Dave G.

Automotive 2K belongs in a professional 1/1 paint situation. At that, with proper training and handling, setup in the shop and personal protective gear. I quit 35 year of 1/1 refinishing after all the seminars and warnings on the use of catalyzed systems. Or so called two part paints. I'm not about to bring it into my house, risk my own health, wife and pets as well. Nope not me.

To me, 2K in modeling ? 0

Ya really, the Pledge is gone too. Thats ok, mine has a slight yellowing to it in the bottle anyway, it's 7-8 yo.

To me that's not a lot of blower, think shorter distance, free flowing runs. Many portable booths, not much larger than that, use dual blowers. Just FWIW. I'm not saying not to use it but just to use it sensibly. Some folks add a squirrel cage blower to the venting, especially for longer vertical runs up to basement casement windows. I think we would need to know more about your setup to advise any further than that. Any more suggestions are shots in the dark hoping you can apply what is stated. Installation specifics help. Is the venting level or a big rise above the booth, or drop for that matter ?

Also zoom in a little bit and stand back. This minimizes distortion from the wide angle lenses used in cell phone digital cameras. Get down on a level plain with the model. Shut off the flash and use available light from the direction you want lit most. Cell phone photos are great these days but you still give yourself great advantage to follow some basic composition rules, just as if using a big camera.

Hah, low fat milk is close enough, heck even whole milk will get you there, heavy cream too much ! Now I'm the kind of nut who actually likes to experiment. Having constantly heard of the skim milk thing forever, I once took low fat milk and put some in a mixing cup. Swirled it around, son of a gun if it didn't leave a little film behind as I swirled it. Best of all I saw how is sloshed in the cup, got a feel for it's viscosity. Next ? You guessed it, I put it in an airbrush, it sprayed perfectly at just about any pressure setting. And just cleaned up with plain old water. With that test satisfied, I know what low fat milk looks like and behaves like. LOL. But you're right, I'm not sure in my 74 years on earth if I've ever encountered skim milk other than seeing the label on cartons of milk. I told you about the run back test on the side of the mixing cup. Viscosity cups, others drip tests off the mixing stick. I think you get it. So, paint ratio or viscosity may not be your issue at all. You need to spray in the cooler hours of summer or slow that drying down. Unfortunately " cooler hours" can also bring in humidity in the form of dew point, the lacquer painters worst nightmare, warm temps high humidity. And now rather than the dry dusty surface, you get fogging or so called blushing.. My personal answer for airbrushing in your summer climate would be to use enamel products, which are less prone to these things. Course you could always move inside to where there is AC I assume, it's not like your painting a 1/1 1960 Cadillac or something ! I shoot my LP lacquers into a trash can inside. The smell isn't much and it's gone in ten minutes anyway. I do that in the winter because it's too cold out and in the summer because it's too warm and humid outside. Now enamels I get out of the house or use the booth. But even then I'm right back in with the fresh paint job and into the paint dryer/dehydrator.

That system sounds a bit up scale from what we used, but same principle. As to the 90f temps, I agree. But I'm not the OP trying to spray in that situation.

Lighting and composition is more key than the camera itself. IE, technique. Modern cell phones will blow away some cameras in terms of detail. And your editing features are on board the phone. It's all about how you use your tool lol.

You reminded me of my days learning to refinish 1/1 cars and trucks. I was taught to thin the paint by use of a viscosity cup. A viscosity cup is basically a very precise small funnel shaped device. You dipped it into the mixed paint and in X amount of time it should have emptied out the metered stem.. Eventually you just know what the right flow rate is without the cup and just letting the paint run off your mixing stick. It's how I learned though, my products and viscosity cup being Dupont. This was supplied through the Dupont automotive paint dealer I used at the time. Those were fun and rewarding days !

A good way to mix your paints is not so much by ratio, though I know everyone wants to hear about ratios . Rather, put some primer in a mixing cup. Add the thinner and mix, stir it with a mixing stick. Add a bit at a time till when you take the stick and wipe some of the mixed paint up the side of the cup, it returns back down the side of the cup in 2-3 or 4 seconds or so but leaves a film behind. If you find yourself waiting 10 seconds or more and wonder if it's going to ever get back down to the pool below, then obviously it's too thick. If it returns in a second but leaves no film as it returns, then it's too thin. Adjust accordingly. Your paints in your Your climate would do well using a slower thinner in your paints. Try something like Mr Leveling thinner in your primer, it has a touch of retarder that aids initial flow out of the paint on the surface before flashing.. At one time actually Tamiya had a slower thinner as well, not sure they still do. Try what I'm saying, let us know how it goes. In no time you will have a feel for this with lacquer primer. This is much easier to do than to explain or for that matter, to read.

That would be correct for most of their color range. I do something similar. But I've seen that metallic burgundy color thinned 1-1, suffice it to say that I personally would want it just a bit thicker. That's also why I suggested a bit more air pressure.

This color you don't want to thin 1-1. Using lacquer thinner dump the content of the bottle into a mixing cup, fill it ( the empty bottle) a bit over half way with just regular hardware store lacquer thinner and mix that into the paint in the cup. Stir together. This should spray nicely with a medium sized tip and 23 or so lb air pressure. I've even shot enamels up around 30 or 35 psi ! Keep back from the model a bit and fog the paint on. This will disperse the metallic flakes nicely and the paint should self level on the surface. If you shoot in too closely you could get striping in the finish. You can open up the paint flow more on your last pass around the model, which will improve gloss. Just keep going around the model till it's well covered. If you thin too much it won't cover, you won't get the color you're looking for and it will dry duller because the metallic flakes will surface. Someone covered base color ( or primer color/tone) so I won't go there.

You're not giving yourself exactly the easiest route to a clear coat. However, for the sake of experimenting, try hardware store lacquer thinner instead of paint thinner. I use the lacquer thinner for decanted Rustoleum paints, mostly the 2x paints. And it works great.

Ahhh, Pactra, my favorite enamel back in the day !

Tamiya plastic is pretty good but for some kits, to the naked eye everything looks good for paint. You put down the first coat of paint and some swirl or other inconsistency in the plastic transfers through paint and will show right up. Subsequent coats just magnify it all the more. One simple primer coat would have sealed that off. Or else shown it so work could be done. My answer is I prime all bare plastic that will show. I also prime early on in a new build, simply because I don't like the look of bare plastic. A coat of primer also brings out the details of the parts, takes the glow of plastic away.

Amazon Prime has it for $30 with free shipping. The 63 Galaxy is just about my favorite Ford of the 1960's decade. I saw a Nascar short track race when I was about 15, so 1965. There was a 63 Ford there with 406 engine mopping up and lapping the field. Been hooked on the 63 ever since. Not only did he mop up but the car was so sure sounding and handling, it sounded like it had power to spare actually. But we also had some nice Galaxys around town with chrome wheels and stuff. My favorite color on them at that time was the burgundy. We had a hot 63 white Fairlane in town too.

In my experience if the tube is clogged, it stays clogged. If it's the nozzle you can soak it in lacquer thinner and that generally will clear it. Or change the nozzle to one from a working can of the same brand paint. That said, even a full can of paint has head room at the top, they aren't 100% filled with liquid. So if you set a can down for a few minutes the paint will settle and you can poke your hole near the top of the can. You won't get soaked in paint. Once the gas escapes, flip the can to drain and poke a vent hole near the bottom, which is now facing up, to drain more quickly. I've seen videos where people use a small number drill rather than poke a hole .

Hmmm, I should have read the OP closer.

I decant partial cans of Mr Surfacer and also certain colors so as not to empty the entire can. So I just put the nozzle over the edge of an empty jar. Cover with a paper towel and spray what I need into the jar. I don't fully depress the nozzle though, that will make a mess. Wear rubber gloves as invariable some small amounts of over spray escapes. It's a bit slow but I do get just what I need. Expect to possibly need a little added thinner for airbrushing and depending on the airbrush tip size.

TS 49 and TS 8 look to be close contenders to start with.. One perhaps slightly darker, the other maybe a bit lighter. But not by a lot. I haven't tried Budweiser red though. It seems to be named in three classifications but I suspect it's all the same red in the end. I did something similar with Coca Cola red, starting with Createx primary red. Just with an airbrush I was free to mix in some 4030, which is clear and allowed more shading from the base color below because of reduced opacity of the red..

I worked on a bunch of old Ford trucks back in the day, though not 53 specifically and not always pickups but larger commercial trucks. And to the best I recall, the body parts were all primed in Red oxide.

Hah, my own 55 Chevy (first 1/1 car) ended up in primer. The next, a 58 Chevy was already metallic blue.

I love it, Bill !! One of my all time favorite kits to build, especially back in the day. The 49 coupe and the 39/40 Tudor Sedan right up near the top of my list in terms of favorites and most quantity built over the years. Anyway, lovin yours !

What Ace said was my exact thought. Also there are custom extra thick radiators used for this cut down shell idea, small in square inch foot print but thick for extra rows of tubes, sold by some of the aftermarket kit car companies in 1/1. If not mistaken, they're about 4-5" thick. Use your imagination on how to fabricate that appearance, maybe ?

I have the red. Made for mixing colors, toning etc. without the bias of similar red, blue ,yellow. It's like in art work blending colors from primary colors vs say hunter green, hot rod red or something.