Dave G.

Adding black alone will give you a grey blue. You need some red in the blue more than black. Then shoot that over a black base or black primer and you should be pretty close to midnight with that blue. Don't be afraid to go 3-4 coats of the new blue over the darker base coat..

Charlie, I tried to PM you but got a message that says you can not receive messages.

I sanded my Ceramcoat test shoot ( shot with one of my thinners in it, the most common one I use) from yesterday with a 3500 grit pad and it basically turned it semigloss lol. Smooth. That's the latest update on the Ceramcoat test shoot.

I've been re -experimenting or "re- visiting" perhaps the Pledge/Future. I go for a natural look Mike and have found in my later testing that somewhere around three coats of Pledge over craft paint and straight up buffing to a shine is something that catches my eye. I'm totally not into the buried in clear coat wet look as most of my builds are old cars in stock condition .

Sometimes. If you can get your hands on the Tamiya try that Mike.

Ya I left washer fluid going on three years ago now and shoot more craft paint than hobby paints. Just sayin.

I have a few clear coats I've used over craft paint ( including quart cans of lacquer), be that on models, in my test shoots or my wife's ceramics projects. In the acrylic lineup for model car bodys though my go to is Tamiya X-22 clear gloss thinned with DNA or hardware store lacquer thinner. You need to put this down in progressively wetter coats and the 4th coat should do the trick. If I don't use that I use Pledge floor care straight from the bottle. And then there is Liquitex Varnish ( mostly used this in test shoots in terms of model body finishes but extensively for the ceramics, we stocked it specifically for that purpose because its very resilient and UV safe. Really for me the satin shoots plenty glossy enough but we always have had all three in stock. My wife passed back in Dec so no more ceramics. I do use that liquitex on model car interiors, a mix of matt and satin and just a couple light coats over flat acrylic paint give the perfect sheen for some materials according to the blend mixed up.. And it protects from chipping. I've also mixed it into craft paint to that same end plus it bumps up the adhesion. But I have not done a full body in the stuff. Great on engine blocks too over weathering. Very good product to have on hand but then I have much of the Liquitex line here at my disposal so easy for me to say where my wife was an artist. I have several of the additives, paints etc....

I just got done shooting the test shot on a primed prescription bottle and all went well. So all I want to report is my thinner indeed works in this paint. If you like LT and it works then no argument from me. I can run that test tomorrow myself to make the comparison but I'm done for today.

I've read reports that washer fluid turns Ceramcoat to glop but I haven't tried it. I know my home brew thinner doesn't do that but I haven't shot a test yet, maybe tomorrow as I have some Ivory to try on one of my test bottles that is all primed up ready to go anyway.. I have mixed some and it's smooth and creamy as silk and stays that way, it should shoot fine. I'll report back after "the experiment " is complete. It should turn out fine.

Craft paint can vary quite a bit by what you thin it with too. What did you use for thinner ?

I have an H I use quite a bit, works fine and built like a tank (it's not my only airbrush). But note that listing says it's used, you can get a brand new one for around that same price.

The Neo is fine, the .35 tip fine. It's all about mixing paint right for the tip and air pressure you use. With airbrushing when you thin for spraying, generally speaking, means that thinner is usually better than too thick a blend. If to error do so to the thin side and just add an extra coat or two. Bear in mind that water or thinner or even ink spray wonderfully from any airbrush but un-thinned paint not at all. So you need to hit that correct blend in between there. That correct blend is more about viscosity than it is ratio of thinner to paint but people love to think in terms of ratio ! The finer the tip the more a thinner viscosity matters. A few people here use Createx paint. Bear in mind that that particular paint was originally designed for fabric and the Tee Shirt industry, so it's rubbery and flexible that it won't crack apart on fabrics. The Createx choice for hard substrates and for automotive use is AutoAir. The original Createx also isn't easy to sand. IMO there are better options out there that are easier to work with. With that said I know the draw to Createx is tempting, availability, quantity for price, number of colors etc, just understand that it's a more difficult starting point. Those who master it do get nice results.

The base coat dries flat, it needs clear gloss coating. That base coat may be lacquer ( Steve would know or you could contact them). The gloss enamel is a gloss paint obviously.

I'm not a fan of hot lacquers on models. But both MCW and Scale Finishes offer enamel ( though MCW enamel you need to thin yourself, that's a non issue to me. Actually I wish the automotive lacquer was the same because they use a faster thinner than I would if I thinned it myself).

I've had Testors glue for clear parts hold chrome parts on pretty well.

Just bouncing off your post here Charlie. I've done several base coats in craft paint, over the right primer and thinned with the right thinner they work great imo ( requires clear coat). Most of my interiors are craft paint or another acrylic with various combos of Liquitex varnish in them and or over them. Now and then I break out Tamiya acrylic or Vallejo. For me they ( craft paint) both spray good and brush good, they aren't expensive so that's all a win. Not to mention my recently passed on wife artist had about 100 colors in stock here, not to mention artist acrylics. Works great for me. Expensive isn't always better if you know how to use a product needed for the chore. However if you want perfect match without mixing etc. then it's hard to beat the aftermarket scale paints for that ( though costly, dig deeper into the wallet lol). But you sometimes can't escape the thought of a fool and his money in some cases, in other words spending more isn't " always gain" especially if a fixed income leaves options slim. And then on the other hand in my case I'd have been foolish not to learn the ways of acrylic paints since so many were available to me that we already stocked in the house.. Honestly I recently painted a 1/16 scale Model A in MCW lacquer and in no way did it come out any better than craft paint and lacquer clear coat,not at all. And between the paint and shipping it was nearly $18 vs $1 for craft paint but of course the color was dead on.. I can honestly say Never Again, it simply isn't that magical ! Not to mention relatively inexpensive lacquer nail polishes from places like Walmart.

I've always liked a silver base coat under blue metallic, your results show why.

As I recall most AMT kits as I first came on the model car scene ( was into planes and ships earlier on) were $1.25 and they rose to $1.50. I don't recall the cost of Monogram kits which is funny ( though I may have been independently wealthy by then on that paper route so didn't care lol) because I built enough of them. I started modeling at 7- 8yo, that would have been 1957-58.........

It's a long time ago !! But I was thinking as I typed that message I thought there was a $.12 figure. I'm pretty sure I remember Testors spray cans at $.50 too but it quickly rose.

Steve, you were rich !! My allowance was $.35. But then I got a paper route with 108 customers and I had multi whole dollars to work with ( mostly tip money) !

I remember when Testors bottles went from $.10 to $.15 thinking it was highway robbery. By the way, I don't find MCW lacquer any easier to spray than Testors enamel. I can put down Testors and see myself in the finish when done, MCW still has a few hours of buffing to do. I never liked hot automotive acrylic lacquers for model cars, nitrocellulose lacquer is much shinier out of the airbrush, if it needs buffing at all it's a simple task and it's less likely to crack due to flexing of plastic parts. Non of those issues with enamels either. MCW can keep their lacquers at $10 or more a bottle plus shipping. Might be great for flat finishes but model cars take too much after work once dried. I gave them a shot and don't like them at all for cars. For one thing when I mix my own lacquers I use a slower thinner than they do, I posted at FB a message asking them if I could get their automotive colors with the slower thinner they use in the military paints, no reply. I might try their enamels though.

I went on an old railroader site a while back and a bunch of them were discussing craft paints. Model Railroaders always find a way anyway. I remember back when Floquil went out and I was doing some railroad modeling back then, using a lot of flats and primers in spray cans off the hardware store shelves. And a little Scale Coat here and there. There is always a way.

I started embracing acrylics 3-4 years ago now so I'm about 90% off of stinky paints anyway at this point, unless I order custom made from MCW or someone. Then when the Model Master line was wiped out I just pretty much figured Testors enamels would be gone at some point. But so many things, so many names and brands are gone that were staples in America and elsewhere when I was growing up in the 1950's and 60's it's just no surprise. Pretty much don't get too comfortable with much of anything.

I do something similar to Steve when I use acrylic paints for washes but make the washes quite a lot thinner, then mop up with a tissue. You can get creative with colors, good to have is tans ( earth colors),raw umber, burnt umber, sienna, gold or copper with a very fine fleck in it and black. Armed with these you can simulate dirt, a little oil residue, radiator spill or hose weepage, traces of rust etc. Not to mention shadowing for firewalls etc as mentioned. I never leave the under hood area bare paint, even if just a very light duty wash will bring realism and depth. I also use artist acrylic paints and as mentioned in my first post those transluscent stains ( my go to presently). Black artist acrylic thinned way down does a great job on a grill wash to shadow the recesses. And artist acrylics have more flex and stick than craft paints to hang onto chrome with. Artist oils are good too but can get expensive and of course now odorless mineral spirits becomes the agent of choice instead of water or water/alcohol mix.

Well all that depends on what type of paint you used and the type of wash you want to use. I recently brush painted an engine with craft paint over stynylrez primer and did oil wash onto it directly with no clear coat. When I do clear an engine I use either the lacquer used on the old Model Master Metalizer paints or I mix a concoction of Liquitex varnishes which are available in matt, satin and gloss. But I think this engine I will leave as is, which is often the case for me. Once it's in the chassis it will never be touched again only by eye sight lol ! So what is there really to protect it from ? It was actually oil based stains I used which go right over acrylic paint, least mine do.