Michael jones

I've just used a cheap ebay airbrush for about 4 years now. Still goes great. I think the most important thing is the type of paint you use and adding mr levelling thinner to stop tip dry and rough finishes during hot weather. Mike

Gidday, I used Gaianotes fluro orange (basecoat was Tamiya Orange - cant remember the number), Tamiya light green TS22, Tamiya black and Alclad ALC101 aluminium. Then 2k clear, decals and then 2k clear again. The colours suggested in the instructions are way off BTW. Regards Mike

Thanks for all the comments.

Gidday, Thanks for the comments. The decals were not so bad (a couple I had trouble with). All the colours were painted on btw. The main issue is getting the body onto the chassis at the front (warped), and also the wheelbase or gap between wheel arches are different on each side which was tricky to fix.

Tamiya Mazda 787B - done. It was a big challenge, but I enjoyed the build. Mike

Gidday vintagerpm, I think you are referring to Alclad chrome or polished aluminium. ALC101 aluminium does not require a gloss black base, and if done over a gloss black base, will come out darker - more like steel.

Hi Guys, I recently laid down some Alclad ALC101 aluminium over Tamiya fine white primer on a spoon. The Alclad attacked the primer and wrinkled up giving a rough finish, however the colour was exactly what I was after. I had another spoon which had Tamiya fine white primer and on top of that, a coat of shiny black nail polish. The Alclad did not attack the black nail polish, and gave an almost mirror finish that was a bit darker (more like steel colour) I believe using white nail polish (or any white lacquer maybe) as a base coat, will come out great. Has anyone had trouble with ALC101 attacking the Tamiya fine white primer before? As an upside, I think I may only need to buy ALC101 to achieve both aluminium and steel looks now, just depending on the base coat used. Mike

Thanks Steve

Hi guys, During one of my recent builds (Tamiya Ford Sierra RS500), I found after painting the primer/basecoat/decals/2k clear, that the head light and tail light lenses did not fit easily. What is the best way to combat this situation, without spraying a few less coats? Thanks Mike

Id say your paint is drying too fast (even in mid air). Some people say Mr Levelling Thinner works with acrylic as well as lacquers (in which it is brilliant for slowing the drying process). I personally have only used Mr Levelling thinner with lacquers. It would be worth a try. Another option would be to spray during a cooler period of the day, or maybe spray closer. This can be hard to get right with acrylics as they tend to run easy.

Mr Levelling thinner solves any orange peel issues with lacquer in every circumstance I have found. it is simply the paint drying too fast even in mid air. I rarely use acrylics through the air brush because the result is too soft to work with once finished - easily damaged. Almost like rubber.

When I started airbrushing (3 years ago approx) I had all kinds of trouble with orange peel. After a lot of trouble (especially lacquers like nail polish), it was noticed that the problem was worst during warm days. The lacquer would go on much better during cold days, as it would dry slower and flow easier. This led me to do some research, and found that the you could buy some lacquer thinner with a retarder mixed in (or seperate if wanted). A good example is Mr Levelling thinner. Once using this stuff, I have had minimal problems spraying lacquers. On hot days, I even mix some with the decanted tamiya spray paint. It is like magic!!! Most cars I build now, I don't really sand the base coat unless I have dust stuck to the surface. Once done, its just a matter of doing two coats of 2k clear and the finish is like a mirror. Once again 2k clear flows really well and drys very slowly, making it easy to achieve a mirror finish. Just as a note, I don't enter contests etc, but am very satisfied with the finish using these techniques. Hope this helps Mike

Gidday, I was just wondering what the actual orange/ red colour of the Mazda 787b Lemans winner is? In some pictures you could almost think it is like the Marlboro red(fluorescent red) used on the 1980's McLaren F1 cars, but in other pictures it looks more like fluorescent orange. The instructions say to use Tamiya bright orange, but from what I can tell, that is miles off the actual colour. Has anyone here actually seen the car in person? I would just buy the Zero paints set for this model, however it is very expensive and I think it cannot be shipped to New Zealand. thanks

The colour is tamiya clear green acrylic over silver with future as the clearcoat. To be honest I have had a lot of trouble getting a good finish with acrylics. I think lacquers are the way to go!

Thanks guys!