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Ford Mustang 1964 1/2 Convertible 1/16 from the Coupe AMT kit: the Indy 500 Pace Car


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6 hours ago, Alan R said:

I keep a 30 ml jar of my custom mix of semi-gloss black (3 XF1 + 2 X1 + 10 Mr Levelling thinners) as it is a frequently used colour on my work-bench

This is also an interesting comment for me, Alan. Up to now (I "learned " that from JM Villalba), I considered that the mix thinner/ paint had to be done at the very last time. But it is true that Juan Manuel used alcohol as thinner, and alcohol evaporates with time. The possibility to thin the paint once for all in the flask would be another (big) advantage of the Mr Color Leveling, so...

It is important to precise that Juan was only building military aircrafts, meaning satin or dull finish. For such finishes, the alcohol is a great thinner.

But for civilian models such cars, the Mr Color Leveling could be a better option, in combination with the great Tamiya acrylics...

About enamel paints: I don't use them except for metallic paints (very occasionally since I usually use the Alclad that don't need to be thinned) and for enamel varnishes such the GX112, the Marabu... Suffice to say that up to now, I used the Mr Color Leveling very little. 

 

Cheers, O

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On 15/11/2021 at 07:57, JeroenS said:

I always thin my Tamiya acrylics with Mr Color Levelling thinner (50/50 usually)

Dear Jeroen,

I followed your thinning and prepared a 50/50 mix WW/ Mr Color Leveling thinner. The mix seeming to me a bit too much thinned, I added a bit WW and my mix must be 55/45 now. I will do tests as soon as possible. Notice that in the video, BR puts 2 parts of Tamiya acrylic (Titanium Gold) for 1 part of Mr CLT…

 

Cheers, O

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19 hours ago, Totally Mad Olivier said:

Dear Jeroen,

I followed your thinning and prepared a 50/50 mix WW/ Mr Color Leveling thinner. The mix seeming to me a bit too much thinned, I added a bit WW and my mix must be 55/45 now. I will do tests as soon as possible. Notice that in the video, BR puts 2 parts of Tamiya acrylic (Titanium Gold) for 1 part of Mr CLT…

 

Cheers, O

Only you would notice the difference between 50/50 and 55/45 Olivier 🙂 

 

Perhaps I should have mentioned that my mix is "sort of 50/50" (which is fine for me, I don't notice such things) 😄

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7 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Only you would notice the difference between 50/50 and 55/45 Olivier 🙂 

 

Sorry Jeroen, it is just that this info about the Mr Color to thin an acrylic Tamiya seemed to me so surprising, that I feared a new fail (and tried to get the best mix paint/ thinner).

But the first trial shows that this combination is great to get a smooth and shiny surface (even before applying a Clear Coat):

 

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As I still had little cracks on the wings (especially the left one)), I made a new (and hopefully last) sanding job, and I applied a coat of WW thinned this time with the Mr Color thinner. The result of this paint coat is fine, very shiny, what is really different from what I could get using alcohol as thinner. With both, I get a smooth surface but of course, alcohol provides a very flat surface:

 

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Things should become a bit more simple for me now, thanks to Barbatos Rex...

Please, share with me you experience about the setting time of the Tamiya acrylic thinned with Mr Color.

 

Cheers, O

 

 

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17 minutes ago, Totally Mad Olivier said:

Sorry Jeroen, it is just that this info about the Mr Color to thin an acrylic Tamiya seemed to me so surprising, that I feared a new fail (and tried to get the best mix paint/ thinner).

But the first trial shows that this combination is great to get a smooth and shiny surface (even before applying a Clear Coat):

 

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As I still had little cracks on the wings (especially the left one)), I made a new (and hopefully last) sanding job, and I applied a coat of WW thinned this time with the Mr Color thinner. The result of this paint coat is fine, very shiny, what is really different from what I could get using alcohol as thinner. With both, I get a smooth surface but of course, alcohol provides a very flat surface:

 

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Things should become a bit more simple for me now, thanks to Barbatos Rex...

Please, share with me you experience about the setting time of the Tamiya acrylic thinned with Mr Color.

 

Cheers, O

 

 

To be totally safe, I use the smell test - once I no longer smell any outgassing it should be safe to work on or clear coat.

 

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1 hour ago, Lvp said:

To be totally safe, I use the smell test - once I no longer smell any outgassing it should be safe to work on or clear coat.

 

Interesting method, Les, but if so, it should be OK, as (unless I have the Covid😉), I don't smell anything even approaching very close from the body...

I will though wait tomorrow morning to apply the Clear Coat...

 

Cheers, O

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Don't be sorry Olivier, no worries 🙂

 

About the setting time, I use mostly the XF paints and they cure really fast. Smelling is indeed a good test.

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I generally find that the Tamiya Gloss Acrylics take a little longer than the Flat acrylics to fully cure when thinned with Mr. Color Levelling thinners.

 

Cheers,

Alan.

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Olivier and all. Such a vast amount of information contributed in the best spirit of the modeling fraternity. To help one another with personal information and suggestions. Well Done All.spacer.png

I now return you to the forum in progress 

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Again "gut wrenching" and to make things worse, to me the hood looks a bit darker than the wings (excuse me for saying this!).

 

Olivier, let me go into the basement and check my old Humbrol enamel tins from the last century. With a little luck I still have some tins of gloss white 22 and ivory 41 to get that warm white, stirr, thin, filter out any grain that's left and get a nice shiny surface without adding a clear coat (at least in my memory, and maybe after a little buffing and maybe only gettnig an even white tone after priming with Tamiya or Revell rattle can spray primer).

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4 hours ago, Jochen Barett said:

Again "gut wrenching" and to make things worse, to me the hood looks a bit darker than the wings (excuse me for saying this!).

 

 

 

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Thanks a lot for your "likes", my friends, but no one answered my previous post question: with which Clear coat did I get this result (that I have now also on the hood)?

No offense, Jochen, I assure you that hood and wings have the same color. Maybe is it the satin look of the previous version of the hood that could give you that feeling. And about enamels, it is very possible that you could get as good if not better results with the latter. I personally prefer to use Tamiya acrylics, especially since I know now, thanks to Barbatos Rex, that they give amazing results in combination with the Mr Color thinner...

 

 

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1 hour ago, Totally Mad Olivier said:

+++ No offense, Jochen, I assure you that hood and wings have the same color. Maybe is it the satin look of the previous version of the hood that could give you that feeling. +++

 

It's me who is trying not to offend but admire. It is just so tough (gut wrenching) to witness how often every part is being done and done over and retouched and done over again and done over one more time before being retouched and then being done over another time. And I have full confidence your personal judgement of color match will show no mercy at all.

 

 

(I'll never dare to show any of my efforts here)

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7 hours ago, Jochen Barett said:

It's me who is trying not to offend but admire. It is just so tough (gut wrenching) to witness how often every part is being done and done over and retouched and done over again and done over one more time before being retouched and then being done over another time. And I have full confidence your personal judgement of color match will show no mercy at all.

 

 

One more time, Jochen, no offense at all and thanks a lot for these kind words.

 

7 hours ago, JeroenS said:

So I don't win the refrigirator? 

 

Sorry, Jeroen, you don't win the refrigerator, indeed! 😂

I won't wait any longer to answer the question above: in fact, no Clear Coat at all was applied, it is just the WW thinned quite a lot (more than 50/50 😉) that allowed to get a shiny smooth surface. I of course had to sand with the last Micromesh (6000 to 12000) and buff to get this result.

Notice though that, even with the Mr Color thinner, I still had (and I go on having, pity, but much less than before) very little cracks on the left wing coming back several hours after the paint coat.

This Mr Color leveling thinner is really a hit: it may thin greatly as well enamel, cellulosic paints and varnishes, but also (to my big surprise) acrylics such Tamiya's ones. You can thin a lot the paint with this amazing thinner, the cover remains good and you get a very smooth and shiny surface with very little grain. 

Now the question for me is: should I really apply a Clear Coat while I am happy with the result I got?

Happily, the GX 112 is also thinned with the Mr Color and, to preserve the result, I intend to thin quite a lot (at least 1:4) the GX112.

Of course, there will still be challenges (beginning with the doors/ body narrow gaps) to come, but I feel I have finally at least found the right recipe (I think about the funny Steve drawing above, that's exactly what it is except that I have a little more hair than the guy on the drawing 😉) to get the Gloss look of a brand new car.

 

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I will go on using alcohol to thin my flat acrylic colors (especially for aircraft modeling) but the Mr Color leveling thinner is expected to become an essential product for the civil models I will realize in the future...

 

Cheers, O

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Hello my friends,

 

Confident in the Mr Color leveling thinner, I decided so to apply a coat of GX112 thinned at least at 1:4 (a bit more, in fact, to get a very fine grain) early this morning. And I just did the sanding and buffing job. The result was ever good after the WW coat (see above), it is even a little better imho thanks to this great mix GX112/ Mr CLT:

 

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N.B: sorry Poul, I didn't try yet the AK 2K Ultra Gloss. I ever spent so much time on this front area and Clear Coats review... I want to go on now that I found a good recipe for the body...

 

Cheers, O

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1 hour ago, Totally Mad Olivier said:

Hello my friends,

 

Confident in the Mr Color leveling thinner, I decided so to apply a coat of GX112 thinned at least at 1:4 (a bit more, in fact, to get a very fine grain) early this morning. And I just did the sanding and buffing job. The result was ever good after the WW coat (see above), it is even a little better imho thanks to this great mix GX112/ Mr CLT:

 

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N.B: sorry Poul, I didn't try yet the AK 2K Ultra Gloss. I ever spent so much time on this front area and Clear Coats review... I want to go on now that I found a good recipe for the body...

 

Cheers, O

Nice work, Olivier.

I think the 2K gloss would detract from the realism you are trying to achieve. It might also look thick on the inlet vents.

Indeed time to move on.

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6 hours ago, Totally Mad Olivier said:

N.B: sorry Poul, I didn't try yet the AK 2K Ultra Gloss. I ever spent so much time on this front area and Clear Coats review... I want to go on now that I found a good recipe for the body...

No need to apologize. Why change if it works? Your finish looks great.

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Olivier, The latest ..." a coat of GX112 thinned at least at 1:4" ... 

..."The result was ever good after the WW coat (see above), it is even a little better imho thanks to this great mix GX112/ Mr CLT:"...

is good news indeed. As the photos show this technique appears to be the solution for your Mustang.  

Congratulations spacer.png

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9 hours ago, Prop Duster said:

Olivier, The latest ..." a coat of GX112 thinned at least at 1:4" ... 

..."The result was ever good after the WW coat (see above), it is even a little better imho thanks to this great mix GX112/ Mr CLT:"...

is good news indeed. As the photos show this technique appears to be the solution for your Mustang.  

Congratulations spacer.png

Dear Steve,

I think I have other good news to come. No time now and I need to confirm but briefly, I think we may avoid the buffing with Compounds step* and though get a fine shiny state of surface… It would imho a very good new because these pastes generate residue that may often raise a few problems in fragile and/ or narrow areas such the air inlet slots. 

About the thinning of both Tamiya acrylics and GX112, it sounds logic that the more thinner you have, the less grain you will get.

And what is great with the Mr CLT is that we may thin a lot and though preserve the quality of the paint and Clear Coat. The paint, in particular, covers well even thinned more than 50/50…

 

* unless you really want a very high shine effect…

 

More soon…

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Hi Olivier,

I find that when spraying Tamiya Acrylics thinned with Mr Color Levelling Thinners, I often use a ratio of 1 part paint, two parts thinner (33/66). It still really works well. Reduces "Orange Peel" appearance as well.

 

Cheers,

Alan.

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