Dave G.

Craft paints will take the hotter clear coats, like Rustoleum products. In my experience, pearlized Createx will not. In my tests they wrinkled right down to the primer or in one case the plastic. You won't think you needed X22 once you get the 4050 buffed up and polished. It will or should look like a good lacquer job. And it's UV protected. How you get there is up to you, I just present one way. There is a guy on youtube with an explanation of how he gets his 4050 to shine like a lacquer paint job too. He goes the polish pad, then Novus and finally wax routine. That said, I re did the polish on the green spoon I mentioned earlier. I wet scuffed with a fine polishing pad. Then two more applications of tooth paste and one bees wax polish. I must say it made a difference using the scuff routine and the color now as deep as the blue spoon. I never wore through the 4050, as I never saw any color in the polishing routine.

I've done wet and dry on 4050. Mostly I haven't needed to sand it though. I wouldn't want it to soak too long wet personally, but it will wet scuff and wipe dry in intervals just fine... It scuffs pretty easy dry actually for small areas. If you just have a few nubs, maybe just knock them off dry. I remember I painted a 40 Ford Sedan one time. Nice finish was building till this chunk of dirt landed smack center of that long roof. I scuffed it down when dry, shot two more good wet coats and the finish was even nicer in the end. What seemed disastrous at the time turned out for the better. That was craft paint and Tamiya X22.

That looks to be a beautiful finish, Mike ! It should polish right up. No sanding needed. Is that with my thinner formula ? 4021 will give you just a bit more gloss before polish. Either way you should get a shine on there. If you are concerned with your 4050 layer being too thin, you could put down a couple more coats. But if you have 4 progressively wetter coats on there, it's probably enough. You're not gonna burn through with tooth paste like compound would though. Control is in your hands. Speaking of control, I like to shoot a control piece before my body. Even if just a plastic spoon. Sometimes kits have a second hood, that's ideal.

Spraygunner is good and the 4021 worth trying. Maybe you need a couple more items that could buffer the shipping. HL did not have the 4021 a few days ago. They work on a big back stock, I remember it took forever for the 4011 to show up. Now they have big bottles of that. But I spoke with one of the owners of Createx a couple of weeks ago and he was saying he thinks HL is getting ready to cut Createx products down. Like Candy 2o may go and a few things that don't move. The bees wax is actually a furniture polish/wax made by a company named Howard. Sometimes I just use that. Just be sure you have plenty of 4050 on there. Both the toothpaste and the polish what ever you use, take a little off. And be careful at edges that you don't burn through. You don't have to use bees wax but it sure shines things up. Some folks like the car waxes, I use this. It's furniture polish but I we use something else on furniture here. It's a big bottle probably take care of 10 modelers for a lifetime. You only need little dabs of it. Another guy on here uses Meguiar as his final step with Createx.

Build it up with a little ridge of putty and sand to shape. Worth a shot. That's how I'd do it anyway, not saying it would be perfect but to me, better than none.

Try the Colgate toothpaste idea, assuming your finish is pretty smooth to begin with. Both the original formula and the peroxide baking soda Colgate work well, and some folks have done this for ages. You may need a drop or two of water as it wants to dry on you. Usually 2 applications. Then Find the clean part of an old T Shirt and dry buff ( my old Ts are usually spattered with artist paints lol) Then what I do is polish lightly with the bees wax polish I have. This week I experimented with some plastic spoons.I did a few, but the two contenders went this way: Both got a coat of Mr Surfacer 100. One got a color coat of Emerald green Craft Smart craft paint, I think destined for a 51 Chevy. In the craft paint I put about 15% 4030 Createx and 15-20% 4021 reducer ( it's Createx's latest reducer they sent me). It was well covered in 3 coats, I dehydrated that for 30 minutes. The next day I put down 4-5 progressively wetter coats of 4050, thinned 20% with 4021. Dehydrated that 30 minutes, then it sat 2 days. I polished it with the Colgate and then bees wax. You can see the ceiling lights in the finish and it's polished lacquer smooth. Absolutely beautiful color and finish , for anyone who likes green anyway. I did the exact same thing with the second spoon but the color is pearlized blue Createx paint. This has an even deeper shine, I think because the color itself is a deeper blue than the green is green. That color may be destined for a 58 Chevy build, not sure yet. But same thing, hand rubbed lacquer smooth with gloss that reflects the details of the ceiling lights. The key to this is not the hazy look or semi gloss but that it's a smooth finish, then the Colgate will work. If it's nubby or orange peal you need to cut the surface with actual pads of 5000 grit and higher, then polish. I always end with the bees wax polish, just a dab on a rag. Don't over thin the 4050, use a decent sized tip and raise your pressure to get nice atomization and flow. It will work with my formula thinner as I've done it many times, but might start out a bit clearer with either actual 4011 or 4021 Createx thinner. The Createx thinners that have water in them is iodized water. The closest of theirs to mine is 4013 but I use distilled water, a touch of denatured alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, then the retarder. Dennis was smart with his 4021 and that has retarder in it too, but no alcohol. If you use 4011, put a bit of retarder in it or the paint mix. For use in Createx paints and my old thinner formula you have I believe, Mike. I've since added that bit of denatured alcohol. I went by the Createx MSDS and saw there was a second alcohol in the formula, the closest I could get to that type alcohol was denatured, and I keep that here anyway. Don't displace the difference with less iso but the water. It's not much different but the paint is going to flow more on the surface it's sprayed to. If you're using 30% ISO and you want to try this, then add about 10% denatured, up to 15% at most. My new formula works in many craft paints, and we know the old does. So does Createx 4011 fwiw. Also, if you ever see the Createx 4021 out on a store shelf someplace, it's worth a try. It's just being distributed in the last couple of weeks. I like that reducer too.

I build most anything from about 1961 back to 1908. Train stuff even into the 1800's. Over 65 years modeling, I've hit on planes, trains, automobiles, a little military armor or Jeeps, trucks, ground equipment etc. Even rockets at one point. My preference is classic era cars or standard sedans of the 1930's through about 1950. Sedans are the hardest to find, like try to find a 1938 Buick sedan, or a 40 Olds sedan ! My next project may well be a 58 Chevy ( I like the chrome era too), depends what Christmas brings, but I have the paint lol. No 58 Chevy, I have projects in the works to finish. But the request is in for the Chevy. And meanwhile besides all that, I have a 57 TBird in 1/16 scale that needs paint. I already figured out the formula to mix the Enamel I intend to use for that build. I mean a 57 Ford anything, in 1/16 stirs the blood for enamel.

Just go easy adding the clear blue. Bits at a time. I think you will like the result a lot. I'm thinking I got to cranberry at someplace around 1/4 the content of color being blue. But this was three years ago, I'm 74 ? Take it from there lol ! As to Createx: Not as bad as you may think in terms of models. Their entire line is vast and they cover painting fabrics to 1/1 automobile and Motorcycles. To absorb all that can screw with your head ! In between there is us modelers though, and general artists etc. Ok, that said, to me the magic bullet folks miss with models is one additive, that crosses the acrylic paint over to poly acrylic. And that's their #4030 balancing clear ( you can use 4050 as well but it's thicker, though UV protected). Anyway, just 10-15% of BC added to the mix, converts the paint to where it not just sticks to hard surfaces but it gives a hard shell finish and loses that rubbery or tacky feel folks complain about with Createx. 4030 can be used across all ranges of Createx colors. I've made my own reducer that kind of falls between Createx 4011 and their 4013, as based off the Data sheets. But now Createx has come out with 4021, to me trumping all of them, not that the others don't work. 4021 is just hitting the shelves now as we speak. I've also had personal dealings with Dennis, one of the owners. As it turned out, after we tested, he determined my problem bottle of paint had frozen someplace in it's life chain. He didn't just replace that paint but added items he knew I use or wanted to try. I thanked him for the " care package" lol. In all I think we spoke twice, and emailed about 5 time. Issue resolved. Hah, now I need a 58 Chevy to use the paint on.

Amazon has grey or did a few minutes ago.. If not 1500 then 1200 ( not much difference). I actually use 1000. I was just at the Amazon site for something else and saw it. The price probably could be better and or shipping time.

If you want the Tamiya clear red to be a deeper red then drop in a little of their clear blue. Don't over do it, just a couple of drops at a time into whatever volume of the clear red you're using.. I've taken it all the way to a cranberry clear, then shot it over rose gold. For tail lights I brush it directly from the bottle. Also the shade of silver you put it over can matter a lot. A tutorial could be written on using the Createx Whicked transparent colors or otherwise, paint. But done right they can be a great choice. As far as for tail lights, all I'll say is that the Candy 2o used in it's carrier base will stick awesome to chrome and give the desired refectivity. But the transparent color or Tamiya are a much simpler choice, and effective enough.

The 1927 Lincoln roadster had 136 inch wheel base. Edit: So a 1927 Lincoln roadster has a 30" longer wheel base than a 32 Ford roadster. If my calculations are right, in 1/25 that equates to 1.2 inch difference.

Even in real, compare apples for apples. The 27 T was more petite than a Lincoln. A Lincoln did not have mass or boldness of say, Pierce Arrow though. By 1932 Fords were certainly larger than in 27. Then in scale models, you have the Monogram classics, but they were 1/24 scale. No, I go back to the 27 T in 1/25, compare your Lincoln to that. Then again, maybe I'm missing your message entirely, lol !!!

IDK, I just use Mr Surfacer for lacquers and Stynylrez for acrylics, and Enamels may get either. I'm very pleased, never an issue. And Mr Surfacer is a very fine filmed primer, so the coats don't get fat. I like it that way. I'm from the if it isn't broken don't fix it camp. But then too, I've never used Duplicolor on models, which leads back to my camp theory. I do see several complaints about Duplicolor on the forum, at least fairly regularly.

Hmmm, revolting !

Decanting and airbrushing shouldn't be an issue, unless you added some incorrect thinner to it. I could see that causing some sort of issue.

Wow, I think the first issue 49 Fords were the molded in black version. I remember black, grey, blue and now the latest years are white. That's all I have to say. I personally don't polish kit plastic, especially my first goal after flash removal is to get on a light coat of primer, so the kit doesn't look so plastic, lol..

In another thread I'm one who mentioned 91% IPA for stripping. I want to clarify, that was for model branded lacquers and for Tamiya acrylic. In either case using Mr Surfacer primer. I was done stripping using a full submersion method after about 30 minutes wait period. The paint literally melted off. And the plastic untouched. I just used an old soft toothbrush to wipe the paint out of crevices and such. And to take any remnant film off. In the case of Purple Power, I've found that to be very mild, after a few days of soaking, I needed a plastic utensil to scrape the paint off. Bushes were doing next to nothing. But it did scrape easily and the utensil did not mar the plastic. I think I used the back side of a knife. That was for waterborne acrylic paint with Stynylrez primer.

A good submerged soak in a jar of isopropyl 91% alcohol will strip most paints. I know that Mr Surfacer and Tamiya products melt off in 20-30 minutes and that it does no harm to the plastic. I'm not sure about well cured enamel, I haven't tried that.

You can get to that sheen by mixing a little gloss coat into Dullcoat or similar product. The full size car photo shows a nice uniform satin finish that is a bit less sheen than semi gloss. The kit wheels are shown two in shadow and two in direct light as shown by the back sheet they sit on. Just fwiw.

With enamel in building my classic era cars, I never clear coat. First the finish is pretty much ready for display out of the airbrush, thinning with lacquer thinner. If not, wait a month and buff it then. That's just my way. In real those cars were never clear coated. I use Colgate tooth paste and a bees wax polishing formula to polish enamel color coat if needed, no clear. But it has to be well cured. Mostly these days I've changed to Tamiya LP and other lacquers though. I also can get an exceptional finish from Rustoleum 2x paints, decanted, lacquer thinner added and airbrushed. It flows right out into the 30's to 50's look if put over a super smooth finish. Shoot it up near 30psi with a Paasche H and medium tip. .The H is popular for this because it will actually flow the 30 psi, many modern designs are restricted, you could crank them up to 50 but still only get the restricted airflow, usually under 25 psi. The H will flow 50 if one wanted 50.. For the record, I've shot Createx straight from the bottle for T Shirt type art work, at 40psi. I like Createx for models too, but use the additives and thinners or my own substitute thinner. Createx 4050 UV protected clear can be buffed to look like lacquer. But you gotta understand the Createx system.

To me run some tests with your current system. Are there any sand scratches in your final finish ? If not, you're covered. If there are, then guide coat to me is merely an option. But it may be that simply more sanding and finer grits will get you there just as well. Also to me, the grits in modeling are fine enough to render guide coat kind of useless, since beyond about 320 or 400 grit you're ,even in 1/1, guide coat is over with. You're final sanding at that point. It may be different for custom builders with lots of putty work. I'm not one of those.

That's a great cream for Model A wheels, if building stock. Sticky plungers were a terrible problem with Rustoleum and Lawson Products ( I believe they were the same product) white and semigloss black, back about 15 years ago, it would empty an entire new can. Fortunately this was at work where there were bins to toss the cans into while they did their thing. But even with brisk shaking, the first thing out of the nozzle was a kind of resin, then you knew you had a sticker.

Mr Thinner and the retarder are everywhere. I'm thinking I could make my own MLT that way.

Has anyone bought Mr Leveling Thinner recently ? If so and in the US, where from ? I'm getting low and it seems everywhere online its out of stock. Even the Mr site itself wasn't showing it. I see it at Ebay but don't really trust ebay/.

I don't use enamel primers for anything. And Rustoleum primer is enamel. I bought exactly one can with stipulation if it wasn't lacquer, as the store employee said it was, I could return it. I shot one little spritz of paint and returned it. I know the smell of enamel primer from years ago, Got my money back. I'll use enamel color coats but not primer.