Dave G.

I bought mine at the local hardware store a few years ago. Aubuchon Hardware, Home Depot and Amazon all list it. We have an Ace Hardware that lists it as well.

I'm mostly protecting the finish. However it seems to offer a bit more clarity if there was any haze at all left. Lets just say, using it, it then appears more finished, at least to my eye. I don't use it on flat colors, fwiw. It's all about gloss or sheen. Also it has a little orange oil in it, so that will clean off any Novus residue.

"I'd like to hear more about the bees wax, Dave (unless it's a secret formula, of course)" No, it's actually store bought. It's a cleaning, polishing wax made for furniture finishes. I like it a lot. Plus one bottle will last two or more lifetimes for how much we use on models. It's my final step. Some folks like a hard wax but I like this. It works on acrylics and lacquer. Probably enamel as well, I just tend to not need to polish enamels.. The name is Howard Feed N Wax. The feed signifies penetrating nourishing for all wood finishes. To which lacquer is a common finish for wood. Works great for me.

I use Formula 1 Scratch Out scratch and swirl remover. Sometimes when the paint went down already quite glossy that's all I use. Then a bees wax formula.

If you don't like it take it back and get your money back.

Scuff the finish with 1500 grit micro pad. I remove polishes and wax with odorless mineral spirits. As long as it's not freshly sprayed enamel paint, it should work fine. Or diluted IPA. The sanding will break down the polish anyway, you just want to get all that dust off containing the polish..

Those small or "compact" SilentAir compressors basically use a refrigerator compressor on a tank. This is indeed pretty quiet. Some folks have scratch built similar units, from scrap yard parts. Everything most have mentioned in the thread here are piston compressors. But some of those are pretty quiet too, at a much lower price point than SilentAir..

I haven't tested this, but I'm pretty sure that we have seen this before, in which cases the Tamiya acrylic was thinned with Tamiya X 20 thinner. I suspect it may not happen if thinned with lacquer thinner. Tamiya's own statement on a harder X series finish is to thin with LT. I'm thinking the X20 thinned paint may stay soft enough at the surface to be affected by the tape. And or the solvents in X20 may be what interacts with the tape. Secondly, the fact that automotive acrylic lacquer is not affected supports my theory. Automotive acrylic lacquer is a hard surfaced paint. Quite hard actually. I also don't experience this with properly cured waterborne acrylics, including craft paints, Createx paints and even artist acrylics. Though I must say that I moved from Tamiya tape some years ago now. I either cut strips of blue painters tape with a razor or use FineLine tape. And if using Tamiya acrylic I thin with LT, always have since day one of my acrylic journey.

Think of sandable primer as porous and the sealer as a shell coat or barrier coat over the primer. There are also primer/sealers. Not sure about that in the Duplicolor lineup.

That's a nice white, almost a cream. I could see me decanting that, adding a little slower drying thinner and airbrushing it. I bet it would lay down beautifully. I'm not saying you have to do that, it's just how I'd treat it. Basically I'm thinking out loud lol !

If to error, I'd rather go more towards flat than gloss. Even though factory stock chassis black back in the day was more towards gloss. But that's if there was any paint left on the chassis at all, here in New England. Our weather and road treatment is brutal on the under pinnings of a car. Anyway, gloss is too stark for a model chassis, looks plastic rather than metal. So satin brings in artistic realism vs truth at the model level. Of course around here a new 1950 Ford ( for instance) by 1960 had a rust colored chassis, if not outright rotted. So lately I keep decanted Rustoleum Satin black, thinned a bit extra with a touch of lacquer thinner, and airbrush that. I keep a 1oz mixing bottle of that on hand. But that could change next month, next year etc. I also like Stynylrez black primer as underside paint, chassis or otherwise, I don't spray models with spray cans. It goes on too heavy and is a colossal waste of material that sees atmosphere and even the butterfly bushes outside, rather than plastic parts when shot from a can. I'd venture to say that anywhere from 2/3 to 3/4 of the paint in a spray can just goes anyplace but on the model. And somehow that adds up to savings to some folks.

Well I don't spray can Krylon onto plastic cars or trucks, so I can't say how you should put it on.

That red can be sanded and polished. Watch some youtube on how to do it.

No. I mean you can always scuff and polish. Just with enamels, to do that you really should wait some weeks. Even to hit it with a second tone I'd wait a few days personally. Regardless, you want the rough areas smooth.

Essentially, yes.