Dave G.

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.

Welcome ! I have the Minicraft Model A roadster. You could say in progress, but it hasn't progressed in two years. The hinges are on the doors ( that's your tricky bit, then they aren't scale anyway). My chassis is also assembled. And paint is complete. Been sitting in the box since paint completion. I simply haven't gotten back to it. Mine has warped fender assembly, be sure to check yours. The chassis is a ladder glue up, be sure the curved rails end up square at each end, basically the rails need to come out each rail equal length to one another. A template for the chassis would be a nice inclusion to the kit but if I did it, you can too ! Also, I'd like to have a sedan kit along the way. Good luck with your build !!

The next time your wife is ready to toss out a bottle of OPI or ESSIE nail polish, grab the brush from it. These brushes brush smooth and have a great flare to them if pressed on a bit. The Revlon brushes are quite good too. Sally Hanson brushes not so much, at least not for broader areas, though probably good for small parts. If nothing else, these will give a feel for how a brush should behave with solvent paints.

Despite my lengthy post further up the list, I never addressed the actual topic at hand, grey primer and the word necessary. To that the answer is no to how the question is presented. You don't have to use grey primer or any other primer at all. In fact you don't have to do anything, hobby paint, no. Auto paint, no, spray, no. You can dip the thing in house paint if you like, or build it no paint at all, or just collect kits and never build them. For that matter, walk away. it's your model, your hobby, your way. And the bottom line is many folks just do as they please and are happy doing it that way. And it matters 0 to them if it's practical or not. Some folks for that matter, enjoy living in the infancy of the hobby, they like it right there. Maybe it's nostalgia or whatever that attracts them.

I prime the whole kit minus the body first thing, only Mr Surfacer or Stynylrez. The body is a treatment in itself, and will get either Mr Primer Surfacer, Mr Surfacer or Stynylrez primer, depending what paint the body will be shot in. Painting on the sprue you need to at least scrape any flash off the parts. Then touch up later nipped sections. This all started for me decades ago just to get the plastic glow off the parts. Then grew from their.

Beyond everything that was mentioned above, I've done scratch tests with waterborne acrylics, alcohol based acrylics, lacquer and enamel paints. The tests, taken over a couple of months time, were done with the various paints airbrushed directly to plastic and then sprayed over two light coats of primered surface. Two different primers were used, Mr Primer Surfacer ( a lacquer), and Stynylrez poly acrylic. In all cases the paint sprayed directly to plastic scratched easier in the samples with no primer. In the case of Testors enamel, was the surprise product, it scratched only slightly harder than alcohol acrylics. I was very taken back by that fact. Also the fact that waterborne acrylic shot on primer did amazing well, especially on the Stynylrez. Not surprising in one way, lacquer did pretty well upon initial scratch testing on bare plastic, but once breaking the surface the scratch continued pretty easily. Waterborne on bare plastic ( craft paints in particular, were horrible). But surprisingly resilient when put on Stynylrez primer. Quite good really, better than Testors enamel sprayed direct to smooth unprepped plastic. I conducted another test as well. This was kit plastic vs various household plastics shot with a coat Mr Surfacer. Mr surfacer far out tested scratch testing to AMT kit plastic, than it did any household plastic, including my infamous prescription bottles. It really did not do well on any plastic but the kit plastic, confirming to me that product is truly model based and worth owning for only that purpose. But well worth owning for it. These tests are far from fully comprehensive, I'm not claiming that. There are many combos not tested, and while I did test hot lacquer as well, I didn't include that because I would never spray that directly to plastic. The tests were for my own satisfaction, to help understand what paints work best in what combo. But thought I'd share it here. No pressure measuring tools were used and scratch tools were simple, my untrimmed thumb nail ( yes some scratched that easy) or a pocket screw driver, to which with the screw driver any of them could be scratched, just a matter of how easy or even if entire areas scraped off in the process... And if you've read this far, God bless you, you must be as crazy as I am !

Reminds me of a 58 Chevy I owned in metallic blue. It's a beautiful finish, Steve. It will be nice to see with the bright work added.

I find that taklon synthetic brushes work well on models for both acrylics ( water borne or alcohol based). As well as for enamels. And I agree with the poster above, that paint prep and application outweigh brush selection, assuming you don't have a totally bogus brush for the job of course.

Locally the NAPA auto parts stores will mix 2oz bottles of touch up paints. Acrylic enamel I believe, as they no longer sell lacquer. We got a bottle for my wife's Ford Escape a couple of years ago. As I recall it was $10.00 then. Edit: In thinking about this, I primed a prescription bottle, mixed up a little of that paint and airbrushed it. It dried semigloss or almost semi matt really ( I don't recall what thinner I used but knowing me, probably lacquer thinner). I polished that up to a really nice finish. It's a pretty kind of metallic aqua, the flakes are very fine. I wouldn't hesitate to use that kind of paint on a 60's Ford or Chrysler model in the right match. It sprayed very well, nice and smooth. I just polished with finishing polish. No heavy cut polish used.

That is beautiful ! And with the quintessential looking lacquer finish.

Something took place between the primer and color coat. That's unfortunate since if I recall, they are the same brand. This isn't speaking very well of Splash formulation. It's hard to believe within their own system, things would get that screwed up. Somehow this looks familiar to me, but I don't recall where from ( I shot 1/1 for 35 years, various paints and also 60 years models. So lots of paint real-estate in that time). But I'm thinking it was thinner related in some way. Or maybe surface moisture content. Did you wet sand the primer ?

I'm curious if that is primer showing where the maroon pulled back or plastic ? Hard to tell on screen.

Can you use standard thinners with 2K? This is the answer to one brands 2k. To me into and onto when wet equals the same thing. Now it's a very old trick to do this with clear lacquer. I only use lacquers, enamels and acrylics anyway. As I've mentioned before, since 2k or two part paints in general are what drove me out of 1/1 refinishing, I'm not about to bring them into my home. But that's another story I've well covered in the past. To each his own. Never Put Standard Cellulose Thinners into Paint For thinning down any Ultrimax two pack paints the Ultrimax Universal 2K Paint Thinner is the thinner we recommend for use.

I originally looked up some Mr Color blue metallic, thinking of your thread. I came to the same C76 conclusion. But do a few test shots over lighter base colors under it or light primers. It may render a bit dark but appears to have the right tonal range of blue, or hue, might be a better word.. It's hard to tell on a computer screen though, so didn't post the info.

Shoot it with Tamiya rattle cans. Save the new tools and paint you have no experience with for smaller projects, till you get to know what you're doing. Just my suggestion.

We're just stabbing in the dark here, trying to hit preferences of era etc. But I might as well put in a choice or two. The AMT 53 Ford pickup builds up pretty nice, it's straight forward. A second choice for me anyway, would be the Revell 37 Ford, which gives an optional hood and grill for a 38. I'd like to say from my nostalgia nerve, the AMT 60 Chevy, but the last time I opened a box to one was probably 1961. So I don't dare recommend it.

I wouldn't let a flat paint rule it out, especially if the tone is dead on. You can always clear coat, as has been mentioned. In airbrush, I've shot flat craft paints or Createx, then just clear coated, many times..

So the search is on for the nearest spray can match. And let the airbrush vs spray can thread die. He said he is not interested in airbrushes and why. Duplicolor has the exact match, living with the flakes is the compromise. Beyond that, I don't know what Krylon might have. Tamiya has TS-20, play with undercoat color to put on first ( maybe black primer will check mark the box). And they have a darker green too. The color will be off, but it will be loose, in the ball park green. I just wanted to add, that there have been reports of Duplicolor being too strong/hot/aggressive for some newer kit plastic. Be it the primer or the color, crazing the plastic, I do not recall. Point being, test first on some piece from the kit you're building.

Rustoleum 2X I use straight from the can for lawn furniture. It's gone in one session. But I have decanted certain colors, added a bit of lacquer thinner and airbrushed it. It comes out as nice as Testors enamels do.

Not to mention the wasted paint with spray cans. Clouds of paint goes off into the air.

Spray cans are easy, that's true enough.