Tamiya Rubbing Compound Question

[chato de shamrock]

Ive been playing with Tamiya's rubbing compound for several months now trying to get the most shine to my car's paint jobs. My main problem with this product is it rubs the paint off.

I apply several coats of spray paint and let dry for at least 12 hours before i apply another coat. I use just about a full can of paint and let dry for a few days, two or three days or until i feel like it, before i start on the polishing. I dont rub the compound on very hard. I usually just apply it and gently rub it in a circular motion for a minute or so constantly changing the rag so the paint doesnt build up. I repeat this step three times with each compound tub. By the way, i use all three compounds. By the time im finishing up the third coat of the coarse tub, i start to notice the plastic's color in some areas. When this happens i usually just rub two coats of the other rubbing compounds (fine and finish) and do my best to rub even gentlier. The paint usually starts to come off in corners such as the bottom of the model where it bends inward, the bottom of the front and rear bumpers, around the door handles, and sometimes on the side mirrors. After completing the three compounds i follow with a wax. I apply it basically the same as the rubbing compound and i do notice a bit of paint comes off, but im assuming thats normal.

Question #1: Based on what i've said so far, am i doing something wrong?

Ive read many threads you guys post and ive noticed several of you say you rub till your arm falls off to get that mirror shine. That right? Then how the heck do you guys avoid having the paint rub off if you rub like crazy to get the best mirror shine? I used my dremel to polish a piece of plastic but at its lowest speed (8,000 RPMs) it still managed to polish the paint right off. I asked the guy at my LHS how it should be used to get the best results and he mentioned i should let the painted car sit for at least a week before i start applying the rubbing compound.

Question #2: Would someone mind sharing their secrets about how they get that mirror shine without having the paint come off?

Question #3: How do you get avoid having the paint rubbed off?

Guys, Thanks kindly for your time to visit this threat and sharing your thoughts.

[Scale-Master]

I've been using the Tamiya compounds since they came out, at least here in the U.S., and like them very much because of how docile they are even on "soft" paint like enamels.
It's very important that you don't use a coarser compound than you need. Letting the paint dry longer is also good advice. If you are using enamels or acrylics, you should optimally let the paint dry for weeks (plural). If you are using lacquer, you can polish much sooner, days to a week usually.
I rarely use the coarse compound, just medium on certain spots if needed and the same for the fine, only where needed, if needed at all. Usually I just go straight to the wax after the paint has cured. I suspect you are polishing where you don't need to... - Mark

[gionc]

I've the suspect that you hardly polish your stuff becouse you've a pretty rough orange peel look: well compounds don't make miracles, they could help you but the better way is cut-out orange peel with a fine micromesh, than you could apply compound to achieve a mirror surface.

2- well it's really easy rub the pain off from edges: simply maks those with masking tape and after polishing works touch-up edges carefully.

3- at least if you rub -off some paint isn't a drama: simply touch-up with airbrush and a bit of decanting laquer, wait an other week (don't we all have a pile of models to start meanwhile last paint cures?) and polish again (wash before)

[cfcrules]

I had this problem, but I found that clear coating it, stops it, as it adds a harder layer over the top of the paint. Try only doing one or two very thin rubs with coarse, not putting too much on, something about the size of a 5 p coin, I think its about the size of an American 10 cents or 5 cents I think it was ten cents thats smaller, whichever one is the smallest, coin for one side for each coat, and then do about the same for the others, about two coats for fine and about two or three for finish, stop when it gets quite shiny. Then, to give it a proper shine, compunds just seem to smooth it, use Tamiya Modelling Wax.

[klutz_100]

Let your paint REALLY dry and gas out. As Scale_Master said, if you are using enamels - that's forever

From your post, it sounds a little to me that you are particularly rubbing through the paint on raised, detail areas of the body? These and sharp edges are the most "dangerous" areas when polishing because the paint will be very thin here. Be particularly careful here and mnay people put masking tape over them while polishing in order to avoid accidentally rubbing through.

As gionc says, rubbing compound is a finishing step and will not remove orange peel or deep scratches or dust - for this you need fine grit wet/dry sandpaper.

From the sound of it, your problem is not cured paint, too thin paint, asking compound to do teh wrong job or not beoing carefull enough of raised and sharp edges.

To make you feel better, I have only NOT rubbed through on on car so far

[RallyRaider]

Well first off compounds work by removing paint! Think of a slightly orange peeled surface. To fix it you need to remove the high parts and smooth everything down to the level of the lowest dimple. Abrasives like sandpaper and compound remove the higher paint and leave the lower. Go too far and you will cut through the colour (or clear coat) to the primer underneath. Know this, be careful and plan your paintjobs and sanding/compound sessions accordingly.

Usualy the physical effor involved is not that great. "Polishing until your arm falls off" is probably too much, as is the use of power tools. They can be dangerous on 1:1 casr so is definitely too much power for a scale model. IMHO of course, there are probably some people out there who sucessfully use dremels and the like.

Agree with the comment above about allowing the paint to full harden, especialy for the final shine.

[hirofkd]

My answers to your questions are...

A1: Avoid using the coarse one. Start with the medium grade, and if you find any rough spot that the medium can't get rid of, use the coarse one with extreme caution.

A2: Experienced modelers usually don't mention how much they have screwed up in the past, so I guess that could be a secret. In fact I have screwed up a number of kits until I was comfortable enough to show my work to someone else.

Well, that doesn't help mush, so I'll give you a tip. Before priming, sand the entire body with fine grit sand paper like 1500 or 2000. That will highlight the high areas where you should avoid rubbing too hard. Also, there are "levees" along the panel lines (like around the hood, doors and trunk lid), and you want to smooth that out. This is actually one of the standard body prep procedures along the elimination of seam lines and sink marks. This should significantly reduce the chance of exposing underlying paint.

A3: The only thing I can say is pay close attention to the surface. Also, clear-coating will make your job easier.

Oh, and make sure you believe in yourself that you can do it. That's actually important.

Good luck.

[chato de shamrock]

Thanks for your time guys. At this very moment im polishing one kit while painting two others. I was thinking of starting to spray paint them now and leave them sitting in their box while i finish this current kit. It never crossed my mind to tape the sharp edges to protect the paint. Im going to also leave the paint sit on the model for a longer time before i start with the rubbing compounds, and avoid the coarse compound unless its really needed. Im going to also apply less of the compound and see if that has any positive effects.

I started building kits in my early high school years, about 9 years ago, when lowrider models were bearly beginning to show up and hardly anyone knew how to mount motors to simulate hydrolics while keeping the cars interior. I dropped the hobby when the girlfriend demanded more time but picked it up again early last year. Thats when i started playing with the rubbing compounds to try to achieve the mirror shine look. Im still new with primers but i know light colors with white primer and dark colors with gray primer, and ive never worked with air brushing.

Question regarding paints: Testors/Model Master are enamel paints. Is Tamiya also enamel?

Question: Ive been going through this site as well as others looking for a definition of "orange peel". Ive seen many people mention it but cant seem to understand what it means.

Final Question: I tried clear coating (Model Master #2936 High gloss clearcoat) for the first time on my last model. My steps were as followed: Tamiya Compounds, wax, clear coat. Do you guys polish your clearcoats?

Again, thanks for your time guys. It's greatly appreciated.

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by chato de shamrock

Thanks for your time guys. At this very moment im polishing one kit while painting two others. I was thinking of starting to spray paint them now and leave them sitting in their box while i finish this current kit. It never crossed my mind to tape the sharp edges to protect the paint. Im going to also leave the paint sit on the model for a longer time before i start with the rubbing compounds, and avoid the coarse compound unless its really needed. Im going to also apply less of the compound and see if that has any positive effects.

I started building kits in my early high school years, about 9 years ago, when lowrider models were bearly beginning to show up and hardly anyone knew how to mount motors to simulate hydrolics while keeping the cars interior. I dropped the hobby when the girlfriend demanded more time but picked it up again early last year. Thats when i started playing with the rubbing compounds to try to achieve the mirror shine look. Im still new with primers but i know light colors with white primer and dark colors with gray primer, and ive never worked with air brushing.

Question regarding paints: Testors/Model Master are enamel paints. Is Tamiya also enamel?

Question: Ive been going through this site as well as others looking for a definition of "orange peel". Ive seen many people mention it but cant seem to understand what it means.

Final Question: I tried clear coating (Model Master #2936 High gloss clearcoat) for the first time on my last model. My steps were as followed: Tamiya Compounds, wax, clear coat. Do you guys polish your clearcoats?

Again, thanks for your time guys. It's greatly appreciated.

Tamiya make at 3 kinds of paints.
Acrylic series - X-series (gloss) and XF series (flat/matte) in small jars. Generally used for interiors
Acrylic laquers - TS series in small aerosols. Generally used for car bodies.
Enamel series - don't know the numbers as I 've never used them. Generally used for detailing interiors.

The first 2 are general the most popular ranges for 1/24 plastic kits. The applications I've indicated are purely generalisations

There is a also a series of Tamiya aerosol paints formulated for polycarbonate RC model bodies.

For definitions of orange peel and other paint problems try this google search.
I have it saved in my favourites and I use it quite often http://www.google.pl/search?hl=pl&q=...tnG=Szukaj&lr=

I think but am not sure that the clear you mentioned is an enamel. I'm surprised it worked OVER wax. Just goes to show that you live and learn!
I would have thought that painting anything over a wax was prety risky although I know that gionc has had good results doing this

HTH

[wouter1981]

Am I correct that you use a dremel with 8000rpm to polish? I use a cotton stick (don't know the right term.. you know what i mean it's used to clean your ears;-) That's the reason why you polish trough the paint. second with the dremel is like 15minutes with you're hand....

[chato de shamrock]

I actually used the dremel on a part of the car that would be concealed. I'm currently building Aoshima's S-15 Silvia Spec.R (#46). The kit doesnt have an engine but the hood comes off so I tried the dremel on a small area under the hood. With my amateur modeling skills I wouldn't dear run the dremel on any exposed parts of my models. Some people have written that they melted the plastic because of the high speed their dremel was running on.

The picture of the mini cooper Klutz has at the bottom of his messages has a clean paint job. Something like that would be my goal.