1964 Ford Mustang 1/16

[Marianitem]

This one is a 1/16 scale AMT Ford Mustang 64 1/2. I started this one many years ago (maybe 10yrs) and was almost completed. Then it got into a box with other stuff over it and well... you can imagine what happened. Any way I took it a few weeks ago for disassembly and recovering. Body was full painted Humbrol enamel Blue WITH A BRUSH, and I think I did pretty decent jobs with paintbrushes over bodys. Of course it won´t look even close to an airbrush, but it´s not a disaster neither.
This is how it looked before starting recovery:


Yes, it´s brushed, but it´s not that bad for a brush.

I gave it good re-triming of doors, angles, hood, every body piece was checked for fit and contour, then gave it a 600 grit very wet and soapy sanding, then toothbrushed and as it kept blue I skipped the part of primer. Sprayed 2 coats of Rust Oleum for plastic (which I couldn´t get to be mist coats) and paint sticked pretty well over Humbrol enamel without undesirable reaction.
This is how it looked just after spraying:

Looks just "ok" from the distance, but... I usually get 1 of 2 textures: the famous orange peel, or the "sandy" texture, like this:



It´s like an opposite to orange peel. Is it normal to get this texture, at least when giving mist coats?

I kept it like that because the was too much paint already over the model so i could wetsand and so on. The right side door was almost mirror wet with a little bit of orange peel, almost acceptable. The left one was a bit more grainy, "sandy".
Today I started wet sanding the doors with 1500 on soapy water with the minimum pressure possible.
The left one (sandy) ended up looking like this:

I looks dull where the sandy texture was, and shinny just below of it. Should I keep going with the 1500 until I get it like the following picture, or should switch up to 2000 and so on?

The right side, almost glossy, door turned like this:

The surface looks way dull, but in a regular texture.

Which of both is in the correct way to a glossy finish?
When should I upgrade to a higher grit and how would I notice? I´m just trying to follow the way the sand paper rubbing sound changes but I´m not sure.

I´m thinking about adding some special graphics/effects like waterdrops or flames or something with an airbrush. How far should I go with the polishing process in order to get a good surface to mask and paint? And after painting those details, where should I start again with the polishing process? I only know that I should add some clear over all of it before polishing...

Thx again for comments or tips.

[Scale-Master]

You'll want to sand out the texture of the paint until those little shiny spots are gone. The shiny spots are the low spots. One you have a uniform satin finish, you can use a finer grit paper and continue as you have been doing, or use a polishing cloth set. Then I would move onto polishing compound and wax.

[Marianitem]

Thanks ScaleMaster. As I read many threads, and with your post as a confirmation, I changed my whole idea of painting. Now I see that I just have to add a certain amount of paint, not too thick but not too thin, which I will be stripping lightly (polishing) in order too make it smooth. Previous to AF I thought that painting was the process of adding paint layers up to the point that I get a glossy layer. I´ve been living in darkness...

I had to add a layer on the doors as the passion of polishing made me go too deep and strip the paint. I always leave to dry/cure for many days before I work on it. Also I´m working on about 5 parallel projects, so it will take a while for the updates to come.

[Scale-Master]

It depends on the paint and some other variables, but a paint job that comes out smooth can be done. The spray can paint you are using is likely not going to allow you to achieve a smooth finish without polishing out. However, if you were to decant and airbrush that same paint, it would possible to get better results. That is not to say that same paint applied in a more controlled manner will come out smooth enough to not warrant polishing.

There are other model oriented paints that produce better results straight from the can. Tamiya TS sprays are one I have had very good luck with.

[Marianitem]

This paint I´m using is not worth the effort of decanting. I just wanted to give it a try over an already beaten up body, just trying to try some of the things I learnt here (light coating and progressive polishing).

I´d love to use TS paints, but in my country it´s almost impossible to get a can of any color, and if you manage to find one get ready to pay for it. I could buy Int´l, but there are many restrictions for spray shipping overseas and it would take a couple of months to arrive. That´s why I´m trying to make it work with what I can find here, at least for base coats. Then I could spray over some acrylic or enamel tamiya (which is also HTF) and X22 for finishing.

[MidMazar]

You might be getting that sandy texture because your spraying too far away. Try spraying a tiny bit closer with even strokes. Also do a quick sweep.

On this link dl the video and it shows you how quick the passes should be. Very useful.
http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/fe...ticle-id=289#2

That last picture of the door is almost there. Once its all uniform and dull then you can start polishing. Also you might want to try out Tamiya TS paints like stated, you won't regret it. Good luck

[Marianitem]

MidMazar: thx for the tips. I watched the video and my spraying is far from that. I use a bigger distance, many ultra fast passes and a crappy spray can. But it´s impossible to get TS paints here, and the shipping takes at least 45-60 days. That´s why I have to master spraying the hard way.

MidMazar: again talking about the doors, I will sand them down as you said. But I´m just curious of what would happen if I take the first door (the very textured one) and add many mist coats of clear and then sand and polish. How would it end up looking like? I mean: textured color surface, an apropriate amount of clear, a good sanding and polishing process. What kind of finish would that give me?

Thx for the tips. I´m trying to learn thru the process.