How does your X18 look like?

I think I've been painting X18 semi gloss black to look exactly like X1 gloss black.
but literally shouldnt it mean that the paint is not as glossy as X1 black??
I usually take X18 straight out from the bottle to paint and thin it when it starts to harden, but even if i'm spray painting, the effect always turn out to be very glossy. looks cool but not desired.

I've checked out some model showcased here for reference and they all seemed to be able to get the right gloss (which is slightly dull but not to the extent of XF1)

I'll post some pics soon for those who needs to see the seriousness of my case...

depending on your setup and technique you would get different levels of gloss.. that's why I dont use X18 and instead mix the gloss and flat to get the level of "sheen" I want.

did you mix the paint thoroughly, it you dont all the dull pigments still stay at the bottom and all you get is gloss.

Yeah, I find I have to mix it VERY thoroughly otherwise it's too shiney. I now mix my own from flat and gloss mixed. :icon16:

depending on your setup and technique you would get different levels of gloss.. that's why I dont use X18 and instead mix the gloss and flat to get the level of "sheen" I want.
:iagree:

I usually use Tamiya gloss black (can't remember the X#), and just mix in an appropriate amount of the flat base (again, can't remember the XF#) for semi gloss. Tamiya does sometimes sell the same color flattened as a different color (flat aluminum is really just flat chrome silver, and metallic grey is just flattened gun metal). So, it's possible to just use the gloss colors, with flat base added when you want a semi gloss or a flat finish.

hmmm, so extra work should be done in order to get the desired result? I was thinking on the mixing method but was uncertain about it's effectiveness, you guys have just confirmed my doubt. I guess it's safe to mix them and paint...thanks guys

Here comes another question,
Any suggestions on the mix ratio?
How about mixing with flat base instead?

did you mix the paint thoroughly, it you dont all the dull pigments still stay at the bottom and all you get is gloss.

I shake the bottle vigourously before use, sometimes will only use a stirrer to ease up the hard residue in paints like X11, but i don't stir X18 as it contains no hard residue.

X-18 isn't good SG black, it's to shine. Try to use Humbrol 85 or Revell 302 which are right SG black.

I shake the bottle vigourously before use, sometimes will only use a stirrer to ease up the hard residue in paints like X11, but i don't stir X18 as it contains no hard residue.

shaking doesnt do much good, you have to stir your paints, especially for semi-gloss and flat paints. even though it may not seem like pigments settled to bottom like metalic paints, it does seperate.