Dave G.

I still like the 40 Ford kit, I noticed and extra running board in the one I built as a 39 a couple years ago and wondered why. Now I know, it's sedan incidentally which somehow I always liked a tad more than the coupe. Most of my coupes got cut down into circle track cars way back when ( 1964ish).

That's what I recall, a trailer like these associated with about a 1960 or 61 Ford pickup. And some kind of drag car. I know I built the combo back then at any rate but 1960ish is a mighty long time ago lol ! Seems to me in the end I coupled it to the 53 Ford pickup with whatever overhead valve optional engine came with that kit. I also built the stock version of the 53 at another time. But then I built a couple Corvettes too but I think they were too early to have included the trailer. You guys tax the dimming memory cells.

It's not that you primed but what you're using for primer. If you decant the 2x and thin it some then air brush it, your problem will go away. Not only is it too thick in the can but the can puts out too much paint. Thus you bury your detail. Heating your can of paint might mitigate the issue somewhat otherwise. Ok, and while it's true that some stinky solvent paints do bond better than non stinky acrylic paints to plastic, non the less I've done the scratch tests and every paint I shot sticks all the better with even a thin primer coat first ( in fact my preference is one thin primer coat). Bar non, Tamiya acrylics, solvent lacquers, water based acrylics, craft paints and acrylics claimed to been enamels and true solvent based enamels were all tested over a year or so of random testing as the spirit led me. The bond to bare plastic is sufficient with many stinky solvent based paints and basically non existent with many acrylics shot to bare plastic, that is true. But the playing field is more level with primer added. Both solvent paints and water based acrylics gained substantial bond with primer on the surface. It's the same in 1/1 incidentally. It just is, anyone is free to assert otherwise but I've taken the time to do the tests. Both scratching tests and straight pull tests with blue painters tape, which is stronger bonding than model tapes. The primer used in all testing was Badger Stynylrez. If you scuff both the model and the primer coat the bond is stronger yet but it is still very good even not scuffed.. And there is absolutely no bonding fear when taping even craft paints for two tone paint jobs using model tapes or de-tacked painters tape if everything was clean. All tests were washed first with odorless mineral spirits. By the way one lacquer did not fare well in scratching, though did ok with tape. That was LA Colors black nail polish. So all lacquers are not created equally.

My local super Stop and Shop stopped carrying the Pledge, my bottle is better than half gone but I have a ways to go yet. Anyway, I saw it at Amazon.. I don't use the Pledge as much as I used to, tending more towards Tamiya X-22, Liquitex varnish or Rustoleum Lacquer with the black chair on the label. I wouldn't use that lacquer over enamel though, the others will all work. But ya, if you like Future and obviously you're used to it, look for the Pledge. There are several Pledge products not the same. For a while there there was one with lemon in it. You wouldn't want that.

I've always liked that #10 blade for many functions.

Don't second guess your purchase is my advice. Then roll with it when you get it. Besides that from kit to kit of the same model could be something nearly perfect and the next have a warped something or other. Model building almost always takes massaging.

If you can find a can of Testors standard yellow ( meaning not the light yellow) that will due fine. Better yet Model Master Chrome Yellow but that may be impossible to find. If you decanted and airbrushed you could use Rustoleum 2x yellow but out of the can may go on too heavy.

I just tack things together with the Testors orange tube glue. Just a tack drop here and there, it will come apart pretty easy. If I really want to glue something solidly I use the Testors black bottle liquid glue, or more liquid than the orange tube anyway.

With solvent paints sometimes I prime sometimes I don't. I have models painted in 1974ish with no primer shot in enamel that are basically still fine. Back then I was using both Pactra and Testors enamels so I don't know what's on these or which might have what.

Well Grumpy ran Vegas with and without spoilers up front. You can see that in old photos and posters. Don't recall if USA did or didn't etc. Probably depends on year.

I don't sand metallics before clear coat fwiw. It can cause blotchy looking areas even change the tone of the base color. I've never had a problem with the clear coat peeling etc.. I have sanded the base color then shot another coat of base to even it up though. Kinda depends what paints you're working with too.

Mike, I haven't been using it lately and maybe I mentioned it already but I always in the past had good luck with gloss and no orange peel with the Rustoleum lacquer in the green can with the big chair on the front. I believe it's non acrylic lacquer. It buffs up easy too if you need to. I suspect it will go over craft paints fine. I know the green can lacquer with the big chair on the front from Rustoleum does and with Stynylrez primer under it. I personally have found craft paints to barrier fine against lacquer clears thus far, better than some solvent paints really. Admittedly not having shot the Duplicolor clear over them but other lacquers have been fine.

I never have liked solvent based acrylic lacquer on plastic models or even in 1/1 for that matter. There are tons of other products out there. I use several different clears to include nitro lacquer but try to stay away from acrylic lacquer solvent based. Just me, others love the stuff.

Ya, they have several colored clears that come out candy-ish. But their X22 is straight clear. I use other clears too though. Those clear colors are handy in other ways too though, like green clear over green base comes out super deep for instance. Lately I've been playing with Shellac as clear coat. I haven't air brushed it yet, I'll share it if it takes off for me. I've using that on ornaments this year and the finish has been phenomenal on those. So I'm back to craft paints on prescription bottles and top coating with shellac. Just haven't felt like decanting . I'm playing with another thinner recipe for craft paints at the same time, so I've more been testing that out than the clear coat up to this point.

The primer was white Stynylrez with a drop of black in it, so kind of platinum. The silver which doesn't show in the photo is actually called rose gold, it is more silver than gold though in that particular brand but depending on your monitors color balance you might pick up a hint of the very faint underlying rose in it.. So the silver is a craft paint base coat thinned with my own thinner formula, the name is Rose Gold and the brand is Craft Smart which not my favorite craft paint. That's about 4 coats you see there, might even be 5. The blue is more like the 5-6 but progressively wetter coats till the final full wet coat . So as you can imagine I shoot the stuff pretty thinned out. The clear blue was thinned with Lacquer thinner. The Stynylrez on that model I don't recall how I thinned it but these days I thin that with lacquer thinner as well. I rarely shoot straight Stynylrez almost always thinning it. Because if you start with a rough primer coat it gets worse and worse as more colors are added. Stynylrez with LT goes on baby bottom smooth.

The top photo is Base coat ( Craft Smart craft paint) followed in the second photo with Tamiya clear blue acrylic. Not polished , straight out of the dehydrator after drying in both cases.

Well, Mike says he's shooting acrylics. Different animal that needs a different approach than with solvent based paints.

The two mist coats approach works well with acrylics and flash dry or heat set both/each one before laying on heavier coats. It's not needed with solvent paints in my experience. Start right out with medium and go progressively wetter especially with enamels.

I just use craft paints mostly for brushing interiors and engines. Thin it maybe about 30% or so.Paint my engines the same way. I makes washes from either craft paints or artist acrylics too. But prime first before anything, don't try to cover bare plastic. I don't thin a whole batch of paint, I put some on a painters palette and either water or my home brew thinner in one of the wells,usually the thinner. grab some thinner on the brush then the paint mix that up. Add paint or thinner as needed till it flows off the brush right. One to two coats should cover fine. If you want to use model paint try Vallejo model Color for brushing. You'll need some flow aid too. I thin Tamiya with Liquitex retarder for brush painting, works great. Just enough so it flows off the brush, don't overlap your strokes but butt them together and they will flow right out. Yep, even Tamiya suggests retarder for brush painting, course they want you to use theirs, Liquitex works fine and I always have it on hand. 25-40% retarder in the blend, nothing else. That might work in the craft paint too but I haven't tried it . Course you can always use Testors flat enamels, the old standard. Just buy a set of flats, mix as needed. I'm not afraid to mix colors, be that acrylics or enamels. Then I airbrush a mixed up batch of Liquitex varnishes to get the sheen I want. Course with acrylics you can mix them right into the paint.

I won't address the compressor brand outright, cause that can go on and on, and I use a noisy 8 gal portable. The good news is I only air it up once or twice a week unless inflating car tires or running household nail guns and such. But as to the hose, most compressors have a 1/4" fitting. You can get either a hose with the 1/4"on one end and Badger fitting on the other or you can go all Badger hose and get a 1/4" to Badger adapter. Amazon has the adapters . I've done adapters 1/4 to Badger and also 1/4 to Paasche. You can also get quick disconnects for Badger. You gotta watch out for some cheap airbrush only dedicated compressors that don't have a true standard 1/4" connector on them and you end up with gobs of plumbers tape, over tightening and it still leaks. If I'm not mistaken the Point Zero is not like that, it's an import like others but they corrected that unlike some others. If you get a more household silent running portable like the Fortress and others mentioned in the thread you will get the true 1/4" connector. I believe Badger compressors have Badger connectors on them but I'm not 100% sure. I know they're costly for what they are though. I've never owned a dedicated airbrush compressor, I've adapted from from 200 gal systems, 150 gal systems, 30 gal 8 gal, 16 gal through the years. I use whatever I got on hand. At one time I adapted a propane tank as a portable air tank lol. Not to scientific here, make it work .

Yes sure. But I didn't address your question that if you were to use lacquer or enamels with a booth in the house, would you offend sensitive nosed people in another room.. To which a properly used booth should do fine. Some lacquers have a highly offensive initial smell when sprayed and out-gassing when first drying but dry quickly. Enamels have high odor, to me not as offensive as the worst lacquers but much longer term out gassing when drying. So it isn't just about spraying but the drying feature. A booth plus a paint dryer or dehydrator pretty much negate that whole issue. There are exceptions as noted in an earlier post of the back draft issue. But if you air dry enamel left out in a room someone is not gonna be happy. I dry it in dehydrator mode in an air fryer and there is basically no odor. But I dry all my paints in dehydrator of one form or another. If you want to do enamels in the house and keep peace too, I'd kind of plan on that, not to mention it takes enamels down from days or even weeks of cure time to hours or over night.

I think you have it backwards, keep going with some form of acrylics inside the house. There are some very good ones these days. And when the hankering for lacquers or enamels comes along do that in the nice seasons outdoors or in the shed. You won't need an expensive booth to shoot acrylics in the house and you won't bother yourself, the wife or any pets if there are any. Most any hobby grade booth will do. Heck half the time I shoot into the kitchen trash can. Tamiya acrylic shot with Denatured alcohol as thinner produces lacquer like results. Your craft paints done right, thinned correctly then clear coated with one of a number of different low toxicity clear coats can come out well above hacker standards and your wife won't smell a thing. Vallejo Model Air paints for base coating or so called color coating actually have a pleasant sweet low odor to them. Then clear coat with X-22 Tamiya. My latest experiment in clear is Bulls Eye clear shellac as clear ( skip the amber, you won't be happy). I used that on hand made Christmas ornaments this year as beside my wood turned ones I did acrylic pouring,then shot them with the spray can Bulls Eye. Perfect finish, see every light on the tree reflecting off these things and I just shot those into the trusty trash can as well ! It's not a product for humid weather but it works good in winter with house heat and dry air. I use Liquitex varnishes a lot too, low to no odor.. You have a ton of options for indoor painting that won't stir up others in the house.

With the Paasche H and medium needle, decanted 2X or the older Painters Touch, with a touch of lacquer thinner added I can get 4- 5 really nice wet smooth coats down on my model parts and not have the film thickness of one or two coats from the can. The finish has been quite beautiful doing this. But I suspect folks want to rattle can because they don't want to airbrush, so for them the airbrush is a moot point. The best I can say if that's the case is to heat the can so it's comfortably warm to the touch. I don't recommend boiling water as one member suggested. There is a limit to how hot then it gets dangerous. As you heat the can in hot water, pick it up and re-shake it repeated times till it doesn't go cold when you shake it. Then you know the paint is warm all the way through. This adds pressure but more importantly, lowers viscosity of the paint.

Craft paints are closer in nature to Vallejo Model Color than to Tamiya. Pigments are finer and denser in the Vallejo. I use Vallejo or craft paints for your purpose, mostly craft paints. But everything is primed on my models though fwiw. I prime all the parts but the body right on the sprue then touch up later. I put my craft paint on a painters pallet and a little water or thinner near by. A touch of water in it will help flow and get rid of brush strokes. With Vallejo you use their flow aid. And with Tamiya you use retarder for brush painting. Craft Smart is fine for what you want to do. I've gone from spraying my engines to brushing them with craft paints myself in fact. Then weather with oil stains that are water clean up ( don't ask, it just works that way, no clue how, there are water clean up oil stains out there now and oil paints too).