Dave G.

I think even nail polishes marked enamel are actually lacquer. You can tell by a simple sniff test, there is a distinct difference in odor between enamel and lacquer based products. Some of the nail art lines now are acrylic but that's different than every day nail polish. I would think actual enamel would be too slow curing for use as nail polishes.

With hardware store Kleen Strip if it's going on dry, thus rough, there are some things you can do. 1 Reduce your working air pressure till the nail polish goes on wetter. Too much air pressure dries it before it hits the surface. 2 move the airbrush in closer to the model surface ( same reason as above, the distance can cause drying too). 3 Mix the thinner 50/50 with xylene then thin as usual with that blend ( depending on the weather I sometimes use straight xylene or a blend rich in xylene). 4 Increase the fluid flow . Model Master enamel isn't a good idea as a base under lacquer products. You will find out why in due time.

Sometimes it's enough to cut away the inner fender wells back to the frame rails and even narrow the thickness of the rails a little bit. Trim up the inner wells and mount them on top of the frame. That might work on your 53.............. I'm putting slicks on my 49 build, so the tire diameter is also off to fit in the existing wells, so I will make new ones. In your case I doubt diameter will be an issue. Just some thoughts to look into though.

I have a similar thing happening with an AMT 49 Ford. Just not quite enough room for the two tire options I have. I'm moving the frame rails and taking a little section out of each axle tube as well and moving the springs in on the tubes. Hey it's only plastic it cuts and sands easy enough ! I also think I'm going to lengthen each wheel well opening a little bit. Good luck with your 53 what ever you do !

Hmmm. I also have Liquitex varnishes in matte, satin and gloss. I would test it on a scap piece as well.

Next time I flock something I'm going to try Pledge floor care, basically Future. I used to use enamel but I've been on an 18 month quest of switching mostly to acrylics. After 60 years of stink paints I'm coming to embrace the low toxic approach..

Most any white, the key is white primer to which I use Stynlrez from an airbrush. My favorite white though is Model Master enamel or even plain old Testors enamel from the little square bottles. Tough to beat MM though. I haven't shot white in a long time but if I did that's what I would use MM enamel... Talking about bodies here, for small parts I'd use acrylic over white primer. I heat set it though in a dehydrator, not that you have to. But I like to give enamels at least a head start with 1-1/2 to 2 hours at 109 degrees. Then you can handle the parts and not screw anything up ( no finger prints or rub off etc).. 4-6 hours will fully cure it. Acrylics are pretty good in 40 minutes.

It sounds like your extractor fan is not strong enough to handle both the spray bombs and then that 30' extension. You could cut that 30' piece and fit a strong fan in there that would boost the extraction performance. Harbor Freight might have something.

Isn't your spray booth vented to outdoors ? If the garage is air conditioned and the booth vented properly I don't see the problem. I spray in the kitchen ! Your air return isn't over powering the booth vent is it ?

I love that build ! Wow that takes me back to several I built back around 1964 or so from 36 and 40 Ford AMT kits. I used to put slot car tires on them and a smaller tire on the left front because the circle track we went to that's what they all did is have that smaller left front back then. Awesome job you did there !

I've tried washer fluid, it's hit or miss depending on the acrylic paint you put it in. And there are more dependable solutions out there today. Also when Chris made this video I doubt Stynlrez primer was a big player yet if even around. But had he used that under the craft paint he wouldn't have had the paint chipping from tape pulling it up ( if you watch the whole series on that build you will see where he had to fix it up off camera). Stynylrez way improves adhesion of acrylic paints, including craft paints. Yep, it sure does, I've run the tests for myself. And it bonds better than Valljo's poly acrylic primer too.

If you want to match that car, the tires are inside the fender at the top but not the front. You still need to radius the opening quite a bit even with the tub job and narrowed rear if you want that look and set of the wheels/tires within the fender line.

That's great ! I hope it works out for you. Apparently this brand is big on military and cammo sets and they have thinner, cleaner, several different military sets of paints. I'm still not finding anything on the primers, there are a few videos and reviews out there at youtube on the system and paints. I get the impression this line may be UK based but it's more available than I first thought. Since they are model paints I have to assume the primer should work reasonably well on plastic fwiw. I don't intend to change any time soon from Badger Stynylrez primer though. Here is one video I watched:

I looked up lifecolor paints in a search where Amazon came up, I clicked on there and found a materinty belt, garden hoses, a toy soldier set, some kind of curtain and various other items. But in another search a hobby store came up and they gave these paints a pretty good review. But I still don't have any experience with them. I also found where Fine Scale Modeler Magazine did something on these too.

Of course.

Blow your clothing off or at least wipe yourself down before you spray, especially your shirt and do it far from your booth because if it's still air borne when you turn the booth on guess where the dust is headed !. Put your mask on away from the booth too.. Half the time dust comes from us not the room. This was even a problem in 1-1 painting. I used to wear a painter suit with air fed helmet and the last thing before stepping into the booth was to blow down all I could get at with an air gun ( just a quick blow off makes a big difference). We were spraying a lot of Dupont Imron two part urethane ( that's why the air fed helmet, it was the standard of the day painting that system of paints).. I use Formula 1 Scratch out for polishing models. Lightly scuff first with wet sand paper or micro mesh. Then polish it up. With enamel paint and if I don't have dust I just polish.

Actually I never heard of it. Why don't you try it out and let us know how it is. I know that I test all the products fairly extensively that I do use but that isn't one of them.

Goodwrench, did you ever get this stuff spraying ? Just curious.

I have Windex as about 35-40% of my cleaner ingredients that I make up. Never an issue, get the brush clean with that , flush it out with water, follow up with 91% ipa. I use it on my 40+ yo Badger and newer Paasche H, have not had an issue. I think it depends how you use the Windex but this isn't the first time I've heard this. When I soak parts overnight for instance I use lacquer thinner. I've also used dish soap and water as a cleaner, it works best when heated up. Which I usually clean them at the kitchen sink anyway.

I could have used those 40 years ago when I shot about everything with Testors or Pactra rattle cans. I used to shoot it all but the car body on the sprue trees as I recall.

I use the soft body Liquitex and airbrush them for certain applications too ( great for interiors, chassis, engine, drive line etc). I use the airbrush medium in some of their paints and in their varnishes. But I also make my own airbrush thinner that works good with the soft body line of paints. IMO sometimes better than their medium, it sprays on more enamel like. Just depends on the color really, the thicker colors need a bit of medium for an initial cut even if I use my thinner. I know nothing about Liquitex spray cans or the accessory nozzles though.

I keep a blend made up that I clean most acrylics with, including Tamiya, MM, Liquitex and craft paints. It's about 30% or so Windex, 40% 91ipa alcohol, a shot of glycerin and the rest is water. Then I follow the main flushings of that up with straight alcohol and shoot that through to get any residue of the cleaner out. Probably lacquer thinner would work just as well, never tried it since I have this other blend.

If you're interested and the deal isn't sealed already so to speak. I stripped the chrome mesh on a 1/25th scale mustang grill ( they were matt black in real) by hand brushing some gel drano onto it. Let it sit for a few minutes and the chrome melted away, then rinsed it with plain water. Done deal and after painting i think the detail is all the better because you don't have the extra layer of chrome under the paint.. The bumper would be easy to brush gel drano onto, it's quite controllable just try it on a scrap piece first.

Good news ! Bet right about now you're wishing you already had that compressor.