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I did my first paint on a scale model car in 25 to 30 years. About 25+ years ago i started to assemble the MPC 1960 Flipnose Corvette but got side tracked by life. And at the time I needed to do some upgrades on my real life 1960 Corvette. A few weeks ago I decided to give my attempts at 3D modeling cars a bit of a rest and started to work on my MPC Flipnose. All the parts were present but a tire got welded to the hard top roof resting in the box over time. Did not know this could happen. I now place my parts in zip lock like bags. I primed the body with Rustoleum grey which seemed to take close to 2 weeks to dry. It was very humid in August. Last week I put a few coats of Krylon Short Cuts "Forever Blue" on the car and did some light sanding to remove some orange peel. Testors spay paints and bottle paints are in very short supply at the 3 local Michaels stores. A sales clerk about Tamiya paints believes Michaels never carried this line. We do have three other local model stores, but they are downtown, where a lot of the street parking meters were removed to give way to bike lanes. So parking in downtown Halifax is very limited. I believe the Krylon is enamel. Michaels sells Krylon arcylic clear. I can also purchase Rustoleum clear from Canadian Tire. Reading a few threads here by Dragownhwak1066 got me interested in acrylic craft paint as I do own a compressor and a few air brushes. So I purchased several bottles of acrylic paint from Michaels, Dollarama and Wallmart. So I picked up a 2 oz bottke of Decoart's DuraClean Gloss varnish. Of my options Decoart, Krlon or Rusloleum, Pledge floor polish which clear would you recommend? And if none, could some recommend a good clear coat? Is it wise to use acrylic clear over enamel if the intent is to protect the paint from chipping or scratching? Thanks kindly and many cheers from Nova Scotia....

As decals age, they get that gold-ish color on the clear portions and become brittle and flake off sometimes. Has anyone here used clear over the decals and had any problems with it? I'm wondering if there have been chemical reactions or anything like that.

Hey guys I searched the forums but couldn't find the answer. I'm new to clear coating and am not sure if I should clear coat the body before or after I paint the chrome trim. Not sure the chrome will stick after the clear. Thanks!

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!

I want to try using future as a clear clear coat. How do you guys buff it to a hi gloss? Also, can you polish or sand out dirt or debris from it?

I was wondering if anyones had any experience with this the MM Clear Blue Acrylic paint? Local hobby shop sold out of Testors Transparent Blue spray paint and suggested I try this this color out. It looked a little darker and opaque in the bottle. I've used Testors Transparent Blue for years, and I've decanted it before to use for brushing. And its always looked completely clear blue in the bottles. So before I buy some to try, I was wondering if anyone has used this color before, and can you tell me if it does have that candy transparent color to it and light? Or is it a darker blue but clear? If the color is anything like the regular Transparent Blue, I'd be willing to switch over to this one and spray through my airbrush. I'm just looking for more of that candy side of the color. My hobby shop said they can't get the transparent blue right now so they said this would work. I don't know though.. the lady who suggested it was wearing a sweater with kittens on it and gluing some popsicle sticks making a house. I don't think she gets down on some candy paint jobs.

Hi. Any tip for something to use for mounting the lenses for headlights that does not miscolor them or turn them white? Is there any spesific sort of glue/cement intended for glass and clear parts? It`s like 50/50 for me as if i screw it up or it look good. And most types of glue i have experiencd so far tend to float all over the place when it touch the plastic,no matter how small amount i try to add.

I have been struggling with painting models most of my life. I can build them, detail them, make them look like they are the real thing......except when I get to the paint! This time I think I finally have it figured out and i get the wrong paint..... I am building a 60 Starliner, that is turning out great, I went with Model Master Napoleonic Violet for the color, I did the frame and all the interior with this color and trimmed it in white. (Still not realizing I would have a problem later) I painted the dash, and then cleared it, it turned out great, then the body was ready for paint, so I loaded up the airbrush, got the booth ready and started to paint! A few good coats, and it looked flawless, I thought it would be my best paint job yet! Until.... After it had dried, I realized that this paint was flat %&#@. So I decided to wet sand it, paint it again and try to clear it, it didn't help much! So now I soaked it in Purple Power, and am ready to start over. Because this build is looking so good, I really want to stay with this color, I think it fits the Starliner beautifully! I know people use Future Floor Polish for a good clear and I've seen how well it works. Question is: 1) Will that make a flat paint shine? 2) Should I still clear coat it? 2a) How long should I wait to put the clear on? 2b)should I wet sand it before I clear it? 3) Is Napoleonic Violet available in a gloss? I am really up against a wall here, this is the first kit that I had built in 15 years, and I haven't touched it in a year (mostly because of building a new work room). I love building model cars, and I want to stay in it, but am a little lost right now as to what to do! I need to finish this one so I can go on to the next. Help!

So, everyone seems to have their favorite method of Chrome Removal that works great for your needs. The question is, "Do you leave the Clear Coat on spray over it or do you Strip It Clean?" Why do you leave it on or why do you strip it bare naked? Those who leave the Clear Coat on, how about sharing your reasoning. Look at the Chrome Stripping thread some do and some don't. Most didn't say one way or the other why they do what they do, they were explaining how they removed the chrome itself. For me I prefer the naked parts as a foundation to refinish either with the appropriate metal or paint finish.

I already asked this in the "How Do I" section but my post sank without an answer. So since there's more traffic here.... Is anyone familiar with Mr. Super Clear from Mr. Hobby? Can anyone tell me how to apply this stuff? My results have been very inconsistent. (I believe it is a solvent-based synthetic lacquer, not dissimilar to, but hotter than Tamiya TS13. So alternatively, how do you apply TS13? Like how thick/thin should it go on, how long between coats etc. Any advice would be much appreciated.