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Mig Ammo Crystal Colours


GazB

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Hi everyone, back with another conundrum.

 

I recently picked up some Mig Ammo Crystal Colours, with intent to use the light blue to create a tint hinting at armoured glass for my truck (I know Alclad makes a colour specifically for this, but I don't want to mess with nasty cleaners). 

 

Problem is, when I tested the colour on a bit of clear acetate, it first delivered no colour, almost a clear hazing, and then when it did come out blue, the plastic was frosted. You could only see anything through that was directly behind it, which in the cab wouldn't happen, everything would be out of range and blurry. I suffered the same problem with my Tamiya Clear Blue, which I stripped from some windows recently. Painting either type onto something seems to retain clarity, but spraying doesn't. This is particularly odd because Tamiya Clear Red, which I sprayed onto my M1s vision blocks, retained clarity. 

 

Does anyone know how to spray these colours without them 'fogging' the glass and kind of defeating the purpose of a window? I also have Periscope Green, which I got for my Typhoon, but haven't yet tried spraying it. The whole thing puts me in a dilemma because hand painting the colours inevitably results in streaks in too strong a colour for something that's tinted.

 

I emailed Mig, but like AKI recently, I got no reply to my query :( so any pointers would be appreciated. 

 

Thanks, 

Gaz

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Sounds to me as if the clear paint is drying too fast when sprayed. You might try lowering your air pressure and/or moving the airbrush closer to the plastic so as to produce a "wetter" coat. Or add a flow enhancer/wetting agent to the paint.

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What does it say on the bottle?  I'm wondering if it's brushable only?  I'd probably add some clear acrylic to some Klear to dip the clear parts if I was looking for that sort of effect :)

 

 

 

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Looking at that video it seems to only be any use for airbrushing if you don't really want to see anything through the window afterwards.  Don't really see the use of doing that unless you're going for a blacked-out limo look.  Try adding some to Klear and dipping a spare piece of clear plastic to see how it goes. Yikers, that video is LOW resolution :owww:

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3 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

Sounds to me as if the clear paint is drying too fast when sprayed. You might try lowering your air pressure and/or moving the airbrush closer to the plastic so as to produce a "wetter" coat. Or add a flow enhancer/wetting agent to the paint.

 

2 hours ago, Tony Oliver said:

Yeah I agree with @Space Rangerabove. The frosting which is causing a lack of clarity is because it is drying to fast and going on like a ‘matt’ paint. 

Get wetter, thinner coats on it and it should be fine. 

 

2 hours ago, Mike said:

Looking at that video it seems to only be any use for airbrushing if you don't really want to see anything through the window afterwards.  Don't really see the use of doing that unless you're going for a blacked-out limo look.  Try adding some to Klear and dipping a spare piece of clear plastic to see how it goes. Yikers, that video is LOW resolution :owww:

Hmm, I did give it a full blast when I got a bit irritated, which did seem to improve the clarity but, it also made it puddle and gave inconsistent coverage :(

 

I also spray on the lowest pressure my little compressor can give (three setting one, no regulator). But yeah when I watched that vid, I did notice (although they almost try not to show you) that the clear bits seemed almost opaque. Its just odd, though, especially with my Tamiya paint how the clear blue did the same.

 

I won't get into the AKI Real Color stuff because the Clear colour hasn't worked any better than the others i.e. impossible for me to spray even when thinned.

 

Thanks for the pointers, though, Ranger, Tony and Mike. Guess with the options available there's no real way for me to replicate the effects properly :( 

 

Gaz

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  • 2 weeks later...

I sent an email to Mig Ammo about this and they replied back that the Crystal Colours aren't all that suitable for windows, more things like lights and whatnot. They recommended a clear lacquer such as Mr Hobby for this.

 

I wish kits had pre-tinted parts, like Meng did with their Bradley. What's peculiar is that the Takom Typhoon recommends periscope green for its glass, but not only is the colour wrong (lime green as opposed to a bottle green needed) the Crystal Colours aren't good for those windows as Mig explained.  

 

Gaz

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5 hours ago, GazB said:

 

I sent an email to Mig Ammo about this and they replied back that the Crystal Colours aren't all that suitable for windows

 

 

I remember watching a YouTube video from their channel when these first came out. 

They were spraying some windows with the dark blue colour if I recall correctly. 

 

Strange to now say that. 

 

 

Edit: not watched to comfirm ( signal not strong enough) but I think that may be the vid I was on about that mike inserted above? 

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8 hours ago, Tony Oliver said:

 

I remember watching a YouTube video from their channel when these first came out. 

They were spraying some windows with the dark blue colour if I recall correctly. 

 

Strange to now say that. 

 

 

Edit: not watched to comfirm ( signal not strong enough) but I think that may be the vid I was on about that mike inserted above? 

Hey, Tony.

 

When I watched the vid at the time I thought it strange that they didn't display anything behind the windows to show the clarity, but if you look closely you can in fact see that the windows take on a blacked out limo quality and aren't see through.

 

I'm still curious about this other video where a guy combined Tamiya Smoke and Copper to paint the canopy of an EA-6. It frosted, but then he blasted it with Klear and it restored the clarity. Unfortunately, this technique didn't work on my test piece with Tamiya Clear, so I wonder if its only Klear that does it.

 

Gaz

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