Dave G.

Too much work for me to salvage that, it would be in the purple pond right now.

I airbrush craft paints for 90% of my interiors or for that matter cut it with a little water or my thinner I make up and brush it. Apple Barrel has an Antique Parchment, they might have a straight parchment too, never looked. Vallejo has a series of earth tones too I use for canvas and such sometimes. I haven't used enamel on interiors in decades.

Most of my work is done with airbrush. Stynylrez white primer should pretty well hide the black in 1-2 coats.

You can do the same with the Tamiya clear.Put down a moderate coat and two progressively heavier coats, let that flash then lay on two good full wet coats that will pop the shine. Heat setting that I find to increase the gloss. Same with their clear colors, in fact maybe even more so with the clear colors ( they really like to shine after 15 minutes in the dehydrator at 108f). Then just buff it up if there is a slight haze when dry. I rarely sand the Tamiya clear but my desires may be different than yours. The thing about Tamiya acrylic is it actually is a hybrid acrylic/lacquer,not to be confused with solvent based automotive acrylic lacquer which I am not at all a fan of on plastic models. Even their solid colors perform well. I've never polished Model Master enamel, course that's gone now but it used to level out like glass. The regular little Testors bottles aren't bad but Model Master to me was a cut above those. Both alkyd enamel I believe. Also as long as there is enough clear coat on the surface to not rub through, any of those first samples you posted should polish up fine. Congrats on finding the key with the Rustoleum. It's probably going to mute out slightly overnight but it will polish right back up and that will last..

No good, I saw a couple of years ago where a guy tried this and the vac blew up and busted his arm. Think about it, 5 gallon or larger bomb of concealed fumes with an unsealed motor on top ! Possibly the worst scenario you could create.

All I saw was a book. That said, some people double or triple up on the filters in a vented booth and don't vent it outdoors. The theory being the filters catch the paint over spray. But I doubt it will do much for fumes when using solvent paints ( fumes meaning the smell, especially with hot lacquer). Fine for acrylics.

Sorry, no glasses on lol ! It's X-1 and I should know that without glasses anyway.

Ya thanks ! I have a 1/16 Mercer that she actually gave to me when we were first married nearly 47 years ago. That is literally all painted and ready for assembly. She dragged it out of the crawl space herself about a year and a half ago ( I thought it was long gone, she said oh no I have it stashed in there). But anyway that paint came out awesome right from the gun ( Model Master enamel). It looks great and I might just build that one up first because of the memory attached to it. Hah, that's in the box too but at least the paint is all done, including metalizer work and stuff.

No clear, not needed. Since that photo I lightly buffed them. Then I did the body in Washington Blue lacquer from MCW ( this thing is being done bone stock). That I clear coated with Tamiya X-22 against my wishes to not need clear because I really wasn't all that impressed with the blue. I should have mixed my own from Tamiya. I still have more buffing to do on the body. But my wife died in the middle of all this so now it's sitting in the box till things settle down. Actually I had a good day after her death Dec 20th and got that blue on and the clear a day or two later now that I think about it. It's been sitting in the box since Feb sometime. The emotion thing is complicated, there is more than the death involved but not for open information in a forum lol. I'll get back to this model about when summer heat hits and I'm sitting in ac, assuming all goes as it looks like it may be going in my life...

You mentioned not being ready to tackle black. These are my 1/16 Model A fenders not buffed or clear coated. It's 5 coats of Tamiya X4 black acrylic thinned with denatured alcohol about 50/50, shot with a Paasche H and medium tip. The fenders were dry in that shot and it's just from my camera phone. The running boards aren't a mistake they are to be flat black. By the way I just hand held them over the open trash bag in the kitchen, then popped them into the dehydrator. I don't stress out how I go about this stuff..

The key to craft paint not lifting when you pull the tape lays under the craft paint. It's called primer. Scuff your car body, prime and then scuff your primer. The first color should not peel . If your tape tends to be kind of aggressive then de-tack it . You do that by applying it to the back of your hand first then onto the model. I have another story on shooting the dark color first where it seems to not be avoidable but that's for another thread.

Just for the record, Steve. I think your Merc is considerably nicer looking than "pretty good", it looks awesome !! The paint is beautiful and we know the years of skill and practical experience that has gone into it even before it ever hit your bench. Just sayin.

Awesome fit !

Just suggesting if you want to wax then do it later, not a day after you painted. But you certainly are free to do as you wish. That said, I doubt you painted your 49 this morning and moved on to waxing it this afternoon...... You do keep it immaculate. We have one in town here too. I assume it's a small block but is green ( actually more mid to dark teal). We have a Ford around too but that may be original flathead in that, it's just a nicely done restoration for a business .

You should do as you wish if it's meeting your goal. Nice truck !

But wax doesn't really polish, it seals/protects.. Something like Formula One Scratch out polishes.

Wax is ok after the paint is fully cured/out gassed etc. That doesn't happen over night and wax will seal in that process if done too soon. Polishing ( not with wax) leaves the paint still open to air though. Now I don't know about no wax but that's why I said what I did about waxing later on rather than sooner.

I can't think of any paint ready for wax the same day as it was sprayed. Even if I use a dehydrator and force dry I will wait before polishing at the least till the next day but usually 2-3.. After polishing then Wax comes sometimes weeks later. And if your paint still smells like fresh paint it isn't ready to do anything to. Could be just me ( I do come out of the days of enamel everything lol ). Just sayin.

No I don't think so. Acrylics do have their own ways though, you just have to be committed as to what those ways are and learn them.. Keep practicing.

Don't forget your primer coat too. You want everything smooth from the body shell on up. I just dry scuff acrylics including my Stynylrez primer. But the starting grip or steel wool as the case may be ( I have both the little 2x2 pads and steel wool) depends how rough your surface is. If you start too coarse on the other hand, you will sand through as sure as I'm typing here. Or I will anyway.

That's a nice clean look to that Willys Mike, I like it and well done ! Tasteful.

I can tell you that enamels go down fine to Stynylrez primer, MCW should be no exception. My only thing is that mid blue metallic paint is one color I prefer to shoot over a silver base, not for compatibility but tonal control. But non the less, enamel goes over Stynylrez fine, nothing funny or odd happens. It might come out slightly lighter shot over white than silver. In certain light to me there is an added appeal to metallic blue shot over a silver base. That said, I've shot plenty of enamels in my day, over 60 years modeling and 35 years painting 1/1. I have not shot MCW but their paint is just PPG products range as I recall. It should go as any other enamel paint, PPG is a well recognized auto paint manufacturer.

Just my opinion but that Vette has a lot of decorating involved to be a first build. Just sayin.

Awesome Greg ! I'm pretty sure I stuffed one of these in a full fendered 32 back in the day. Course it could have been the roadster that came with one anyway ( 1961-63 ish is a long time ago so I'm not sure lol). But what you have there came out great.

000 or 0000 steel wool, just rinse it good after so no steel fibers are left on the model.