Search the Community

Hello, everyone! I have a quick question. Does anyone know if Tamiya Paint Retarder works with Revell Aqua Color? I’ve tried to see if Revell makes a paint retarder, but I haven’t had any luck.

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

Chaps. What's good at thinning ready for the Airbrush? I have the usual stuff, Tamiya, W&N Flow Improver, IPA etc but no Revell stuff. I only have a small model to paint, so didn't want to invest in a ton of stuff I'll never use again. Rick.