Dave G.

I'd assume if you wanted to thin this a little bit you could use denatured alcohol since it's shellac based ? The Viper came out beautiful by the way !

It's also helpful for testing new colors you never used or new paint lines you never used for opacity and dry times, and for what color primers and base coats you want for a paint scheme you had in mind. I've found huge shifts in color depending on if the primer is white, mid grey, dark grey or black in seemingly opaque paint that evidently wasn't so opaque. I've come to making a test before shooting each body unless I've already used it and know the combo well. I use pill bottles, large and small since I have a bag full of the things ( regular pharmacy amber prescription bottles). For bigger tests I use plastic cups, actually the same cup I mount my body to when I spray the car body. I found those to behave similar to most model car styrene ( maybe not resin, and your local supply may vary lol). I tried some plastic plates once and those were terrible, everything basically fish eyed on them.

Good one Snake, I hadn't considered it might be diecast !

I just stripped a Revell 69 Mustang . Everything just basically came apart at the glue joints breaking glue and not plastic ( todays orange tube testors glue is not what it was in the 1960's). Then it took a 3 day bath in Purple Power. Each day I was able to brush more paint off till I was left with just part of the hood paint and the roof but a simple kitchen spoon scraped it right off after the 3 day softening without marring the plastic. I'm just about ready to re prime now ( assuming my brain doesn't start misfiring and telling me I need to do fender well alterations). No harm done to any plastic,not even the clear. By the way the Purple Power ate away the BMF before any paint, that was basically gone over night. Good luck with yours ! The Mustang was all acrylic paint with clear lacquer over it.

I only keep white and black. Between those I make what ever shade of gray I want, assuming I want grey.. Have not tried other colors but I have tinted the white with a little acrylic artist paints. Then thin slightly with isopropyl. When I want metallic base coat for translucent colors I use metallic paint over the Stynylrez, often that's craft paint . Works for me, so do metalizer paints. Just sayin.

The one and only time it lifted on me in many test shoots was with LA Colors lacquer thinned with straight xylene. Never done it before or since. But I generally don't use straight xylene and cut the paint 50/50 with it. That was LA Colors lacquer nail polish. Since then I've shot the same paint over Stynylrez thinned with lacquer thinner and xylene blended, paint cut 50/50 with no issue. In fact I did all the black parts on a 1/16 scale Mercer raceabout with that same paint over Stynylrez, no problem. I have not shot auto lacquers over it though, not even Duplicolor. Nail polishes have been fine but that one incident. I really like the primer, been using it for two years now.

Flat black paint is not primer . Primer has different properties, it is made to adhere to surface materials and it's made to be bonded to with top coats. In the case of 1/1 painting, primers generally are not very good at weather protecting, thus why you may have seen in your time someone priming a bare metal section of car and driving around that way to have rust coming through the surface in due time. Primer is porous and paint is a protection from weather. In models flat black paint won't take the place of primer. However if you paint something flat black by using primer then obviously weather is generally not going to be an issue. Primer may mar a bit easier than top coat though, it doesn't form the hard shell of top coat paints. I use Stynylrez primers in my modeling. I've done scratch testing of top coats painted directly to plastic vs over Stynylrez primer first. In all cases ( lacquer nail polish, enamel, acrylic model paints, acrylic craft paints, acrylic artist paints) paints were harder to scratch with a sharp fingernail with the primer under them. Of those paints I listed the Liquitex artist soft body acrylics stuck best to plastic with no primer but wore away easy. even then though it was all the better bond with primed surfaces. Some paints like Model Master acrylic for instance just flaked off with no primer. But even Model Master enamels scratched easier with no primer than with primer. Stynylrez is made to be a base that bonds to plastic and be a base coat for your top coat. Top coats are just that, top coats. All that said, recently I primed an entire car kit with black Stynylrez. Turned out the kind of dark charcoal or there abouts of that primer was just the look I wanted for the frame and under pinnings of the car so I just left it that way. Time will be the test of if I should have mat clear coated or not. It's too late now the car is finished lol !

I have a 69 Mustang a similar color sitting in a purple bath right now lol. I put clear lacquer on it. It's sat for a year mostly assembled and I finally decided the color sucks ( to me). So I broke the car down and the body sits in the pond of Purple Power. Worst thing is so far the paint hasn't even softened but the foil is gone, I guess that's a start. But clear coat never really improved anything imo, just shiny and it obviously protects the paint lol. Edit: the paint has begun to lose it's grip.

To me plastic will always look like plastic, clear coat or not. To each his own but I'd prime and paint personally. Plastic doesn't reflect light the same as paint, it has a degree of translucent effect to it, absorbing some light which changes what could be a more realistic look. That would bother me but it may not bother you.

I've even thinned decanted paints lol. Seriously, some are thicker than some airbrush nozzles like.

Sounds nice actually.

Many of these out there I suspect are the same ones rebadged. Like x amount of models but two dozen names lol I'm not sure any of them get bad reviews at Amazon, people seem to like most of them. I think Point Zero tend to be one brand of supplies like this who discerns a bit and has decent QC, researches manufacturers to put out a decent product for instance. I've seen Ophir listed at Amazon in the past, I may even have considered one along the way.

Which brand are these ? I know there are a bunch out there like them.

Well Craig, too we ( the wife and I) grew up in an era where hobby paints were solvent based and early acrylic paints not so great. That and we ran an auto body shop for a bunch of years. Actually it's me more than the wife who has a certain intolerance to especially lacquer fumes. She likes the stuff ! Enamel doesn't bother me so much but I use as much acrylic as I can. Sometimes like with a classic car kit it's mighty tough to pass on enamel though. I'm building a 1/16 scale 1911 Mercer runabout now. I did test paints for this build and Model Master enamel won out. Almost went with Tamiya acrylic though but that enamel just had the look without clear coating.. A lot of people use booths like those, how do you like them ? Oops,never mind that, you said they work for you !

It would take a combination of exact circumstances to get the concentrations from model airbrushing high enough to burn, actually explode is more the term. It's a flash fire. I know of one incident, the guy decided his shop vac would make a good evacuation system. Well he collected fumes in a 30 gal closed container and flipped the switch on essentially, and it blew up burning the side of his face and breaking a bone in his arm. No, the idea is to move the fumes out quickly not collect them. In 1/1 painting in spray rooms we always had fans and heat sources already running before shooting any paint. But with model airbrushes in an open room you would be really hard pressed to get the fuel air ratio high enough to blow. Spray cans maybe, they put out more over spray and I've read where some are propelled with propane. Even so if you have a running evac system going ( and not through a container lol) then start spraying is key. This is my experience in 60 years of spray painting, from models to 1/1, commercial painting and now back to models again, wood working as well. But each person needs to evaluate their own situation and safety for themselves and family. But I've put some pretty heavy over spray out through various kinds of evac fans over the years, 100% sure not all were sealed for explosion. Regardless of your system, have it running when you start spraying is key. Don't let a bunch of fumes and particles build up then decide to flip a switch on.

The real heart beat of Donn's system is an exhaust fan installed in a basement window ( yah I know it's a sheet rocked room, so are most rooms). He sprays mostly enamels and the fan draws the fumes outside. Very very old school but most folks today wouldn't want to be in the room with the fumes till they got drawn out. Obviously you use a respirator ( I see where good ones are down to about $12 these days, we used to pay $60 or more). A spray booth can be rigged up the same way and you don't sit in the room with the fumes, the fumes are in the booth and drawn out from there. The way Donn does it is how most of us did it not so long ago ( Talking about the fan and in the grand scheme of eternity a few decades is not long ago). You can stuff an exhaust fan in a window (shroud it right) of any room and do the same thing. You spray near that fan the fumes are going outside. You put the proper venting on a spray booth the fumes are going outside. If you got a spare room then all the better ( I spray in the kitchen presently and my wife doing her nails stinks up the house more than my model painting with a booth). Not being confrontational, just sayin. FWIW I have a shed and a basement, the kitchen for me is more convenient, plus the coffee can be brewing as I work at 4 am or 5 pm.

However you get it stripped you then need to pickle the metal ( white vinegar will work and rinse with distilled water) and prime with a zink based primer before painting. Zink Chromate is best but zink phosphate will work too. Or a self etching primer should work. Avoiding these steps will lead you back to what already occurred, peeling paint.

I'm not qualified to speak on Vallejo primer but all the comparison tests and reviews lead me to Stynylrez instead and I'm glad for it, been using it nearly exclusively for two years now with no fails. Stynylrez is very good primer. I believe though that Vallejo needs no thinning as I recall, someone more familiar with it can confirm that hopefully.

I'm sure it will be fine, you're not gonna beat on it like the circle track guys did back when I was a kid and at that they didn't do all that bad really in terms of finishing races.

A 216 splash engine with twin carbs must put out about 96 hp flat out for about six minutes then blow up lol ! Sorry, couldn't resist ! Still all in all good stuff. They were great little engines but not much to work with for hot rodding, people tried anyway. BTW 6.5-1 compression ratio !

You could grab a caddy engine from the AMT 49 Ford coupe kit too or an Olds from the 40 Ford Sedan for that matter ( even has a blower option with that one or injected I think). Nail Head Buick from the AMT 40 Ford coupe. Just some thoughts. Someone on the forum probably has a few of these kickin around.

Good to know it's ready to spray. Thanks.

Does it come pre thinned or do they sell thinner separately ?

I didn't know this. Too bad, the thinner is decent in at least a few acrylic paints ( the airbrushes should have gone for what they get for them long ago imo). But I suspect US Art Supply acrylic thinner may work too. I haven't tried it yet though so don't quote me on that. I mostly use my own thinner I make up for most craft paints anyway but DecoArt is the problem child and so happens DecoArt has some nice colors. If Aztek is going out then I'll get to work right away on a substitute thinner to use in DecoArt craft paints.

IPA is isopropyl alcohol.