andmarsh Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 Hi there I was after some advice regarding the paint i recently applied to this Tamiya Mitsubishi Happy with the Sky Blue Tamiya paint that went on- instead of clear i airbrushed a few coats of vallejo polyurethane gloss varnish mixed with thinners and a bit of flowcontrol medium, and allowed to dry. I was intending to leave for a week, then lightly sand and polish. looking at the car now it seems patchy and not at all glossy ? can this be rectified when i sand, i hear so many different things about clearcoats and varnishing and polishing, thinking about getting hold of the 2k clear pack https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4824/32049191358_8cb5ed4ac7_c.jpg will post pics from my phone shortly............ thanks andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andmarsh Posted November 17, 2018 Author Share Posted November 17, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Noble Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 What happens, is that you apply the clear coat and all looks good and shiny. Then over the space of a few days, the clear coat sinks into the colour coat as it dries and your lovely gloss finish reduces to a dull semi-matt appearance, sometimes patchy. You can carefully flat off the surface with fine wet and dry used wet, then apply more clear. You may need to do this a few times until the surface keeps a nice shine and good gloss level. If you use 2k clear coat it never sinks and tends to stay put on the surface and retain the gloss, without going dry and patchy. If I can be really honest with you, I think you're using the wrong type of paints for auto modelling, especially on body work parts. Lacquer paints such as Mr Color or the new Tamiya LP series are far more suited to spraying gloss finishes on body shells and the like. You can thin them with levelling thinner and spray a straight gloss finish from the airbrush, with no need to clear coat as they are gloss finish from the pot. Honestly, unless you are clearing over decals you really don't need to complicate the painting process by using clear top coat when you're just starting to learn to paint. Practice laying down a gloss finish lacquer paint straight from the airbrush and polishing it to a high shine level. You will get a beautiful finish this way. You can use clear later on when you've mastered painting gloss, but you really don't need to use clear early on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andmarsh Posted November 17, 2018 Author Share Posted November 17, 2018 I think you're using the wrong type of paints for auto modelling, especially on body work parts ok, i thought the Tamiya paint looked pretty good airbrushed - the problems seemed to be with using the clear/varnish afterwards i will look into the Mr Hobby paints cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Noble Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 11 minutes ago, andmarsh said: I think you're using the wrong type of paints for auto modelling, especially on body work parts ok, i thought the Tamiya paint looked pretty good airbrushed - the problems seemed to be with using the clear/varnish afterwards i will look into the Mr Hobby paints cheers So if I'm correct I'm thinking you're using the acrylic Tamiya paints? They start X-?? or XF-?? I'm not knocking them, I use them myself for interiors and non bodywork parts. But believe me, I've tried all the different paints over the years and they are ok at best for bodywork parts. Lacquer paints really will lift your spraying to another level in my opinion. They just spray so much better than those Tamiya acrylics, especially the gloss ones. They dry quickly, won't fingermark when handling and polishing and are just a world away from the acrylics in terms of spraying ease. The only real way for you to see this is to try them. Just buy one pot and try it and I'm pretty confident you will see exactly what I mean and will see your results improve ten fold. I noticed you stated that your problems started when you cleared? This is why I'm trying to sway you towards dropping the clear coat and just going for a straight gloss paint from the airbrush. That clear coat is creating problems that you could easily avoid by not applying it. Trust me you can apply a gloss colour coat and polish it to an excellent finish with no clear coat at all. Clear will add a bit of depth, especially on metallic paints, but is really not necessary on plain old gloss colours. It can help to seal decals and give a nice uniform surface, but the cars you are building are road cars, so they're not decal heavy. I really think a clear is just complicating matters in the painting stages and is an extra layer you could simply leave out to simplify things... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andmarsh Posted November 17, 2018 Author Share Posted November 17, 2018 Yes correct its the tamiya x, xf paints I have been using.. I agree with you about the clear causing more problems than I need, I've rubbed it off and will give the car another few coats of the tamiya. And then go with lacquer paint for the next car that I do Because I have quite a few tamiya and vallejo model paints I guess I thought they would be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Noble Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 21 minutes ago, andmarsh said: Because I have quite a few tamiya and vallejo model paints I guess I thought they would be ok. They're good enough paints. You can still use them on the interior, chassis, seats, engine and exhausts etc. I just think it'll be much easier using lacquer paint for the shiny bits, body shell etc. As I said, I've tried most paints and paint types over the years and as soon as I hit on lacquer paints for the body it really made the job so much easier and gave a far superior finish as well. You can even decant and airbrush the Tamiya TS aerosol sprays as well and they will give a lovely finish when airbrushed. I really hope I can point you in the right direction and you try, but most of all, like the lacquer paints. As you can probably tell, I love em!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andmarsh Posted November 17, 2018 Author Share Posted November 17, 2018 Which laquer paints do you prefer! Mr hobby. Alclad..?? Do they require specific primer? Thanks for the advice btw.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Noble Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 (edited) 9 minutes ago, andmarsh said: Which laquer paints do you prefer! Mr hobby. Alclad..?? Do they require specific primer? Thanks for the advice btw.... So for the body work I can recommend either Mr Color, Tamiya LP or even Tamiya TS aerosol that's been decanted and can be used with your airbrush. Use Mr Levelling thinner, it has a built in retarder so the paint will level as it dries, hence the name levelling thinner. I don't really use Alclad paints for body work, but use their metal finishes all the time for engines, exhausts, well anything with a metal finish really. I also love Alclad transparent paints. They are superb for painting clear parts such as indicator lenses and brake lights. As for special primer, I tend to use either regular Halfords grey plastic primer (white on lighter colours) or good old Tamiya fine grey surface primer, the aerosol one. They both work great with the paints I mentioned above. The Tamiya is the smoother finish of the two, so I tend to use this for the best finish. Edited November 17, 2018 by Steve Noble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andmarsh Posted November 17, 2018 Author Share Posted November 17, 2018 Is the Mr surfacer primer any good?? I have been using the zero paints primer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Noble Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 3 minutes ago, andmarsh said: Is the Mr surfacer primer any good?? I have been using the zero paints primer Yes, very similar to the Tamiya stuff, maybe even better, smoother. Only tried Zero primer the one time and just couldn't get it to lay down nicely and kept clogging my airbrush. So I don't use that now. Can't fault the Zero paints though, they are very nice to spray.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azureglo Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 Another option may be to use, umm car paint? I am finishing this Red Arrows gnat and decanted Halfords car paint and was stunned how glossy it came out (50/50 Mr levelling thinner). When I polish with 12000 micromesh, its seems to shine even more. Its way more glossy than any model paint +layers of various gloss coats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Noble Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 I've used the Halfords paints decanted myself but Mr Color gives a far superior finish and shine in my opinion. The white on the nose of this Lotus is Mr Color straight from the airbrush, no clear coat or polishing done.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andmarsh Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 5 minutes ago, Steve Noble said: I've used the Halfords paints decanted myself but Mr Color gives a far superior finish and shine in my opinion. The white on the nose of this Lotus is Mr Color straight from the airbrush, no clear coat or polishing done.. That looks well nice 👍 Have ordered Mr color Italian red for a Ferrari body......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andmarsh Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 18 hours ago, Steve Noble said: Yes, very similar to the Tamiya stuff, maybe even better, smoother. Only tried Zero primer the one time and just couldn't get it to lay down nicely and kept clogging my airbrush. So I don't use that now. Can't fault the Zero paints though, they are very nice to spray.. Just wanted to let you know I rubbed off the clear, did a few coats of paint. Then just went with some car polish and wax.... Its not anything amazing, but looks so much nicer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Noble Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 1 minute ago, andmarsh said: Just wanted to let you know I rubbed off the clear, did a few coats of paint. Then just went with some car polish and wax.... Its not anything amazing, but looks so much nicer You'll be surprised at what finish you can achieve without clear coat. There's a lot to be said for keeping it simple and shooting a nice gloss finish paint, then polishing it out. The Mr Color will polish so much better than the Tamiya acrylic stuff. It's just better suited to both spraying and polishing. I know I keep banging on about it, but I know when you try that Mr Color red that you've ordered you'll be impressed with it. Try spraying it on a plastic spoon first to get the hang of it. Start off at 50:50 paint/thinner ratio and go from there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapperastro Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 And make sure you get a respirator or a good extractor fan. You don't want that stuff getting in to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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