I've messed up, need help with a botched silver paintjob

I’ve screwed up.. I cleared my Merc with Mr Hobby clear coat, and I was just abut to start applying decals, when I noticed that the body panels were not the same shade.. I swear, I thought they were all the same, but they are not.

I’m wondering what I can do… The top coat is a resin acrylic I think, whereas the silver is floquil enamel silver.

It’s the coverage for the middle section of the body; it’s not had enough coats by the looks of it… Any ideas on how to get the clear off, so as I can just apply another coat of silver, to see if I can match it all up, or have I got to strip this all off?

Damn, I knew I’d screw this up. I always bugger up when I cut body panels away..

http://www.pictureparking.com/pic/58187/mode/L/img.jpg

Strip....

Always paint all the body panels at the same time and keep track of the number of coats you apply.

Strip....

Always paint all the body panels at the same time and keep track of the number of coats you apply.

I did.. I counted the coats, 4 coats all at the same time. It looked bang on, then I applied the clear, and it went funny.. Damn. Double damn..!!:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Did you do something different applying the clear?

Maybe a heavier coat on one part than another?

Could you not lightly scuff up the clear and repaint the silver on top of the clear? Maybe a light coat or two just to the blend the panels together and then reclear. If this brings the overall thickness of the paint where it hides detail then I would have to agree with Freakray. Before I would strip it all down I might try to carefully sand and redo the silver. Good luck with this and dont let it get you down too much.

Well,

Oven cleaner is getting it off... 10 mins under this, and the clear is gone, and I'm back to base silver...

I've washed it off, and blew it with my airbrush to get the water off, it does look like I'm back to silver, oddly, it's now even brighter then the two other sections now, wondering if clear coat is giving it a gloss, but take a bit of shine away from the silver...

I think you will find that the particular clear you used is thicker in places. I had a similiar thing happen on my Celica and fixed it by putting on more clear in the lighter areas and feathering it out over the rest. I have only had this problem with Mr Color clear - it seems to pull towards the edge of the panels bigtime when you put the wetter coats on. Every coat has to be thin and evenly sprayed then sanded and sprayed again which was exactly what Crazy Modeller did in the "How To" he sent me on using his decals with Mr Softer the decal setting solution. He put the same clear over the top at the end of his "How to".
Cheers
Tony

I think you will find that the particular clear you used is thicker in places. I had a similiar thing happen on my Celica and fixed it by putting on more clear in the lighter areas and feathering it out over the rest. I have only had this problem with Mr Color clear - it seems to pull towards the edge of the panels bigtime when you put the wetter coats on. Every coat has to be thin and evenly sprayed then sanded and sprayed again which was exactly what Crazy Modeller did in the "How To" he sent me on using his decals with Mr Softer the decal setting solution. He put the same clear over the top at the end of his "How to".
Cheers
Tony

Yeah... I agree, it does look clear coat related... I've just reapplied the clear to the section I stripped using oven cleaner, it dries so fast Mr Hobby clear, and already I'm seeing some changes..

http://www.pictureparking.com/pic/58188/mode/L/img.jpg

What is amazing though, taking the model around the house and looking, it changes all over..

http://www.pictureparking.com/pic/58190/mode/L/img.jpg

I've taken more pictures, but the all show areas darker then others, what was darker, goes lighter, and then the other way around.. I hate silver... I really do hate painting in silver... It was the reason I quit 17 years ago, as I just couldn't for the life of me get it right....

I must admit painting silver effectively takes practice and patience.

I totally feel for you mate. Silver is nasty to paint- doing silver on different sections is almost by definition a recipie for disaster. There are panels on my F50 that I'm really not sure are the same color, dispite my vigorous vigilance spraying everything the same number of coats at the same time.

For build like this, I would very tempted to just say eff it!, and leave it as is.The decal scheme you're planning to put on is reasonably elaborate, and would go a long way to hide any subtle differences between panels.

On the other hand, looking at the pics below, have the mold lines on the front fenders etched themselves...?

http://www.pictureparking.com/pic/58190/mode/L/img.jpg

MPWR,

Thanks mate... You've told me what I wanted to hear... It stays.. Silver is such a sod. I've got a Skyline, that was sprayed TS-17, and that was one whole body, and the front looks darker then the back under certain lights...

I've got a real silver car, and that is odd looking at times... The decal scheme takes up about 70% of this model around these areas anyhow, in fact the front is nealy ALL decals...

And, I plan on putting the model on display with the front an rear sections off anyhow, its the reason I cut the front off.. Would be nice to be is "nearly" match, and I too was very thorough, and counted my layers. It was 4 mists of silver, and 1 mist of clear followed by a 1 coat of clear to allow a gloss for decals... Its the reason I'm so, eh.. ?? Why does this look odd..

The front lines are in fact panel lines.. Am I looking in the right area.??

Glad to hear it. Especailly if you're displaying it witht he cut off sections removed, don't worry about it! They will all look fine together.

As for the lines, I suppose they could be panel lines for the bonnet (the ones extending straight back from the headlights). I assumed the front shell was one piece, down to the horizontal centerline of the wheel hubs- but I don't have any ref pics, so I wouldn't know. Those lines just looked suspicious to me, because they follow the body geometry in exactly the way I would expect the mold lines to- straight from the top of the headlights, along the highest part of the fender, jagging inward to meet with the windshield frames.

A decent ref pic would put worries to rest.

EDIT:

OK, I found some pics of CLK GTR's. Yes, it looks like there really is a panel line there.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/timcott/clk6.jpg

(Or Mercedes is as sloppy about cleaning up their mold lines as Tamiya is on their prepainted kits....)

So, I say leave everything as is!

I'm going to update this thread, just for reasons that if anyone searches in the future, and they find this, they can be told the answer..

If you paint anything silver, and it has seperate panels, find anyway you can to tape them up, and spray in one whole shoot from your airbrush, the same way from one end to the next...

The above pictures of this model are so wrong, its painful to admit... I "could" have left it, and perhaps got away with it, but I'm not that type of person..

I stripped off the clear using oven cleaner leaving me the silver.. I carefully dried the body of all water... I then taped the body up to mock up as is would be when assembled, and slowly misted on a light coat of silver.. Hardly any paint at all really... A few light passes, low PSI, just enough to even the colour off.. This is the result -- Outside picture

http://www.pictureparking.com/pic/58223/mode/L/img.jpg

Then I waited a few hours for the mist to dry, the paint I'm using is VERY fast drying... Smell of paint was gone within the hour... And I misted a few coats of clear to seal.. To allow decals, again, taped the body, and from one end to the next, not stopping..

This is the result - inside pictures, but noticable change... No odd panels, light reflects correctly... Bitch of a paint to get on, but I think taking a few hours tonight to fix this was worth it..

I wish to thank Zoom Zoom mostly for his help, but thanks to the rest of you as well... Put me back on track.

http://www.pictureparking.com/pic/58226/mode/L/img.jpg

http://www.pictureparking.com/pic/58227/mode/L/img.jpg

I am sorry for the poor indoor pictures.. The colour is actually more of what MPWR has posted as an example.. Its a lot more silver then what the indoor picture shows.. Sadly, its pitch black where I am now.. Sorry folks..