Dave G.

A little too much washer fluid will do it,the paint will pool and such. Washer fluid is a bit more runny than a blend of isopropyl and water will be. Gloss too might flow a bit more than matte or satin. For most craft paints I prefer a blend I make up of iso, water,retarder and a flow aid. It sprays a bit more like solvent paints IMO. I have washer fluid too, it woks but is a second choice, like in DecoArt for instance, that paint doesn't like iso and can even gel up but you can use washer fluid which has methanol in it not iso. Or in DecoArt you can use a mix of airbrush medium and water. Actually you can use that in any craft paint . Just for some, like Apple Barrel, FolkArt ,Craft Smart, Delta Ceramcoat, I've found basically superior results with the iso blend. I have three airbrushes, my car stuff and primers I mostly use the Paasche H. Fine stuff I tend to go with my pushing 50 yo Badger 200 with the .25 tip on it. I like it for metalizer type paints too. Got that as a gift back around 1975, had been using a Badger starter airbrush before that. Then my double action is an Iwata knock off , once I polished up all the needles to that one it shoots nearly as nice as my Badger, if I only had it I could live with it fine but the tips are tiny, very fussy on being clean, the 200 and H are better suited to my 71 yo eyes and dexterity lol. But it does work, well plus I'm not a big fan of double action except in 1/1 spray guns with triggers and in firearms. Just sayin.

If this is craft paint you are still working with then what are you thinning it with ?

You'll get a feel for it pretty quick. I've used this on models but more so on wood working projects and some wood turnings too. I think I have a couple long drop wall clocks I built for people out there that I finished in this. I also mix some of the wood working lacquer that comes in quart cans, some called brushing lacquer, and have airbrushed those. All these lacquers buff up very easy. Some automotive acrylic lacquers are harder and don't always buff out so easy. They also can get brittle with age, brittle on plastic isn't the greatest combo, can end up with cracks in the surface over time. Just sayin.

That green can plain lacquer dries high gloss and flows out well. Just be careful of runs,maybe try it on an old body or test shoot one way or another with it. I did the whole chrome tree on a 49 Ford with that stuff and it came out crystal clear, you wouldn't know it was coated with anything.

I've shot X-1 mixed 1-1 or a little more even, with denatured alcohol and it comes out like glass and the dehydrator seems to increase the gloss. A quick rub with a little Formula 1 Scratch Out and it's good enough for me. It takes 5 coats to look good though, the first two you get a feel for distance when shooting ( with the Paasche H and medium tip you can go 4-5 inches away or I did at least) is about all and they flash off dull so it seems a bit discouraging up to that point, except nice flow out and so smooth. After those two coats you can start to go progressively wetter and gain gloss.. The real gloss pops in the dehydrator. I've only gone to 110f, I'd be curious what more heat could do but you never know about the plastic these days. I saw where one guy cooks paints on models at 130F, I bet enamel would love that temp but I'd be concerned about the plastic parts myself. Acrylics I usually do between 105 and 108. Enamel I do 110 and as mentioned I've done the Tamiya at 110f.

With a dehydrator you don't need to wait a week. Maybe a day or two.

I've used hardware store lacquer thinner which is supposed to be medium dry but added a mix of xylene into it to slow it down a little bit. Xylene is somewhat effective but still not slow enough for warmer weather. What you really want is a slower drying thinner or a little retarder added to faster thinners. The Mr Leveling thinner pretty well covers the need, of which I have none lol .

The FSM armor or airbrushing forum will also have more answers than you probably want to hear lol. But I can tell you personally that water based acrylics will go right over lacquer. As others mentioned a semi gloss/luster/satin clear coat over the base lacquer coat before the wash goes on will help you gain your end result. You don't need to bury the model in the clear, a light coat or two on there is sufficient. Same for the flat at the end.

No I was saying there is more to building the R/M. I'd like to put a set of those Revell wheels and tires on the AMT sedan sometime ! Or it would be nice if Revell offered a sedan someday, also a 41 sedan. And a Chevy also.But hey dreams are free at least.

I don't know if I'd say miles ahead but it has it's advantages. Right off the bat the wheels and tires and trim rings on the wheels are the correct size. On the other hand the AMT running boards are the more correct version. The Revell/Monogram is more to build if one wants simplicity. Then one needs to consider if they want to build a standard couple or deluxe, AMT is deluxe, Monogram the standard.

The 39 hood should fit marginally better than the the 40 hood. It took 10 minutes of heat and gentle bending to get that to fit reasonably well on the one I built a couple of years ago and seems tome I trimmed the hinge/pins or slots for them to release the push outward to the sides.. The 40 hood would take more work. I was building the 39 version anyway,which isn't really true since it would tale more modifying to build a true 39. It's easier to build the 39 into a 40 standard rather than deluxe. Not all that bad considering these are 1959 moldsthough, we just sort of took that sort of things for granted back then. It sounds like you need a modern snap kit to play with if you want something quick and simple..

Well that was a long time ago for me but never had a problem, never even considered it a problem. I shot 1/1 for 35 years not all that differently really, back in the paint rooms of the day.. The key is the motor type. Other factors too but I'll end there. Booths are ideal but not the only way is all. By the way, love your scriptures !!

Never had a problem and today most fan motors are induction type, there is no arc. And concentrations from an airbrush aren't even close to high enough to be an issue in open air anyway, unless you collect them in a container and light it off like the guy who tried to use a shop vac for evacuation..

Yep/agree. And so simple. I did the same 50 years ago. Just don't hang a bird feeder out there lol. Back in the day shooting 1/1 all we used were big shrouded fans for exhaust, cleaned the paint room of overspray in about a minute. Inlet port to the room on one end for fresh air, fan on the other end.

Ok Mark, got it. Sorry, missed what you were getting at in your other message.

The optional engine for the sedan is a rather nice rendition of Oldsmobile. The coupe has the Buick nailhead as the optional engine. The original flathead v8 are ok, you can detail the up pretty nice just with care taken painting them and good judgement used for a wash.

Well there is also the coupe kit. So really 3 in all.

Ya with acrylic it's basically the particulates you blow outside.While spraying acrylic a simple N95 is really sufficient. But unseen particulates linger in the air for a time, you can find your nose hairs getting stuck so to speak. I get sinus infections easy so I'd rather shoot it into a trash can or booth. A booth will handle that as well as any stink to which there isn't much and very short lived. Simple household cleaning agents are stronger and most women use those and don't say a word about it. Half the time it boils down to what the husband is doing, doesn't much matter what it is but that will disturb them. Acrylics really don't stink,period. But they/women can make a fuss anyway. Although they think nothing of their nail polish for those who use it. I was very fortunate with my wife of 47 years, she loved paint, didn't mind the smell,helped mask mask primed 1/1 cars in my shop when I had it, was an artist herself. so I have 0 complaints but I know some guys pay hell to do anything. In my case the paint bothered me more than her, but not acrylic.

Somewhere out there in youtube land is a video on fine tuning those airbrushes like you have, a good part of it is polishing the needle, so nothing drastic. I polish my needles on internal mix airbrushes anyway, it tends to smooth out droplet uniformity and pattern. Air pressure for craft paint 20-25 psi with properly thinned paint. I mentioned in my last post proper thinning by viscosity. Also while washer fluid is an improvement over water my thinner will be better with small details. Just sayin. Whatever you use I encourage thinning outside the airbrush in a mixing bottle or cup, then transfer. The H is a good all round model car airbrush if you go that route.

It will never spray completely right with plain water as thinner, it will spray but not behave right on the model. And washer fluid is a step up but not quite there yet. It will work though. I mix my own formulas depending which craft paint it is as some don't like ipa alcohol. My thinner is loosely based off what Bobby @ Genesis Models put out in a video . I use a couple different brands than he does. My flow aid type varies and my retarded is always Liquitex. My craft paints don't spray a whole lot different than solvent paint in nature. Ok all that said. If you grab a little paint with whatever you use as a mixing stick and put some on the side of your paint cup it should run back down to the pool of paint below in 1-3 seconds or so and leave a light film behind as it goes.. Too thick it will just kind of stick there, too thin it will run down fast and leave no film behind. Check your airbrush with plain alcohol or plain water as a test, if it sprays that normal then thin your paint correctly and it should spray that too.

A couple light coats of just about any brand or type of clear should work . I mix my own desired sheen of acrylic varnish clears, a combo of Matt and satin depending on the interior material in mind and I airbrush ( could be brushed too). But I've shot about every kind of clear over craft paint with no issues. As mentioned above be mindful of the primer if used and don't flood the paint on. Flats especially do better misted on.

You can polish the flat aluminum craft paints with Formula ! scratch out and bring them up to a luster finish just fwiw. Both FolkArt and Craft Smart have some pretty nice silvers to choose from between the brands.

You actually could section out a couple of scale inches or so of those front frame rails pretty easily. You could leave it as is too, just sayin. It's your car, build by your minds eye.

I watched a Ford documentary on this and they specifically said the bodies were done in a separate facility. Perhaps my term farmed out was out of line but they were multi color options and combinations ( 6 or 7 ) but all dipping was black apparently. Thanks for the book pages though, they only covered so much in the hour or so long video..

If you're painting classics era model cars 1960ish on back to 1908 you want synthetic enamel or lacquer ( and I prefer if to have to use lacquer that it's Duco Nitrocellulose not acrylic lacquer,different animal). 2k and urethane will never duplicate the look, least not factory stock. With enamel if you mix it right and shoot it right you can shoot it and forget it right off the airbrush. And it will just have that look about it. Model A Fords had enamel on the fenders and lacquer on the bodies, fenders shot in house, bodies farmed out. Many cars were enamel that I thought were lacquer and vise versa after I got checking into it. Rods and customs of the 50 id someone could afford the paint job at all, most were lacquer. There was no such thing as 2k.