Problem with Humbrol enamel

For some reason, my Humbrol reds (both matt, gloss & dark red matt) are all really thin, to the extent that the colour of the plastic behind shows through at the high points, and applying several coats doesn't make it any better. Any idea what's going on? I'm not having the same issue with any of my other Humbrol paints so wondering if perhaps it's a problem with the paint itself...

Red is one of the worst colours to apply evenly:banghead: , and it isn't just Humbrol paints that have this problem:shakehead , red for whatever reason always seems to be slightly transluscent, to overcome this I've always used a white primer/undercoat as it evens out the underlying tones and gives the red something to key to.

Try a white primer coat, should make a whole world of difference.

How well did you stir the paint? I've found the pigments in Humbrol will really settle a lot so if you don't stir the paint really well you won't get a good color.

When you stir it, make sure you get right to the bottom of the tin.

Stir it for a while and applying white primer, just like stated.

Yep stirring will help, I've used humbrol all my life and never had any problems with coverage!

Are you spraying it or brushing it? I found that brushing Humbrol red and getting a decent coverage is nigh on impossible.Spraying it is a lot easier as you can build it up in thin layers and the coverage is a lot better.As already suggested,white primer is a must I feel when spraying red.

white might actually be too "sharp" if your paint is that translucent.
pink/red primer might be what you want.

Thanks chaps! All very useful & hopefully I'll get this sorted out soon as both my current builds (Cord 812 & Lotus 7) have ground to a halt as they have red interiors....

Yes, using a brush. My spraybooth is the garden, so only for bodywork, with rattle cans :(. I'd stirred the paints thoroughly before applying, making sure that all the paint was mixed up properly. I'm very surprised by this since all their other paints are great.

I suspect that a white primer won't make a difference - the last parts I've tried to paint have been white plastic & made little, if no difference to the problem However a red primer sounds promising - anyone else have any thoughts?

Thanks again :)

Thanks chaps! All very useful & hopefully I'll get this sorted out soon as both my current builds (Cord 812 & Lotus 7) have ground to a halt as they have red interiors.... Maybe I'm stating the obvious here, but why don't you just use a different type/brand paint? Tamiya or Vallejo acrylics for example? They cover beautifully, dry quickly and you can even AB them indoors without a spray booth IMO.

Steve - good point! I'll see if I can find some of those for sale online*, as I can't get hold of them in the shops anything like as easily as the Humbrol paints :( If all else fails, I'll see if I can find a tester pot of household wall paint in the right colour at the diy place next to where I work.

*BTW, what type & colour code did you use for the interior of your 7?

Cheers,

Paul

Paul, those paints are just so available on line you shouldn't have any problem finding them.

For the S7 interior I just used the Tamiya recommended color mix of 2 parts Red X7 and 1 part Hull Red XF9

HTH

I have never found a single brand of red paint that will brush on smoothly. I always airbrush red, no matter how small the part.