A_S

Hi all I thought i had asked this before but I checked through my posts and I couldnt see anything. Just looking forr some advice on what people prime etch and brass with? I'd previously used Halfords car primer when painting 1/32 scale brass steam locos, without problem, 10 years on the paint jobs look perfect. However in my recent efforts to paint photo etch and my own scratch built brass parts for my 1/24 rally cars the primers I'm using keep pealing at the corners often even before i paint, and from touching them or clamping them with buldog clips etc.... I can't work out why the etches seem so hard to paint. I opened my cabinet this evening to check out some shades of silver/grey on my completed models only to find my most recent finished build has suffered the exact problem I describe above. See the corners of the roof vents, these are brass parts painted with zero etch primer. So annoying as there is not much I can do now, and all its been doing is sitting in that cabinet since Oct-20.... no other interference. I've used all of the following - zero paints etch primer (2 part), tamiya - whichever one lists etch and metal as one of the surfaces it can prime, some other 2 part stuff my dad uses to prime 5inch gauge steam locos but all 3 just peal at the corners. My technique has been to slighty key the brass and soak for 10-20 mins in white vinager before drying and applying 3-4 medium coats through the spray or airbrush. Anyone else have similar issues, and how do you get round them? Cheers Andy

progress is slow, but its coming along. ans somethings never change... anyway, i'm just trying to decide what shades to paint the brake disks and calipers. the calipers are a very flat white colour but i cant yet find a white enough flat enough silver. thinking tamiya titanium silver for the discs and the recomended xf-56 metalic grey for the hubs. i also need to paint the photo etch buy ivr had a nightmare with this in the past. both zero etch primer, my dad's brass train primer and tamiya keep pealing at fine edges and dont seam to stick! i am concidering good old halfords car primer as i used this on brass trains in the past but i'm loathed to buy another one after specifically buying zero for this purpose!!! my mood wasn't helped when i opened my cabinet to check out the metalic silver/grey colours on some other models only to find yet another problem with pealing, on the corner of both vents. this was zero paints etch primer on brass. I think I did 3 or 4 coats too. Not overly fixable now... expect another post asking for recomendations soon!

ended up having a bit of a break as i got fed up of trying to get the injection holes filled and the surface smooth, plus the opening up of life and summer coming. picked them up again over the last few days and several hours later (a multiple of 2...) sanding carefully with 600 grit then polishing with 2000 this is as good as i can do i think. if anyone has any other suggestions let me know

progress is a bit slow. I'm struggling to clean up the radiator mounts If anyone has a good way to clean these up let me know. Second go and still look really messy after priming. even my attempts to blend the layers of paint hasn't worked:

a tip I have used on this is to clear coat some gloss/semi gloss varnish once the mask has been applied and then spray your black rubber. The clear coat effectively seals the masking and doesn’t allow the black to bleed through. what do you use to clean up without damaging the clear parts? /thread hijack mode off

Thanks. A bit more progress. sanded and refilled some of the tub. Hopefully for the last time. I've also drilled out the front bulkhead and the 4 circles at the front of the tub, I only noticed they needed to be drilled out while doing some research on the bulkhead. replacement suspension mounts fitted and threaded with 14B bolt. just to re-chrome the arms now and dig out some washers to add to the mounts. Its worked quite well I think. In between doing all that I've started preping the bits needed for the front bulkhead. primed and painted. The alclad dull aluminium, again, not sold yet, looks not a lot better than if I'd have used xf-56 or whatever the tamiya flat aluminum is.

As much as the quality is superb - I can’t get over how quickly it all seems to progress given the level of detail!

a couple of photos the photos don't show off the chroming too well, when zoomed in, they look better in real time. I'm happy for a first attempt anyway. maybe a little grainy by the looks of the photos though... filler didnt quite work on one of the suspension arms, but I decided not to re-do because once the wheel and hub are on, it will be hidden. and the tub after first coat of filler, left it to harden for a few days and I'll sand it next and then probably fill again... not an efficient way of doing it, but I don't think i want to use the superglue method, as i may sand too much of the plastic away.

not a lot of progress to report this week. lots of filling on the body and re-filling those bits above. Re-chrommed most of the front suspension parts, waiting to drill out the other arms. Tried to spray the vallejo again, same problem even at a higher preasure and further away. Just can;t get it right. The only time I can seem to spray it without these water marks is to spray very very misty coats but it doesnt end up in a finish any better than a tamiya x-11 or xf-16 for example. quite bity and sparkly after 4/5 very light coats. unfortunately I've lost a part as well. The spotmodel box I was using to transport my bits has a concealed hole at the tongue and I didn't realise - its only a minor bit of the retaining part that holds the roll hoop in, and will be behind the seat, but thats a pain, I might have to try and re-make it if I can't find it. It could be anywhere by now, as I've been carting those bits round in that box for some 6 months.

Thanks. I'll have a look at the weekend RE the Vallejo and DFV block. Not much progress to report. got some of the bits to be rechromed sprayed in alcalad base gloss black this evening. couple of days driying and I'll test out the chroming process on my scrap sprues on friday and if this goes well apply to all the front suspension and steering column parts over the weekend... ..but I have decided I will drill out the front suspension arms and replace so those will be left till later. Just need to find a decent price 14ba die, failing that it might have to be 12ba but i need to check the nut size in case its too big. my stock of 14ba look ok but need to test against the kit part which is in my parent's garage still. Dug out my old stock of brass and steel rod this afternoon to measure and see if I had any 1.5mm rod, was in the box with this.. 70% complete and been sitting in the box for 6 years since i bought my house and lost my workbench space. should really finish it sometime... these things really are a work of art, starting with a flat pack brass sheet. If this build goes well, I'll finish it next. Not really the medium for a thread here sadly.

I’ve promised myself an MFH once I have completed my current Tyrrell build and once I’ve finished my JLTRT o gauge gwr tank which has been sitting in a cupboard 70% complete for 6 years. So I will follow this with great interest.

here is the compressor and the kit it comes from. No longer use the airbrush but still use the compressor.

no picture yet, unfortunatly I haven't been able to spray tonight. Another kind of Spreying. My Cat had her "op" today and has been a bit of handful since. keeps taking her coller and T-shirt off... so i've had to stay indoors. hopefully can get out tomorrow if she is a bit more settled.

Thinking the compressor can’t hold the pressure accurately enough or the gauge is not accurate enough was my guess!

I think I can see where you are going with this...! There is a bigger heavy duty one I could use as well. not sure it would be more accurate! I'll grab a picture. RE the mouldings - it seems to shrink, I think I've filled this and sanded twice. never seem to get it flush..!