Steve Noble

Light sand first, remove the texture. Then spray more over the top, light, thin coats..

Usually a rough finish is a combination of clear being too thick and/or incorrect air pressure/technique. My first thing to try would be more thinning, followed by experimenting with different air pressures and distance from airbrush to the model..

It's a well known fact that the quality of Humbrol enamels has really suffered of late. Put simply, it's not the same formula it used to be. Many, many complaints about it on this very forum. But Humbrol seem to do nothing about it. I haven't used it for years and use alternative paint brands instead, that I can trust to be consistent and give a good finish. I even steered away from enamels and use lacquer paints instead and much prefer them..

Yes, saw them today. Also MG Metro 6R4's as well as the 2018 Citroen C3 WRC. Excellent times for rally model makers...

2 pack polyester Isopon car filler, no shrinkage, sands easily. I never use model fillers as they always shrink. Can't stand Milliput, for me at least it just never sands down very well...

Graphicair A300s-d all the way. Best piece of kit I ever bought, you'll wonder how you ever managed without one. All paints no smell at all, just a clean pleasant work environment. Would recommend it 100%. Agree with the comment above about the filters. I bought two rolls of material from eBay. A glass fibre one which fits at the front and a thicker white layer that goes behind. Traps all the nasties and stuff and as stated a fraction of the cost of genuine filters, which are very pricey..

I saw the real car once at Goodwood. It's actually a very dark brown, not black as shown on the instructions. It changes colour depending on the light and angle you look at it. Also the blue has a very fine metallic pearl finish to it..

You can use Mr Levelling thinner on a cloth to remove paint from plastic parts without melting the plastic. Try that with shop thinner and you'll end up with a molten plastic blob. Mr Levelling thinners are quite gentle in the thinners league table...

Change to a trigger type brush, they are much more comfortable to use. You won't have aching hands and fingers then..

Myself if using gloss paints such as Tamiya TS, I would apply the decals straight onto the gloss paint surface, allow a good few days, maybe a week if possible for the decals to dry, then apply your final clear coat. You don't have to gloss the decals. It's personal choice. I do usually apply a gloss coat, mainly to give a uniform finish, but also to protect the decals.

The TS-26 can be a little thin. Allow it to dry, give it a gentle flat with some wet and dry, maybe 1500 grit used wet, to smooth the surface and then apply some more paint. Also you can warm the can slightly using a bowl of warm water. It helps the paint to flow and level better when it's warm. You can repeat that process a few times, the drying/flatting recoating, until you get a nice gloss to the paint. It's basically just smoothing the surface between coats..

Which spray have you used from Tamiya for the white? Is it TS-26 in the aerosol spray can? Also which primer are you using?

Just had a good look at the decals on Spotmodel and notice that the white number 3's and other sponsors are both printed within the red background but also printed separately, so you can mask and paint the red or use the decals, whatever you choose..

To be fair you chose a fairly complicated colour scheme for your first bike model, but with a little care it should be good. My opinion, for what it's worth is to use Tamiya TS sprays for the main body colours. TS-26 white and TS-49 red. Personally for the best result I would mask and paint the larger red areas and then use the decals for the other bits. Applying those large red decals without wrinkles is tricky, but paint lays onto the curves easily and without fuss. You can scan/photocopy the decal sheet and make masking templates in order to accomplish this. I would be looking at painting the red areas on the fairing top, fairing side, and side panel/tank bottom, instead of attempting those large red decals, but it's up to you to decide how you do it, just giving my advice as to how I'd tackle it. Again from personal opinion I would keep away from TS-13 clear. I've used it in the past and it has the ability to melt decals as it's a hot product. It needs extreme care in it's use. Mr Top Coat is safe over decals, so I'd recommend that instead for someone just starting out. Or something equivalent that's kind to decals. Again from a personal view I always remove all parts from the sprues, clean up the attachment points and assemble where possible parts that are the same colour. It makes sense to do it this way so that I'm not cleaning up the parts and repainting/touching in the attachment points. Or getting glue onto the painted parts when assembling and ruining the paint finish. I don't prime every part (I use Tamiya or Mr Color paints) for most of the non bodywork colours and spray them onto bare plastic. But I always prime the body parts which on your model would be tank, seat unit, fairing and front mudguard. I would spray them all white first, then mask and apply the red, allow to dry, trim the red areas from the decals and apply the remaining areas of decal, allow a few days drying time before applying your chosen clear coat over the entire part, then more drying and finally a light polish with Tamiya rubbing compound or equivalent. I've given you a lot of info, if you need any clarification or get stuck along the way, please ask and I'll try to point you in the right direction. Bikes can be tricky to get just right but are very rewarding when built correctly..

Firstly, they are very flat when they dry, always have been and they will mark easily if you rub them or handle the model a lot during construction. Secondly, you should always apply a gloss coat of clear before decals otherwise you will get the dreaded silvering issue when air gets trapped under the decal. It won't silver if you have a gloss finish as it is smooth and the decals will bed onto the surface better..