Alasdair

Ah, OK, thanks for the explanation. Would more light coats before the final wet coat help with this?

Thanks, I do appreciate the need for a smooth surface. I've been making sure to sand down the primer layer very carefully before trying the gloss layer, going down to 6000 grit micromesh. I think the primer's pretty smooth now. I've still been getting less than perfect results. Lots of orange peel, which, when I looked it up, seemed as though it might be caused by too low a pressure. So, I tried increasing the pressure and spraying from further away. This doesn't look too bad, Tamiya gloss with X20a thinner in a 1:2 ratio, plus some Tamiya retarder. Trouble is, that was when it was wet. It's dried to this: Still orange-peely. Does anyone know what's going in? Why is my paint doing the opposite of levelling when it dries?

I've been experimenting with various glosses and polishing techniques. I haven't noticed any particular issues with Alclad Aqua and the Tamiya compounds. Yes, if you rub too hard on too thin a coat you can break it down, but I haven't seen any signs that Alclad is particularly susceptible.

Turns out I was wrong and @Mark Harmsworth was right 😉 I tried a dab of various glosses on a primed spoon to see how well they'd dry without the potential effects of bad airbrush technique. On close examination they all came up grainy, and it was the same graininess as the primer coat. I tried again, this time sanding down the primer coat very carefully, and the final gloss finish was a lot better. Will still need some polishing for a mirror-like look, but it's definitely an improvement. Looks like I really need to make sure that every layer is as smooth as possible. Thanks, Alasdair “Do not try and paint the spoon, that’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth… there is no spoon."

Mud, mud, glorious mud 😉. I will investigate retarders, thanks.

I showed a sample of the kind of matte finish that I'm glossing over - seems reasonably smooth to me? (And definitely smoother than the gloss coat.) I can try the automotive section too if you think that's a better place. Thanks.

Yes, as I said, I've got decent results on a spoon using increasingly fine grades of wet and dry paper, followed by a polishing compound. But spoons are nice and smooth and easy to polish, unlike real models, with all their crevices and moulded details. When I tried that on the model I pictured, the difference between the areas I could sand and the areas I couldn't was just painful.

Should have mentioned - I'm (ab)using an Iwata HP-BCR with, I believe, an 0.5mm tip, and a Sears Craftsman compressor with a filter and moisture trap.

I'm trying my hand at cars. Unlike military subjects, cars have to be nice and shiny, and you can't pass off your mistakes as 'battle damage' ;-). I very much prefer to use acrylics, and although I've been able to get a nice matte or satin finish, I'm completely failing when it comes to gloss. Nice satin finish: (Yes, a couple of minor flaws - I've been basecoating a lot of spoons.) Lousy gloss finish: And more examples here. I've tried a number of combinations. I've tried gloss paint (Tamiya and Golden) and matte paint with a gloss clearcoat (Tamiya, Mission Models, Alclad Aqua or Liquitex gloss medium). I've tried them tinned according to instructions, and thinned with additional thinner. I've tried spaying close to the surface with low pressure and further away with high pressure. I've tried laying on multiple gossamer-thin coats, wafted towards the surface by the gentlest breath of air. Sometimes I follow this up with a final wet coat, sometimes I go straight to the wet stage. It honestly doesn't seem to matter what I do. Everything ends up rough and grainy. Even if I overdo the wet coat, it still ends up like this. Even if the final wet coat looks smooth and glossy when it's still wet, once it dries it ends up rough. The only thing that seems to work is sanding down afterwards with increasingly fine grades of paper, followed by some polishing compound. That gives a really nice finish,. and I have a number of spoons that I'm quite proud of. But spoons are nice and smooth, whereas sanding down a model like this one is next to impossible: (I know - I tried. And then had to strip it all off.) Is it actually possible to spray a decent finish using acrylics? And if so how to you do it? What haven't I tried yet? Thanks, Alasdair