Fraz97

Excellent build. Love the colours in particular. What paints did you use?

I have also found that Italeri's Dark Earth is an identical match to the old H72, their Dark Green is also very close to H73, slightly a bit too green but not by much and your eye won't really notice the difference that much. Problem is that Italeri's paint is very hard to get and you have to purchase them from Italy.

OK so I got some test decals and tried it following Tamiya's instructions. I also thought it was worth experimenting with both a cotton bud and paper towel when it came to getting rid of the excess. This time I managed to get it to snug down into the detail. But for some reason I got a better result when pressing it down with the paper/kitchen towel than I did with the cotton bud. With the cotton bud it required more coats to get it to snug down, so I guess the secret is to use a paper towel when possible and only use cotton buds on certain surfaces and on smaller decals.

So you just left it after the solution was applied? You didn't press it with a cotton bud or cloth afterwards? Even though I think Tamiya says that you should do that?

The boiling water was only for those zimmerit decals (which weren't good). I heard somewhere that boiling water would help but I don't it did. Every other time I use decals I used just warm or lukewarm water, which is normal. Should have clarified that! I still have mixed results with regular warm water and Mark Fit Strong. But I'll give those a try with those instructions. other people use different methods which makes it all the more confusing for me.

Hi all. I am experimenting with Mark Fit Strong, but I can't seem to get the results that I was hoping for. The Decals don't really draw down into the panel lines or the detail. This is despite the fact that I am using 2 coats of gloss varnish on the model and there seems to be conflicting instructions on the internet on how to use them. I am also worried that I may have contaminated the solution with water. I was using boiling water to try and fix some Zimmerit decals and while it was still wet I used Mark fit strong with it, I may have accidently mixed some of the Mark Fit Strong with some of the boiling water when the boiling water hadn't properly soaked into the decal. (Even though I used different brushes for each and never mixed the two brushes) What is the correct way to use Mark Fit Strong and will water actually harm the decal solution if there is a little bit is accidently mixed in?

Right so I haven't got the Poly yet so I gave it another go. I found some spare Spitfire wings to test out the paints. This time I properly primed them before trying out the paints. I am happy to say that they work properly now. But I have noticed that some dried quicker than others (but not by much). The Colours I tried were RAF Dark Earth, RAF Dark Green and RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb. I thinned Dark Earth 20 parts paint to 5 parts thinner and it seemed to spray nicely, but I built it up in nice thin layers and it dried to the touch in 20-30 minutes (about right). The Dunkelgelb was a bit thinner and came out a bit too thin and required a little bit longer to dry. I tired a new ration for the Dark Green (20 paint to 4 part thinner) and this started well, but then it started clogging up the airbrush, so obviously this required a bit more thinner. But overall the results were decent and I'm happy now. However, I'm not a big fan of the shades of RAF Dark Green and RAL 7028. RAF Dark Green looks too greyish to me and RAL 7028 looks a bit too much like a darker version of Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan. Apart from that, the paints have started to work now. Just needs a bit more practice and experience.

I tired the paint on a surface that already had paint on it and it did perform better, but dried a bit slower than expected. But it did dry to a smooth and solid finish, so it does work. It's merely lack of experience on my part. Thanks for the tips.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I have been following their instructions. But I have managed to get it working. It just took a bit longer to dry than other people have managed to get it working. This time it was on a primed surface which certainly helped a lot. It is just lack of experience with MMP that is causing the problem. I knew that their formula was different to others so I was well aware that it may be a case of trial and error. I will still keep my other paints just to be safe, (AK Real colours, Vallejo, Gunze and Tamiya as I like them (especially Gunze and Tamiya) and they have colours that MMP don't have. I only use Vallejo for miniature figures), but I would like to try to keep to acrylics as much as possible due to them being less toxic (except for maybe AK's Real colours as they are the smelliest, but they have some colours that the others do not have so I kinda have to use them). As for temperature, I live in Scotland and I do my models in the garage and the temperature rarely changes here. except in some extreme cases where it may be too hot or too cold. But I may follow your advice just to be safe. Thanks for the advice, I think I might be getting the hand of it, but I think I will wait for the Poly to come and then try again. I'll try and use the notebook when I can.

1. I tried two colours and have similar problems. But they oddly started drying but very slowly. 2. I did shake the paint, but probably not very long. 3. I might try other ratios (I saw one YT using 6 part thinner to 30 part paint and another using 20 part paint to 5 part thinner) 4. I could try that. I am just terrible at maintaining distance lol. 5. Well I did start doing it on bare plastic which obviously was a bad idea but I then did it on already painted surfaces and had some problems as it was too thin or too wet. But it seems to be drying, very slowly though. (I am using a test sample on a spare piece of plastic rather than an actual project) 6. Again I will try that and see what happens. I live in Scotland so it's always cold up here so probably not ideal for me maybe. Also while the Poly is optional it does seem that the best results use it so I think it's worth a shot. Thanks for the help.

Hello, me again. I am having difficulty with Mission model Paints. I have concluded that it's down to user error. I recently tested some Mission Models paint along with their thinner. I followed the instructions carefully on how to thin them, but I couldn't get good coverage, it came out wet and had poor adhesion and remained wet on the surface. I may have used too much thinner, but I find different people using different ratios, which is only confusing me further. MMP recommend 10 parts paint to 1 part thinner and 1 part poly. So I put in 30 parts paint to 3 parts thinner, but didn't solve the problem. When I purchased the paints and thinner, the Poly additive was out of stock, so I was forced to go without it but now I feel that that is part of the problem and now I have purchased a bottle of it. Is it just the lack of Poly additive that is causing the problem or is it just me overthinning it or spraying too close? Just for the record I use a 0.2mm Harder and Steenbeck Infinity CRplus and I was spraying at 10-15 psi (MM recommends 10-15psi for their paints.) I've seen people using these paints and they have nothing but praise for them and I've seen them work well on other videos. It is clearly me that is the problem but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Thanks

Thanks for the reply I am not tied to either and I happily use Gunze and Tamiya products. I just heard mixed results with Tamiya's clear coats, but heard great things about W&N, I haven't bought anything yet but it does seem that MM clear coats may be a bit of an issue, I was personally leaning towards the W&N products, but I do have Tamiya products if all doesn't go well. I have seen the Inner Nerd on YouTube using Mission models Clear Coat Gloss and it seemed to work well with him, but he only used the gloss coat. That and a lot of modellers in the Airfix Magazine use W&N varnishes and to good effect. Personally though I don't mind waiting for coats to apply as I normally leave them to dry for a long time anyways just to be safe. Thanks for the reply.

Thanks for that, but others suggest thinning it too. But have not given a precise ratio. But if it works just like this then it sounds like it should be ok.

Hi folks. I am thinking of getting a new Acrylic based varnish for my models and I am currently stuck between two. The first is Mission Models and I have seen their tutorials and they look great. The other that I have seen good reviews for is Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic varnishes. However, for the W&N Galeria Varnishes what would be the correct thinner to varnish ratio. I have read that they work with Tamiya X-20A Acrylic thinners and I have read that they should work with ultimate thinners too. Does anyone (preferably anyone who has used W&N) know the right ratio for the varnishes. Another point is that I am starting to use Tamiya Mark Fit Strong as a decal solution and I was wondering if it was safe to use Mark Fit Strong on top of either Mission Models varnish or W&N Galeria varnish. I have read that it should be safe, but I would like be sure before I try it out for real. (I could always use a test sample first.)

Hello folks Problem solved! I decided to give a go at some Tamiya paints. This afternoon I went to my hobby shop and bought some jars of Tamiya Acrylics, I also bought some Tamiya thinners while I was at it. Apart form one splatter (which was my one fault as I pulled the lever back too far) - the result I got was splendid, the paint dired quickly and I got a smooth finish - exactly what I was looking. The Tamiya paints are superb and even with just one thin coat, it looked great, I thinned the paint 50:50 and it sprayed beautifully out of the airbrush. I will be using Tamiya acrylics from now on. Why did I not switch to them earlier? Thank you for the advice, I will now be happily spraying with my airbrush with these problems. Thanks again Fraser