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I have a body that I would like to polish prior to clear coat. It doesn't need sanding and I don't want to risk taking off high spots. I am considering using Tamiya polishing compound and wondering if it leaves a residue that would cause problems with then putting on Tamiya clear coat. The only useful info I have on the Tamiya polishing compound is that you can wash off excess compound with water. I'm thinking a good water bath after polishing and prior to clear coat, any thoughts or experience with doing this?

Hello everyone! I've literally just started building my first car and have obviously ran into some problems. It's a Lotus Europa 1/24 from Tamiya and the main shell that came off the sprue is white. After the first base coat, I had some tiny paint holes and build up, like bubbling or mounds, one area near the front fender, and one under rear bumper. This is the part where I think I began to get overcomplicated and ahead of myself. I tried sanding down and filling the holes with Tamiya basic putty which is grey. I waited a day for the putty to settle then sanded it so was smooth and in the shape of the shell, and the holes were filled out. Then, since I sanded the first basecoat (because clear coat is not recommended to go on a sanded base coat IIRC?)I tried spraying another (2nd) basecoat of the pearl white, and to my dismay, I found out that the pearl white spray (TS-45) I was using was very translucent, and showed the grey putty areas. So, I sanded the car again trying to get rid of as many grey areas as possible. At this stage I have ran out of spray (100ml can), and am too eager to finish the shell. Now this was probably another rookie mistake, I tried hand painting the more difficult grey areas with Tamiya flat-white enamel because I couldn't wait to buy another can of the pearl white. Now I've bought 2nd can 100ml can of pearl white and sprayed the other parts (bumper, back engine cover, spoiler) and then on the main shell yet another basecoat (3rd). There is still some orange peel from my amateur spraying, one or two grey putty areas (3-5mm in size) you can see when it is well lit, as well as some scribing scratches. You can also see slightly raised patches where I've used some enamel in my amateur attempt to cover up the grey putty areas. Now I've used two cans of Tamiya pearl white spray, and still have a pretty mediocre shell. Please refer to the photos. So now, do I buy third can of the pearl white and spray to cover up the grey regions and fill scribing mistakes? Do I sand down everything and start again? Or should I just clear coat it now, polish, and just build the car. Regards LG

Hi! I've been a devoted user of Testor's Wet Look Clear for many years. Tops in my book: smooth shiny look even before polishing, fast drying, no restrictions as to re-coat time, etc. Now that I'm told Testor's will not offer it anymore, I raided every Michael's store inventory in my neck of the wood, but alas, now all is gone. So, let me pick your brains, fellow modelers... I know the actual paint was made by Rustoleum, as stated on the labels for about a year. So, I tried to identify and bought any Rustoleum spray can CLEAR LACQUER to carry out tests. I figured they may sell the same "blend" under a different label. Somehow, the best I foud was a HIGH GLOSS LACQUER, avail in black and clear at WalMart (designed for furniture). I carried tests, and even if it is fairly glossy on application, and appears to be of "medium viscosity", as the WetLook is... It is so hot a lacquer that, in order to obtain a good gloss on test panels, I ended up "washing away" Tamya's various lacquers, and some Testor's also. Obviously, it is a good product, but doesn't really give me the shine I was used to with medium-heavy coats. Just too hot. Now, I do custom painting in the 1/1 world on rods and bikes, so, I'm familiar with HOK clear, which is a fabulous product. But you have to mix it, catalyze it, and once rock hard, it requires mucho friction (therefore heat) to flow to a glass shine. And fragile scratch-built cars in styrene don't like heat, isn't it? SO, my question to you is: any othe rspray-can hobby paint (outside of Tamya's TS 13) to substitute to the Wet Look clear. TS 13 is great, but you can't stack it without waiting 30 days, or risk wrinkling. I've been there. My best scenario so far: build up my clear coating with Testor's regular less shiny lacquer clear (I stacked-up on it), as an intercoat, if you will. Then, use my precious remaining cans of Wet Look to put the final flash coat. Or do so with TS 13 once i run out of Wet Look for the flash coat. Some fellow builders on this site advised Minwax urethane clear, avail in hardware stores. But I'm warned that it is VERY THIN, therefore, prone to runs. What is your two cents? Thank you! Clauide Thibodeau

I just picked a cup up yesterday at the Hy-Vee closest to me and think it needs some detail painting and maybe some glow in the dark paint. It seems like a fairly soft plastic and I intend to leave brown it's molded in the main color, but want to paint the eyes, teeth, brows, bone in the nose, all the V like shapes molded around the face, ect. What would be the best way to approach this? I'm think of starting with a coat of Future, or what ever it is now called, and apply the additional colors over that and maybe use some of the glow in the dark for things like he eyes, teeth, nose bone piercing, and V details then clear the daylights out of it so I can actually drink out of it at work. Anybody got any recommendations ?

I am working on my second build. I have been watching videos and trying to figure out clear coating. Is the clear coat always a lacquer? I have seen a product called Pledge future being used. Is this considered a clear coat product, or does this go over at the clear coat to help just the shine? Is the process for painting the body; priming, color, then clear coat? I am a little confused. Also, do you clear coat every part of the car? Dashboard, seats, motor, chassis, ETC? I have noticed that in my second build my seats and interior tub doesn't look to shiny. I guess this is where you would clear coat? Sorry for the dumb questions, just new and want to have a better build the next time. Thank you,

Hi all: I have painted only four bodies before, all from testor's One Coat metallics. I use Tamiya fine primer and have never had issues. I only use spray can paint as I don't have the budget for everything involved with air brush, hydrator, etc. There have been a few issues with dust which I've lightly wet sanded out based on instructions here. I'm not a perfectionist and don't enter shows. This is my hobby to ease pain from a disability. Only recently have I tried painting with Tamiya as the topcoat. I used almost the same technique as for primer: three mist coats checking for dust or imperfections and correcting them. The primered body gets wiped with a tack cloth or rubbing alcohol using dust free painting gloves. The color coats get three mist coats 15-20 mins. apart to allow for a tackiness to develop and then a final coats are applied. Those coats I fear the most as I have had runs and what you might call "fisheye bubbles" develop which require up to 3-4 days drying time so I can sand them out and re-shoot the area carefully. Smaller dust particles might get 3-4000 wet sanding to fix but if I've not used 2-3 heavy coats I'm afraid it might get to the primered area. I just used my first can of Tamiya lacquer to spray a funny car body and although it looks nice, I didn't go heavy on the one coat after misting for fear of messing it up. It's dried and has been for two days. I'm not going back to using Future, and I understand I now must wait up to 4 days before applying clear. I will be using Tamiya to be consistent with all paint products. If I had applied the clear within 20 minutes of the last coat, I believe I could have shot 2 coats right away. This is important as I have 6 finished builds waiting to paint, along with 2 in WIP! Is it possible to re-dust it now and try to add another coat of the same Tamiya base? If not, what purpose would adding a clear coat be? If someone here could examine my techniques and point out where I could improve, I would appreciate it. As you might tell, I love detailing drag race cars but HATE to paint!