ctruss53

I just want to be able to put that kind of detail into a build.

I use Tamiya acrylic paints almost exclusively. I just thin them with tap water. It works totally fine, I have never had an issue. Thin them about 50:50 in most cases. This will get you close enough. Tamiya paints are so forgiving, I have accidentally shot them through an airbrush without thinning them. It worked, but it was also a flat paint so maybe thats why it worked. I don't know.

I have learned to avoid enamel paints all together. They take way too long to cure. Like Steve said. If you use enamel for your color coat, you are going to need to wait weeks to make sure it is cured. 2-3 weeks at a minimum. If you switch to lacquer paints, you can apply clearcoat in 24 hours if you are in a hurry. 2-3 days is better for curing though. As for clearcoat. It is expensive, but I love Mr Hobby Super Gloss Clear, UV Cut. I have an airbrush, and I have 2k clear, and I still use this Mr Hobby clear in a spray can. It is that good. I apply 1-2 very light coats, wait just a few minutes to let them get tacky. They I apply 2-3 heavy coats and it always comes out smooth. Then I let the clear cure for a whole week, and polish it out.

Honestly, collecting kits in the hope that they go up in value is a waste of time. I buy kits faster than I build them, but I don't call it collecting because I know my stash is not something I will ever be able to retire on. My stash has just gone past the 100 kit mark, and I don't like it. I was trying to keep the stash at 50-60 tops, but then I came across some bulk deals from Singapore. I build Tamiya kits mainly. So my goal is to try not to buy any more kits for a while, until I build some more.

I have had nothing but bad luck using any paints or primers that were not specifically designed for use with scale modeling. Krylon, Rust Oleum, Duplicolor, all of them are hard to get good results with. I am strictly speaking about results from spray cans though. Now when I buy Mr Hobby and Tamiya spray cans, great results are effortless. I have an airbrush and Mr Hobby and Tamiya spray cans are so good that I will still use them instead of my airbrush, if the color I need is available.

I always glue the wheels to prevent rolling. The last thing I need is for my models to roll around, or off a table or something.

In my opinion, Iwata makes the best airbrushes for the buck. The Iwata NEO is a great starter airbrush, and you can buy it with a mini compressor that works well enough for most things. The set is only like $60-$70 at Hobby Lobby for the combo. Once you get better and want a little more capabilities, you can get pretty much any compressor, as long as you make sure you have a pressure regulator, water trap, and filter. Paasche sells a compressor that includes everything you need for about $125 or so. With the compressor upgrade, the NEO airbrush should do just fine for most work. If you need more control upgrade to the Iwata Eclipse, or Harder & Steenbeck Evolution. Oh, and I have found no reason to use anything other than a gravity feed style airbrush. Siphon feed is a pain to deal with cleaning the jar.

I can't see the whole name. What is that called?

I am learning this as I apply more and more chrome paints. I have also tried Spaz Stix. But I got the spray cans. That was a mistake. The spray cans are expensive and the results were not much better than silver paint. So I am scared to try Spaz Stix for the airbrush. Alclad got close. SMS Hyperchrome got close. My experience with Molotov is limited only to the markers and I wasn't happy. I have a refill bottle on the way so I can try airbrushing it. I didn't know AK made a chrome. I really like AK products, so I might have to give them a go. And Alclad makes a clearcoat they claim you can use on chrome paints. We will see about that. I have a bottle on the way. I also tried Uschi van der Rosten chrome powder that you polish into a black basecoat. It gave me the shinyest, most realistic looking metal results, but it wasn't bright. The black showed through too much. I revisited their site and found out there is an uncenventional application method, so I did it wrong. So I am going to try that stuff again.

I think I am going to drive down and check this out. I am free that weekend.

When I was building in a basement, I homebuilt a spray booth and I ran the exhaust over to the same place my drier vented outside. Then when I needed to use the booth, I disconnected the drier, connected the spray booth, and vented out into the back yard. Now I have a heated garage, so I go out there and spray. But the smells still get into the house, so I installed a grow room fan in the garage door. it sucks out all the fumes and blows them into the driveway.

I just line the bottom of my spray booth with news paper or paper towels. And then when I paint I spray the paper liner with some water. I paint, and then I throw out the liner after each paint job.

I have purchased several things from Iceman as well. Quick order turn arounds, and great quality parts.

Great work! I have a Molotow refill bottle on the way right now. I'll try airbrushing it when I get it. I always alow anything I spray paint plenty of time to dry. Even lacquer paints that I use on the body, I'll wait at least 48 hours before I do anything like clear coat or polish. If I have time, I'll even wait a week. So waiting for chrome to cure is no problem. I have only applied Molotow with the marker up until now. And just like Green Stuff World Chrome when it is brushed on, you have to lay it on thick. I always wondered if this is why fingerprints affect it so much. And if it is airbrushed on, it is thinner, can cure better, and thus would be a little more resistant to damage. Can I ask, how did you apply the Molotow with an airbrush? Light coats until it looked right? A light coat, and then a wet coat?

Ok, I started talking in another thread about Rust Oleum chrome spray paint. I thought it would be best to just request ideas with photo examples of the work. What do you use for chrome? Molotov sucks in my experience. But I have not tried the refill bottle and applying with an air brush yet. Green Stuff world works great, but you can't touch it. So I only use it on small parts. Alclad Chrome, SMS Hyperchrome, and Rustoleum Chrome all seem to work ok, but again You can't touch them. They finish dulls, or the Rustoleum can even flake off. Bare Metal Foil works for body trim, but I need something for small parts, tubes, and other random pieces that would just be a pain to BMF. So, what do you use? How do you use it? Can you clear coat it for protection? If so, what do you clear it with? And please show me your results.

Yes, I have had great luck with the GSW brush on chrome for small parts. Honestly the results look the same no matter what is under it because you have to brush it on so thick. I have applied the brush-on GSW chrome on small parts that were black, primer grey, even painted with various Tamiya acrylic paints, and as long as the surface is smooth the results are always good. But you can't touch the stuff. It absorbs fingerprints so easily, and dulls. Is the airbrush version more resistant to damage? I assume it might be because it is applied much thinner than when you drown the parts with a brush.

Uschi van der Rosten makes a powder you can buff in to a black base coat. I have tried that as well. It is a very durable finish, but I could never get it bright enough. The black always showed through too much, no matter how much powder I buffed in. It was a very realistic look though. So I do still use it when I need a darker shine.

Molotow sucks. Sure, it is chrome like, but you touch it, it fades. You look at it funny, it fades. You breathe on it, it fades. It is so fragile.

My struggle to find a good chrome paint continues. Last night I took a dozen plastic spoons that were primered with Mr Hobby black 1500 surfacer (the best primer in my opinion). I took these spoons and coated half of them with Alclad Gloss Black Base, and the other half I coated with Splash 2k Gloss Black Base. All 12 spoons had a super smooth, high gloss, black finish. And I let them cure 48 hours just to make sure. Then I got out my chromes. I used Rust Oleum Chrome Spray paint, Alclad Chrome with an airbrush, SMS Hyperchrome with an airbrush, and Splash Hyper Silver with an airbrush. The Alclad and SMS Hyperchrome both came out almost identical. Super bright silver finish, but not mirror chrome. Or at least not mirror-y enough for me anyways. The Splash Hyper Silver didn't come out like chrome at all, but I wasn't expecting it too. It doesn't say chrome on it anywhere. I only chose it to caompare it to the others. However the Splash Hyper Silver was nearly as "chrome" as the Alclad and SMS "chrome" paints. The "winner" I say with quotes because I really dislike how easily the finish is damaged, was the Rust Oleum. The Rust Oleum came out the brightest, that shinyest, and the closest to real chrome. But there are major issues with it. If you touch the finish, it is ruined and dulled instantly. And it can flake off. BUT it came the closest to looking like chrome. Part 2 of my experiment was clear coats for protection. My conclusion is NOPE. DON'T CLEAR COAT CHROME. I took 1 spoon from each "chrome" and clear coated them with 3 different types of clear and none of them worked. They all dulled or ate the "chrome" paint. Mr Hobby lacquer clear ate all the chromes. Even with light coats. Createx water based gloss clear claims to be able to go over chrome paints. But all it did was make the chromes look foggy. Again, I applied light coats and even after the first dusting the fog happened. And I tried Splash 2K clear. This is a two part epoxy clear. It doesn't usually react with anything, so I thought it might work. NOPE. It fogged up the chromes as well. Even the Splash Hyper Silver from the same company. I don't get it. So I am still searching for a chrome paint that actually works. Can actually be touched. Or can accept a clear coat so it can be protected from being touched. I have found nothing I am pleased with yet. HOWEVER I use Green Stuff World on very small parts. I can brush it on heavily and it lays down smooth and is actually like chrome. But again, you can't touch it at all or it dulls. So I only use it on very small parts and I only use it after the parts are glued in place and I don't have to touch them. So at least the small parts can be chrome.

Great color selection for that car. Nice work.

The Rust Oleum Chrome paint actually works pretty good. I just tried a bunch of different chromes to find what worked best for me. I tried Alclad, Spaz Stix, and Rust Oleum. I got the best results, the brightest chrome, consistently, from Rustoleum. HOWEVER, it is not very durable and some of it flaked off. Another great chrome product is from Green Stuff World. They claim you can airbrush it. I have not tried that. But I brush it on small parts. You have to load up your brush and apply it thick, but it works very well. It totally absorbs fingerprints though, so wait to paint it until you don't have to touch the part anymore. I am currently trying some other chrome processes. I applied some Splash 2k Black to some spoons and tonight I am going to attempt to try Alclad again, but I am also going to try SMS Hyperchrome and Splash Hyperchrome as well to see what I come up with. I am still looking for a chrome finish I am happy with.

I don't think opinion means what you think it means.

LA's Totally Awesome works much slower on lacquers and enamels than it does on acrylics.... at least in my experience. So if you are careful, you could use it in this application. Thin it down, or wipe it on and then wipe it off. This process could even be tested on a spoon beforehand. And it is not up to me to know whether or not someone has access to something based on where they live. It is up to me to suggest something that might work and then it is on them to figure out if they can get it or not. So I have no idea why you would even mention that. That person asked for advice, I told them what I would try. I don't know why you would post this.

This is a pretty sweet build. You have my wheels turning for ideas on the hot rod I am currently building.

Great idea!