Dave G.

According to Tamiyas site if you want a harder finish with their X series paints then use lacquer thinner to thin them. If you go to their web site it's down in the finer print. X 20 produces a softer finish according to them. Also to me lacquer thinner will flash X-22 off more quickly. But over decals I tend to use Pledge or clear lacquer personally. A couple of dust coats and heat flash each then wetter coats, heat flashing those as well. But I can't imagine X-22 not working if applied right.

I prefer to go to a Micheals or Hobby Lobby as well and do the touch test thing, dry strokes on a jar etc. And in so doing I find some hair ones I like but almost always it comes down to Golden Taklon bristles for me. Course my wife and I use these lines of brushes in art work as well as models. Also different styles of brushes, there are many. Rarely have I found the need to go above level 1 or 2 brushes though. Course there are many shapes for many purposes as mentioned. But ya, level 1 will cost $4 or $5 each and to me if Golden Taklon then work well ( there is white,gold and black taklon fwiw). But I do test each for bristle flex and spread, indeed in a lot of 3 or 4 of the same brushes One may feel like a dud or another stand out from the rest. Course they need washing anyway in reality because some are stiff with a sizing or something on them. Just my $.02 worth.

Unpack and pack, usually back into the original box. And it could be the last will be completed before the first ( or not) depending on interest level at any given time for what is taking place. Or I may put a little 1/32 curb side together in the midst of it all, paint and all.

It's always been curious to me the big draw on Neo and Iwata and the idea by some folks that Neo is Iwata. Especially given Neo is made in China by parts from Taiwan and made for Iwata. Not that they are a bad airbrush mind you and Iwata does back them, they're decent enough. It even says on the box Neo For Iwata. It's just Interesting.

All my underpinnings, engines, drive lines, interiors and more and more even bodies have been acrylic for a while now. But after more than 60 years of enamels in modeling and 1/1 as well, I do like to play in the stuff now and then. Thus the decanting of Painters Touch and 2X. I might do a 1/16 body in enamel soon. My last lacquer I shot for a model was about 3 years ago. Other than some Mr Primer Surfacer, though even there I tend more towards Stynylrez by quite a bit. I will say that acrylics have been a learning process but I shoot the freely now that I understand them much more. All that to say I won't be buying the Rustoleum cans Steve has presented here, that I know of at least. But I've enjoyed the thread.

The Paasche H is rated to spray between 20 and 75 PSI. Many airbrushes, even top brands have an upper limit and or are restricted for max pressure, you could set 50 psi but only get 30 for instance. This is not the case with the H. And it likes air. So here is the point, if you miss on your mix and the paint is a bit thick you can bump up the pressure. I learned this in shooting T Shirts with little or even no thinner with Createx paints with both the H and VL airbrushes. Most of those guys are shooting 50 or even 60 psi. But the thinner you mix it the lower the pressure can be. When you flash the paint it will lay down flat with craft paint, Createx and some others ( I use a hair dryer between coats). And just for the record my Paasche H and VL pretty much live around 23-25 psi, I mix my paint accordingly. I have brushes for lacquer and washes where I shoot 15-20 psi. I just shot a 53 Ford pickup with Liquitex Fluid silver and then Createx Red over that @ 28 psi. That was all over white Stynylrez primer shot @ 25 psi two days before. Some paints don't like drug store alcohol, my generic formula for craft and artist acrylics is much the same as Toms but now and then you can hit on a paint that will gel. Parts of one paint line that will do this is DecoArt. So for that I sub out the alcohol and put in the same portion US Art Supply thinner ( I believe that's the name, will confirm when I can get to my thinners cabinet). That thinner does two things: no alcohol so no gel and it sustains rather than dilutes the binders in acrylic paint. But on it's own,outside my mix it tends to turn flats into satin coat. Ok so this comes down to application now. With any acrylic put on two very fine mist coats letting each flash before the next. Once that base is on you can now paint as normal with wetter coats, still flashing off before the next coat. Without that base you can get a runny mess if put on too wet. Also you want to prime the model first, many acrylics don't stick to plastic for beans but they do stick to primer very well. Thinning paint isn't always ratio but it is viscosity. Wipe some up the side of your mixing cup, the bulk of it should return right back down to the paint in the cup in a second or two but leave a film behind. If you're waiting 15 seconds it's too thick and if everything runs back instantly it's too thin. There are some paints that seem to defy this, like Createx with their thinner and 4030 additive for instance. Now with Tamiya acrylic thinned with lacquer thinner ( suggested at the Tamiya web site for a harder finish) you can mix 50-50 or so called 1-1. That is one part paint to one part thinner or even a bit more thinner. Nice paint too. I can't speak for the " Mr " acrylics line because I shoot those in solvent not acrylic. But I'm 100% sure it's easy enough to figure out. Once you stop fighting ratios and shooting an H at 18 PSI things become much easier, the H likes air as I already mentioned. Ya it will shoot water or watery paints at 15 psi but it literally isn't designed for that, though people do it.

The case isn't closed, look for old stock. Ebay is your semi friend, in that you may find one, maybe even un opened but not like the price.

It looks like you're headed to 1.25-1 thinner to paint. Gonna be good stuff !!

Nah, I was trying to place it as an early edition flopper style funny car and maybe even a Ford fiberglass bodied one ! So don't feel bad, yours was imaginary by it's creator mine by me lol !

You can check but I too think that stuff is the same as in the cans you showed earlier,just in spray form. The Painters Touch/2X is a different product . For one thing faster drying, though either may work for your needs. The can you show above is more industrial strength than the Painters Touch/2X. Hey all you can do is try it but as I mentioned PT 2X has worked well for me .

I've been intrigued by those little cans at the hardware store myself ! They seem to be inviting. That ( last I recall) truly is an oil based paint which indeed is or was at one time very slow drying on it's own, slower than alcyd resin enamels even, course it's been some 40 years since I used the stuff and they could well have changed the formulation to include added dryers and such and no doubt have.. I last used that on my 1-1 car hauling trailer I towed my Mustang to the track with. I thinned it with Dupont 3812 enamel reducer as I recall and shot it with a full sized spray gun. But some parts were brush painted. If 3812 worked, I see no reason why lacquer thinner wouldn't work. On another note, I've had good luck decanting the Rustoleum Painters Touch and 2X formulations of spray cans. I do thin it an added 20% or so with hardware store lacquer thinner and it sprays and performs very well with airbrushing. Has nice flow out and you can lay down multi thin coats vs the one shot deal out of the spray can that to me is ultimately too thick to add any further coats. So the airbrush with a bit of LT for me adds a level of control. Course you gotta not mind decanting. And I have a dehydrator so drying with at least those products especially combined with the thinner is a non issue.

I use Tamiya clear red over gold as well but with airbrush is all.

Thanks for pointing that out Pete, my senior mind registered the OP as Testors, clearly it says Revell !! Also in thinking this over, when I used Humbrol years ago I poured the paint or else brushed it from the tin, today I would use a pipette. But talk about clunky I mostly decant enamels these days for airbrushing. I'll post an edit to my last message, thanks again.

( edit: I realized I posted mis information in this message, just ignore this post) I never liked Humbrols tins ( not the paint but the containers, the paint is fine), makes one like myself wonder why Testors would bother with the same clunky thing. just bring back Model Master bottles.

As to painting white walls on vinyl tires, not all paints stay stuck to that material. I've been having good luck with Stynylrez primer in white though. The down side is it's made for airbrushing and is thin to brush and if brushing it takes 2-3 coats. This increases the risk of screwing it up 2-3 fold lol. I like the sticky vinyl idea, if you know someone with a Cricut machine or the likes of it they could easily cut those for you. A Brother Scan N Cut would be easy as well. I do heat pressed T shirts in inkjet heat transfers or airbrush and heat pressed to set it but don't yet have the Cricut or other machine like it for vinyl or I'd cut them for you. That's a really good idea from Todd. Course you could cut by hand, draw them out with a reliable compass then cut with a razor blade or good sharp hobby knife. An old model technique probably never used any more was to cut white walls from a fairly heavy white paper and contact cement, IE, glue them on. Molotow is great if you keep hands off of it, soon as you touch it that area looks like any silver paint and clear coating it in my experience cuts the chrome look in half. I have a bright craft paint silver that does as good as cleared Molotow and no fuss. But as long as you're careful it looks great. So my answer to clearing Molotow is clear first before the Molotow application. Storing Molotow is another thing all it's own. You have to keep it well sealed up, air free or they dry up or change in appearance, again in my experience.. Many people have polished the plastic to a shiny finish. Personally I'd paint it because then it looks painted as real cars are painted. If to clear I personally would use clear lacquer, others I'm 100% sure would use 2K clear. But you won't find 2K clear existing in my hobby area.

A Procon #3 I don't know the size of. The Paasche H #3 is I believe .66 or .7 which is what I mostly prime with. Also Mike, Stynylrez periodically needs to be power mixed with something like the Badger battery powered mixer, which is what I use. The sediment will never mix fully back into the liquid by shaking or even with a mixing stick. In between power mixing though shaking is sufficient. A guy over in the FSM forums put me onto thinning Stynylrez with lacquer thinner. Always the skeptic I had to test first, the result of which was a beautiful satin finish. I thinned 50-50 in that test with regular hardware store lacquer thinner. I've shot that all the way down to a .25 tip at times. Well anyway, all I can do is share, people can believe or do as they wish with the info. You will like the Mr product though ( well it does stink for a few minutes but works great).

I use a #3 on the Paasche H. I've even used the #5 if I just got done clear coating art work, I just leave the 5 on. There can be other variables too so not sure what your problem with the primer is in reality.

Mr Leveling Thinner is what I use in Mr Primer Surfacer 1000, lays down super smooth.

The Mr Surfacer should be smooth Mike. I use the Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 in a bottle thinned with a little lacquer thinner and that's very smooth . Mr Surfacer 1500 everyone says is smooth. But then for me Stynylrez is smooth if shot one of two ways. With finer needles I cut it ( Styn) nearly 50-50 with hardware store lacquer thinner. With a .7 needle I shoot it straight from the bottle. Either case is 23-25lb ish.

Stynylrez primer will block it as it is an acrylic poly primer/sealer. Sealer being the operative word here. Course as you stated you need an airbrush. FWIW either acrylic or enamel paints will go onto Stynylrez. Hot lacquers will go if you stay with mist coats but too wet and can get sand scratch swelling with hot lacquer. I most recently conducted a test on some left over model parts in white styrene. This was a test for adhesion with Createx paint straight onto plastic with no primer, not for bleed. But it is interesting to note that I took red Createx opaque color and added 15- 20% of their 4050, then about the same of my own thinner which is much like their 4011 thinner and sprayed it on the under side of a hood. Heat set that in my dehydrator then took blue painters tape, de-tacked somewhat on the back of my hand. I rubbed it down onto the hood nice and tight and ripped it off. The tape took no paint with it at all, not even on any high spots or ridges ( Vallejo primer could wish to be so good lol).. So Tom using Createx as primer may be a go indeed. Now On the model ( a 53 Ford pickup) I didn't quite dare to not prime just yet so used white Stynylrez to prime it. Plus I was putting silver Liquitex on under the red anyway.

One of my airbrushes ,Joe is a Paasche VL which is comparable in design to your Badger. It puts down a beautiful well atomized pattern even with the largest tip . I like that feel, it reminds me of the Paasche H in grip style but internal mix. In Dons review of these two airbrushes he claims the 175 to have a smoother transition from very fine misting to laying the paint on heavier. I can understand that because my VL is pretty rapid in that regard, you don't need to move the trigger much extra and you're getting more paint than you really wanted, the 175 is said not to be that way. Your 175 can last you through your entire modeling lifetime. I have an old style Badger 200 still going strong since the early 1970's !!! That's my fine needle airbrush, the .25 tip lives on that one.

I know I'm late to this thread but figured it's ok, just general info. Depending on your paint style or technique you can probably do everything model related with either the fine or medium tip and needle with the Crescendo. The fine tip is .5, the medium should be around a .7ish size and the largest 1 or 1.05 or so. There isn't anything wrong with a Badger Crescendo 175. The same tips interchange with the 105, 155, 175, 200NH ( not to be mistaken for the plain 200). Any of those do as fine a job spraying as any other decent quality brush with the same tip range, assuming you want double action and siphon feed.

I've started with hunter green craft paint but it doesn't end there. I just just keep mixing till I get the machinery green/gray look which should be pretty accurate. By the time it's weathered it looks fine to me. I've also started with malachite green craft paint and done the same with that. Somewhere in my mix will be white and a touch of black to bring in the slight gray tone. But as far as buying the right color off the shelf I couldn't say what to use.

I'd go by the spray pattern, is the paint or even the look of spraying water out, even all the way around ? As to Badger, they're pretty easy to work with. There has been more than one 105 owner on here with some sort of problem that Badger either fixed or swapped out a replacement.

I just painted 1/32 1958 T bird white walls that had no really good demarcation on the sidewall,not for these old eyes anyway. I mounted the assembled wheels on a rudimentary mandrill and spun the tires slowly in a cordless drill. Then just touched the paint brush to the side wall. I'm used to wood turning, it's much easier to control circular designs onto a spinning object if they're just straight up dimensions like white walls. Coarse the tire can't wobble, at least not much.