has totally gone! I've just sprayed another load of MM in and will see if this removes the stain, but as for a paint stripper, it's marvellous. I'd recommend spraying this stuff over a sink, just in case there's any overspray. I'd also recommend rinsing the sink immediately afterwards as if there's any chrome on the taps, plug etc, Mr Muscle will attack it. UPDATE: The yellow staining has gone from most areas after leaving it to soak in MM a day and a bit. There is still some very faint yellow staining but it appears to be limited to the areas that I sanded prior to priming, so I guess that they keyed surface holds on to the the paint, but I don't think it's enough to cause any problems with repainting.

Thanks. Has anybody used the Humbrol Clear Gloss Varnish over Tamiya Acrylics with any degree of success, or should I literally just bin the two bottles that I have? WildWeasel - The Gunze stuff doesn't look easy to come by (I don't use the bay after being ripped off massively years ago), but I can get my hands on some Alclad Clear fairly easily. Is the Alclad prone to crazing when used over Tamiya Acrylics too, or is it a completely different story?

Thanks PhantomBigStu - I also have a Tamiya Honda CB750F that I've already primed using the same enamel yellow, and was going to spray with Tamiya acrylics, so now I can avoid making the same mistake twice! WildWeasel - did you experience the crazing with the Humbrol Gloss after using enamels too, or does this stuff just craze no matter where it's used?

Hi guys, I've recently returned to modelling and now have a sizeable stash of kits to work my way through, but I've hit a rather annoying stumbling block on my first go. I decided to start with a Tamiya Mini Cooper 1:24 scale, and wanted to paint this up in the same colour as my first car. After a few goes at mixing up by eye, using Tamiya Acrylics, I stumbled across the Revell Aqua Color No.30 – Orange, as it’s exactly what I need. So, I duly washed all plastic parts and primed them up using Humbrol 24 – Trainer Matt Yellow, thinned with Humbrol Enamel thinners through my airbrush. After applying three coats and leaving 24hrs in between each, I then left the model for a week. Next I applied a couple of coats of the Revell Aqua Color orange, laying the second down nice and wet so as to get a gloss finish, which it did. After leaving the car for another week, I decided to apply a light coat of Humbrol Clear Gloss Varnish, which sprayed straight out of the bottle and went on very nicely. After a few hours I went over again with the Humbrol Clear Gloss Varnish and got a lovely high gloss finish from it that still looked wet even when it had dried for an hour or so. The model was then put into a Tupperware type box with the lid only partially on, so that any fumes could evaporate and dust would be kept to a minimum. I left it in there for a few days and when I returned I was horrified to see that the roof had a heavy crazing effect that resembled the surface of an easter egg, and that the rest of the model was covered in very fine crazing, although for some reason the front wings were less affected, despite these being given a more liberal application of paint and varnish than the rest of the model. That was four weeks ago. Today I decided that I would strip all of the paint off and start from scratch, but before I do I decided to give the micromesh that I’d got recently a go. I chose the roof as this would be easiest to do as a quick test, and I also wanted to only do half of the roof so that I could see the before and after effects. The micromesh did a fairly decent job but the crazing was too deep to remove so I abandoned it. However, when I put the piece down I could see that where my thumb had been gripping the part, that the paint surface had moved and also that my thumbprints were everywhere. I thought that this stuff was supposed to dry tough(?). My hands had been clean when I started and I hadn’t touched any chemicals, so I’m at a loss as to why the surface should be pliable. Could somebody please suggest what I may have done wrong, or whether this is a common problem using this type of product? My thumb doesn’t have any colour transfer, so I’m assuming that it’s literally just the top coat of Humbrol Clear Gloss Varnish that is the problem. I’ve attached/linked a few photos below showing the awful roof bonnet, but the almost unaffected front wings and offside. Do all gloss coats have the potential to do this? If not, then could someone also please suggest a decent alternative that allows a high gloss shine to be had off the gun, rather than just through polishing, or should I just go out and buy some automotive 2 pac lacquer and hardener, like the stuff I used to use years ago as a car painter? Also, in terms of stripping this model back to bare plastic – is toilet bleach a suitable medium? Thanks in advance, Anders