Dave G.

I've been using lacquer when I want to clear chrome. I think the last I used was Rustoleum rattle can which is gone now but came out fine. Also with the airbrush,, Metalizer clear which is also lacquer. By the way, Tamiya acrylic clear is very clear clear and put down right it dries with a wet look over paint ( have not tried it on chrome). It's a bit more factory or old car/natural looking when thinned with alcohol than with lacquer thinner or X-20 thinner. Well, IMO.

All I can say is do as I have done and conduct your own scratch resistance tests with and without primer. Theories are wonderful, evidence is more reliable and sometimes surprising. Additionally, some paint have dramatic changes in darkness when shot over white, various shades of grey or black and even more with different colors under them. I'll be done with the primer saga now, certainly there are more ways than one to approach this and I always do a mock up paint job first when dealing with new colors or paint brands and types, then I'm not surprised by some anomaly when painting a much more costly model.

I've never used acrylic rattle cans but there are supposed to be some decent ones around. My experience with acrylics in general on plastic is you really need to prime if you want good adhesion . My experience is you should really prime anyway, even with enamels and lacquers, my scratch tests have concluded they bond better to plastic with primer under them but acrylics are especially prone to chipping or even wearing off when applied directly to plastic. As to any rattle can painting ( I used to rattle can exclusively decades ago and even won a couple second and third place contest wins using them), it really helps to heat the can up up in fairly hot water before application. You want to feel the can very comfortably warm after shaking, heat shake, heat shake till it remains warm after shaking. You will see a marked improvement in how the paint exists the can and also lays down on the model surface. Clear flat or satin will help some to gain a used look but still looks too clean for some areas of a model car, even better is applying simple washes. You can make them or buy them and on things like engines and firewalls you can simply brush them on and wipe back or wick away to the desired level of use you want to see. It makes a striking difference even in a failrly new looking build, because very few real cars have 0 grime/dust etc... That said, in my personal case, I like to put down a clear satin lacquer coat first. I often use Model Master metalizer clear coat, which is a very thin lacquer coat and unbuffed it will come out satin. I use water soluble oil stains over that for my wash. I've also used the stains though, directly over craft paints and gained a much more realistic and more 3d look. Sounds like a lot of steps and a lot to learn but it's really not difficult.

You mean 1/25 scale. 1/25 of 8" is .32". Just punch 1/25 of any number of inches into Google and get an instant answer. 1/25 of 12" is .48" or a tad shy of 1/2".

I use lacquer or Tamiya acrylic clear thinned with lacquer thinner depending on the look I want. They are different, the Tamiya x-22 is more a wet look. But on the other hand I only like polishing so much lol.

I found a dead ringer craft paint for the 39 Ford sedan I did recently if shot over dark grey primer. Then clear coat. I think I paid $.95 for 2 oz lol !! But like you I'm not adverse to mixing paints, having shot 1/1. To me if you're clearing anyway, base coat is just color. Just sayin, this is the flip side to my other post .

Shoot away if you enjoy using it, just pointing out the facts to the unknowing. Obviously you are aware, you do a nice job putting them down and like the results. Not for me to say anything negative on a personal level, that's why I said "to my eye".

Acrylic enamel tends to dry with a slight haze compared with alkyd enamels. I shot a lot of both in 1/1 painting. There is a high gloss hardener that can be used in acrylic enamel but aware that it contains isocyanates which chemically cures the paint whether it be on your model or in your lungs. So prepare for proper evacuation of both particulates and fumes and use a good respirator. Also note that these chemicals can enter your system by way of your eyes and skin, though in modeling the quantity air born is minimal. As to automotive paint in use on models, it can work. To my eye though, metallics unless the 1/1 had very fine metallic flecks in the paint come out looking like metal flake rather than metallic paint. The flakes are not even close to scale in size to my eye, ruining an otherwise nice paint job. For what you have to pay to get a small quantity mixed, you could contact scale Finishes and get an exact match with scale flake in either regular enamel or lacquer. Just my opinion from someone not adversed to shooting what ever works lol ( craft paints, lacquers, enamels etc)......

Hah, love the Oldsmobile behind the gasser and the Esso sign !!!! I remember both real well, I ran Esso or Flying A gas in my go cart back in the day.

I saw a video where Zero Paint went to plastic bottles because of the breaking issue.But I think they use stainless ball bearing balls fwiw.

Course you probably know that you want all that pigment mixed back into the paint first off. You need a doner/mule body to just practice combinations of thinning and air pressure settings on, as well as shooting distance. And practice a lot, practice over one shade of primer and when you get that down, try another shade of primer ( primer levels the playing field between types of plastic and shades or colors or tonal shifts and paint grip to plastic). To me experiments are half the fun of airbrushing and you will get better and better at it fairly quickly without endangering a build. I use pill bottles too, I have a gallon freezer bag full of them to experiment on. That works but a body is better because it's broader coverage. Think lower air pressure settings if shooting lacquer ( as opposed to enamels and acrylic).

Isn't that a 39 ?

That can work if there are enough coats under it, if not it maybe level but lose anywhere from some to a lot of gloss. I've done this in 1/1 more successfully than on models. I find with Tamiya acrylics just thin the last coat a smidgen extra and really lay it on. And the retarder helps in general. That's my experience anyway with the Tamiya gloss line in general. Just sayin, because so much depends on how each individual actually lays on their paint.

Ya for the clearest clear with X-22 I use lacquer thinner. Alcohol will drop the gloss a notch or two. Literally a wet look with lacquer thinner in my experience. I use regular old fashion Klean Strip from the hardware store or Home Depot and a couple drops of retarder. Be careful when buying lacquer thinner, the green friendly stuff is around now and so far everyone says it sucks. Mr Leveling is good too, probably can nix the retarder with that and not quite so fussy with soaking it on really wet. Mr has retarder in it already.

X-22 gives a wet look finish if done right through an airbrush. But I have not shot it over Alclad so can't comment on that.

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.