Polishing TS-17

I never seem to be able to get this paint to work right. Is it just me or is it difficult to work with?

I decanted and airbrushed TS-17 and the body has some small bumps. Not like orange peel, but a little more textured. I've also got a few pieces of fuzz on the paint. Can TS-17 be wetsanded or will this throw off the color/flakes of the adjoining areas. How do you deal with surface imperfections and this paint?

Thanks in advance.

The paint will change badly if sanded. I recommend a nice coat of clear and then polishing. Make sure you start out lightly with the clear. Too wet too soon and you can make the silver run and mess it up.


Mark

The last layer of paint before clearcoating must be perfect (or as close to perfect as you can practically manage). No texture, no debris, no flaws, nothing. If you are not happy with it, definitely do not move on to clearcoating.

Once you have built up an opaque layer of color, any texture or debris gets gently sanded out, and then lightly overcoated with more paint. Use the finest abrasive possible, and do it dry (no wet sanding!). Then overcoat with very fine mistcoats until evidence of the sanding is invisible. If flaws are still visible, do it again. And again. It is not difficult to get the last layer right- but it does take patience, and often several iterations. And very light mistcoats of paint. But you should be doing that anyway.

I've had problems with TS-17 during the color coat stage. Even though I was doing everything right, or so I thought, I always get clouding.

Have any of you tried the new Tamiya TS 83 Metallic Silver and TS 84 Metallic Gold yet?? I found them at my LHS for $16.99!!!

I wish I read this before I started.... I wetsanded the imperfections out planning on doing another coat when I noticed that the paint was starting to pull away in little chunks in areas. We'll see how it ends up. :shakehead

Do you guys use any kind of filter or line dryer on your compressor? I'm using my compressor that I use for my pneumatic nailer; is it giving me dirty air?

This is on sale for $49.99 (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92403). Would it be better? I just picked up their deluxe airbrush for $14.99; pretty nice AB and it's a double action!

Have any of you tried the new Tamiya TS 83 Metallic Silver and TS 84 Metallic Gold yet?? I found them at my LHS for $16.99!!!

no, what's the deal with them? why are they so expensive?

I wish I read this before I started.... I wetsanded the imperfections out planning on doing another coat when I noticed that the paint was starting to pull away in little chunks in areas. We'll see how it ends up. :shakehead

Do you guys use any kind of filter or line dryer on your compressor? I'm using my compressor that I use for my pneumatic nailer; is it giving me dirty air?

This is on sale for $49.99 (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92403). Would it be better? I just picked up their deluxe airbrush for $14.99; pretty nice AB and it's a double action!

I use a small inline air dryer that can be found at Wal-mart in the air comp section. You have to have a dryer or you will get water in the paint for sure.


Mark

no, what's the deal with them? why are they so expensive?

I've heard different things about them. Some are saying that it's Alcad like, while others are saying that they're just really fine silver and gold with realistic particles sizes.

The cans actually stated that a black gloss coat is required before laying down the paints (might actually go and get them now :D)

Sorry for the OT, jmwallac! But I also never be able to lay down a smooth paint with TS-17.

For me, dealing with stuff like fuzz or other debris, I lightly sand it out using as high a grade as I can, then touch it back up with light mist coats...trying to blend the area back in (some metallic particle paints will require more attention to the angle you spray at). Finally, clear over it. Airbrushing paint shouldn't give "bumps" unless there is a contaminent (maybe water in your air?) I would think. The paint should be atomized before touching the body surface.

On a side note, I'm curious why MPWR suggests not to wet sand it. I always thought the water would help remove the fine dust :confused:.

On a side note, I'm curious why MPWR suggests not to wet sand it. I always thought the water would help remove the fine dust :confused:.

The little bit of dust from light dry sanding is easily dealt with. I use a photographer's lens cleaning brush, or a bit of compressed air. However, sanding dust from wetsanding can often be much more tenacious- sticking and drying on surfaces. Also, unless you're using absolutely purified water, water deposits can collect and dry. You may not see them before applying more paint, but they are a potential source of fisheyes and other flaws with subsequent layers. Additionally, wetsanding makes it much harder to see the flaws you're attending to. Often small flaws such as debris can be quickly and easily taken care of with just a few quick passes of a sanding pad- but you can't tell that easily on a wet surface.

Thank you for that explanation. The dust from wet sanding is, as you have said, trickier to deal with. That's probably why my polishing pads are slightly getting clogged up now :frown:. Thanks again.