Painting model car bodies! Full instructions! (Yes, you have to use primer!)

You sorta answered your own question!
Usually we spray clear over the decals after application. Just be aware the decals can wrinkle or be ruined, so proceed with caution!

Originally posted by Guiddy
You sorta answered your own question!
Usually we spray clear over the decals after application. Just be aware the decals can wrinkle or be ruined, so proceed with caution!

i wasnt sure cause somewhere in this post some1 mention that if you aply the clear cote after the decals then you'll have some bubles...

oh, and is it better to spray it or aply it with a brush..

i think spray is the easiest :D

Apply it with a brush if you want us to laugh at you and it look crap!
Spray it if you want acceptable results!;)

You say you use autoglym paint restorer.
I looked on the web for a shop here in te netherlands who sells it.
The only stuff i could find was autoglym paint renovator.
Now the question is : Is it the same stuff ?:confused:

I have had some problems in the past with clearcoating with the airgun. I am unable to get the mixture right and get fine sandy coatings sometimes or extreme amounts of coating at other times, also the clear cot seems to accumilate at the bottom end of the nozzle opening. I am using tamiya acrylic clear coat which I have to mix with water.. Or is buying a spraycan of clearcoat a better investment?
thankyou from Darren
http://www.angelfire.com/de2/darren/brab.html

Originally posted by Alien
You say you use autoglym paint restorer.
I looked on the web for a shop here in te netherlands who sells it.
The only stuff i could find was autoglym paint renovator.
Now the question is : Is it the same stuff ?:confused:

Yes! Go for it!

Originally posted by darrenj
I am using tamiya acrylic clear coat which I have to mix with water..

And there lies your problem! Never use water, it is too thick! Tamiya make a thinner, use that!

I WISH I KNEW THIS A MONTH AGO:bloated:

Cool, another way to do finishes :)

I've been using the process described in an issue of Scale Auto Magazine with good results. Several coats of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, then two mist coats of body color, then one final wet coat of body color. After that, it is sanded with consecutively finer sandpaper, and then polished with plastic polish.

This is what the author got:
http://www.scaleautomag.com/sca/magazine/aerosol.jpg

Anyway, if you don't have access to cutting compound, you can try this:

http://www.dxmarket.com/micromark/products/82462.html

It comes with directions on getting a smooth finish. :)

Also, buyer beware: If you are using TS-13 (clear) with any other Tamiya paint, you must either spray the TS-13 IMMEDIATELY AFTER applying the wet coat, or wait AT LEAST a month, as the different curing rates will cause a cracked paint surface. :(

Finally, if you don't have access to the above, go out and buy some 1500/2000 grit sand paper at your local auto shop, wet-sand your paint surface (it will look quite dull after this! very flat! don't worry!). Then coat it with a clear gloss coat (I use Future Floor Finish, very good stuff! Cheap too.), and you will get a very smooth finish. Just don't sand down to the primer!

Finally finally, nail polishes can be used to achieve some excellent pearl and candy paint finishes! THey are most commonly used to get trick finishes on old school hot rods. Be careful when selecting the color of the primer, as it will heavily influence the brightness of the body color! It can be used quite easily with an airbrush.

Hope this helps! :)

i have another Q...

i've read the entire post about times now, and still dunno how to do this..
And this is how I do my black lining!


sorry if i sound stupid but i dont get it....:confused:

let me see. you have kinda like a canal in there, and you poor a bit of paint and move it up and down the "cannal"

my Q is how the hell do you remove the black marks left behind, and if you do this before or after you've painted the clear coat???

thanx.:D

my Q is how the hell do you remove the black marks left behind, and if you do this before or after you've painted the clear coat???

Here's a helpful guide from Tamiya on how to do it!

http://www.tamiya.com/english/howto/car1/tip3.htm

Note that it says to use ENAMEL paints. I must stress that you MUST use ENAMEL paints, or you will have a tough time using Tamiya thinner to remove the excess paint! Maybe you can use Guiddy's way and sand it off, but that leaves unsightly sanding marks on the body (and more polishing woes later on!) Do not use ACRLYIC paints! Use OIL paints for the best results, but ENAMEL will also suffice!

Or you can be lazy and buy a panel marker pen. :)

Hope this helps! :D

Originally posted by daggerlee
Or you can be lazy and buy a panel marker pen. :)The only way to fly! :D

I've been using the process described in an issue of Scale Auto Magazine with good
results. Several coats of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, then two mist coats of body color,
then one final wet coat of body color. After that, it is sanded with consecutively finer
sandpaper, and then polished with plastic polish.

So, I got around to scanning the article in full! The pictures are quite large, and I don't want to slow the loading of the page too much! But anyways, here are the links:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kaiyao1/scaleautosp1.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kaiyao1/scaleautosp2.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kaiyao1/scaleautosp3.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kaiyao1/scaleautosp4.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kaiyao1/scaleautosp5.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kaiyao1/scaleautosp6.jpg

As the great Murray Walker would say, 'That is a masterpiece of understatement.'

As the great Murray Walker would say, 'That is a masterpiece of understatement.'

:finger: :finger: :D:finger: :finger:

At least you can read the text ;) Bump up your resolution!!

Hey,

Just wondering, do you really HAVE to prime the body?

Even if it's uhhh....lets say....Subaru Impreza WRX STi from Tamiya. The body is already blue, and i want it to be the same blue, TS-50 (Subaru blue). Can't I just spray even coats to give it a nice shine? Since its already that color, I want to just give it a few coats to give it the shiny smooth look.

Of course following up with a few coats of Tamiya Rubbing Wax. Will this give a different effect? Such as fading the color or smudging?

Can I/Do I use Tamiya Rubbing Compound too??

Please let me know anyone! :confused:

Thanks.:smoker2:

"do i really use primer even if the color matches blah blah bah?"

i just asked the same question and Dan primed me first and sanded off all the little details on me with 150 grit paper.

(im still looking for some good quality putty for my d**k)

Originally posted by XenoKryst
Hey,

Just wondering, do you really HAVE to prime the body?



Warren, could you please insert the 'bitch slap' gif somewhere at this point!!!:rolleyes:

Whoa!

Settle down, why is everyone going crazy? I just asked a simple question and all I needed was a simple yes or no and a small explanation.

I was just thinking logical, - Blue + Blue =Blue!!

Plus, Tamiya Primer is sold out in 5 major Tamiya retailers around my city. I never bothered to try automotive primer since they sell it in huge cans that are EXTREMEly toxic. I know for a fact that you must wear all these protection items to use it when I sanded and primed my a Subaru WRC style spoiler.

Why does everyone freak at a simple question? Remember that everyone isn't as skilled, and be sympathetic to those lower leveled. It's just common to gentlemen like behaviour, or more like human nature.

I thank you anyway for scolding me, for your words have helped answer that simple question.

Cheers, have a good week...

It's 'cos this has been asked many times (even since I started reading this board not so long ago :D) and that's why, the answer for your question is in the title of this thread :) The reason is that paint stick to primer better than to bare plastic, makes it more even, it's the texture too not just color. (... I think! Bitch slap me if I'm wrong :p)

im really sorry if i upset you. i really didnt mean that. it was just the humor we use in this forum. if you knew that you would know that just using this kind of humor is the proof that we(and I) would like to help in any way we can. in this forum i sometimes say,
"dan your models are so good i want to hit you with a tennis racket and hurt you so bad"
infact this means a good thing


:D


im really sorry for the misunderstanding. dont be upset feel free to ask whatever you like and i will be happy to answer.

PS.im non-english speaker so my grammer sucks

Okaay,

I understand. It is hard to recognize sarcastic remarks from words. It proves people out their are still young at heart.

Also, another question regarding preparation of priming. What exactly does removing mold lines mean? I saw in Hiro's RX-7 string that the first picture was a pic of the RX-7 body all sanded and wrecked. What exactly is mold lines? The lines of door panels for example is mold lines?

Thanks, I will remember to lighten up, it's been a long week...:o :smoker:

Mold lines are raised lines on your model body that are not present on the real life. They are a result of the complex molding method that plastic model companies must use to form a one piece body. While Tamiya has had great leaps forward in kit quality, mold lines, ejector pin holes, etc. are still facts of model building. You will have to get rid of them (by sanding them off or filling in with putty) if you want to achieve total realism.

In my experience the most common place to find mold lines on a car body are on the front lip, near or underneath the headlights. Consult reference pictures of the model you're building (images.google.com is a great source) and you will see that they are most likely not on the real thing. Anything that you can't see on the real counterpart that is present on the model is most likely "flash" (excess plastic) that you will need to sand off.

edit: Check hirofkd's post in "tamiya quality" for a more detailed description!

Since you seem to SO love the questions about primering :finger:

I can't find white plastic primer anywhere! So, is this ok:

I spray a couple of layers of grey primer, then a couple of layers of Tamiya flat white, and then the actual color. Does the flat white cover the primer well enough, so that the grey primer doesn't affect the paint color??

If you can't see the grey, then yes :)

Flat white flat white....is it acrylic flat white? If so then you may encounter problems spraying with TS-50, as TS are lacquer based...the lacquer solvents may dissolve the underlying flat white paint, causing major damage..

to avoid this your first 2-4 coats should be VERY light mist coats, that dry within seconds of touching the surface of the model, so that the solvents dont have a chance of dissolving the flat white...after a couple of mist coats have been built up you can go ahead with thicker coats

Originally posted by daggerlee
If you can't see the grey, then yes :)

Flat white flat white....is it acrylic flat white? If so then you may encounter problems spraying with TS-50, as TS are lacquer based...the lacquer solvents may dissolve the underlying flat white paint, causing major damage..

to avoid this your first 2-4 coats should be VERY light mist coats, that dry within seconds of touching the surface of the model, so that the solvents dont have a chance of dissolving the flat white...after a couple of mist coats have been built up you can go ahead with thicker coats

I don't (can't) use TS paints, since they aren't sold in Finland. I'm using Tamiya acrylics through my airbrush, so no problem there.

Hmm, I thought you were the previous poster in here, XenoCryst! My bad, sorry for the confusion

And yes, you should be fine

Man this is GOLD! Thanks for all the tips man!

Hi all,
First of all, can I say your models look fantastic. If I can even get close to your results I will be happy.

In the first post of this thread, Guiddy speaks of using needle nose pliers to get rid of mold lines.

Would that be a non serated pair as I dont fancy attacking one of my kits with anything which is going to ruin them.

First on my list of builds is a fleet of Tamiya Skylines.:ylsuper

Skyline's RULE.

One more important reason to primer all your models is so they look like like a real,solid car made of what cars are made of metal,fiberglass or as in racecars carbon fibre. If you don't they just look like a nicely painted plastic model. Don't put light colored non-primered car next to a bright light or it will be see through. Think solid.

Originally posted by ukemaxxer
In the first post of this thread, Guiddy speaks of using needle nose pliers to get rid of mold lines.

Would that be a non serated pair as I dont fancy attacking one of my kits with anything which is going to ruin them.Welcome to AF! :wave:

He means pliers that also have side-cuttes built in... Or you can use plain old side cutters.
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/VWPweb2000/photos/1043.jpg

Most Tamiya instructions have a little pic of them in the second page... ;) You don't need to buy the Tamiya ones though... any sharp set will do...

Are you sure it is okay to only let the primer harder for 24 hours? Does it depend on the type of primer being used? I am using testors enamel plastic primer. Primera Man says to let primer harder for a week. I was going to primer some of my Enzo today because it got a deep scratch and i want to paint it tommorow because the weather is gonna be really nice. I don't want to risk ruining the paint job by painting over the primer too soon. What do you think Guiddy?

:confused: :confused: :confused:

Originally posted by shabaaz
Are you sure it is okay to only let the primer harder for 24 hours? Does it depend on the type of primer being used? I am using testors enamel plastic primer. Primera Man says to let primer harder for a week. I was going to primer some of my Enzo today because it got a deep scratch and i want to paint it tommorow because the weather is gonna be really nice. I don't want to risk ruining the paint job by painting over the primer too soon. What do you think Guiddy?

:confused: :confused: :confused:

always use Tamiya for paint...as they are the ones that never screw up;)

Hey nice step by step instructions on how to paint a model:) I tried your method for doing the black lining and it worked perfectly:D It saves so much time and the lines come out perfectly straight!

Excellent black lining, what exactly is cutting paste? I was thinking of using black watercolor for this, might that work too?

Erm,i would like to know..regarding the polishing job? can i just directly use car wax and polish it onto the paint job? without adding do doing anything? and..one more thing..the paint job...if i use black paint,do i need to like..paint the door lines? Thx..:smile:

Originally posted by Guiddy
And this is how I do my black lining!

First clean out the door gaps with the back of a scalpel, carefully!

A very washy Tamiya gloss black is made, and using a thin brush, a large blob of the runny stuff is placed at the middle of a door shut, and immediatley you see it run up and down the door gap! Add more thinners if it stops, further down if you have to, then leave to dry!

You get little marks where the brush was dabbed, and when dry, these are lightly polished of with cutting paste or polish!



I dont get it how do you do that and do you use paint thinner to thin the black paint out? how do you paint it? can you explane it to me. :confused:

1)is clear coat and lacquer the same result?
2)can i jus use clear coat?
3)paint the panel lines and window frame 1st,or clear coat then panel lines and window frame 1st?

Dear guiddy,

I can see that you're very experienced in paint job for kits. Just want to ask you few question about lacquer paint. Very happy if you could reply it.

For your information, I am trying to use airbrush right now. For the paint and thinner, I am using Mr.Color lacquer paint and Mr.Thinner. I also using mini compressor and Anzen airbrush gun. Still in learning process though...:tongue:

My question:
1. How much air pressure should I put to get the best result? Do I need to set the pressure in a particular Psi?
2. How much of paint and thinner that i should mix to get a good paint? Because some times when I spray it, it's not evenly spread.
3. Is there any specific procedure to treat lacquer paint?

Thanks before,

Greeting from Indonesia