update

right guys

ive got started on my model and its coming on well, at the moment its going smoothly and great but at times im not allowing the paint to set properely.how long does it usually take,

one thing ive found is, tamiya flat paints are crap. the go on streaky and a billion layers have to be built up to get a solid colour. in the end i just replaced all the flat colours with metallics as they go on far better. that is unless im doing something wrong.it was annoyng taking the rear axle of my cossie back to black plastic coz i was not happy with the crappy finish. its the same with white and red and balck. is there anything i can do, it seems there too thin to apply

are you using primer? For me, flat paints go on much better than gloss paints by brush. Are you mixing it well? Using large brush strokes, taking care not to go over spots that you have already painted over? I do agree, Tamiya's metallics brush on the best (except for XF-56 and XF-32, ick) but anything is better than brushing on X-18 (never know if you'll get a gloss or flat finish, or maybe you'll get lucky and actually get semigloss.)

yeah agreed

x-18 is pointless esp when the part to be painted is black too

think ill just substitute what i can with metallics and add my own little touch to the model

If you are using water based paints they dry quicker then enamals.
Try some enamals for a better finish IMO