Enamels WIN!

[Dr. Cranky]

Dave, I agree with you, which is why it's good to have a variety of airbrushes in the tool box.

[Dr. Cranky]

All right folks, hold on to your britches, here's some work by Donn . . . hope you enjoy . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

Here are a few more . . . the craftsmanship and the attention to detail is insane!

[peter31a]

Ooooh! I like the colour of purple on the 32. Donn, is that a standard Testors colour or is it a custom mix?

[Dr. Cranky]

And something tells me those wheels are buffing metalizers buffed!

[Evil Appetite]

Great work as usual Donn

[59 Impala]

I have used Testor's enamels for a very long time myself. Way back in the early 60's first with a brush and now with an air brush. I do like Donn does with one exception, I use 1:1 Enamel reducer instead of lacquer thinner. The paint dries very quickly using the reducer, about 10 minutes. Fast enough for me to handle the parts. I also reduce the mixture by one third paint and two thirds reducer. This way I can lower the air pressure to 15-18 psi.

Here is a picture of the 53 Ford that I painted with Testor's enamel.

Dan

[LoneWolf15]

Peter ,

The '32 is done with a custom mix called Jaime's Jam . I then added various shades of related Pearl X powders which I suspended in clear and then mist coated in a continuing rotation . You should see it in the sunlight , it just dances all over the place !

Virgil ,

The wheels on the Charger are the creation of The Mad Machinist , Mr Bob Dudek . Bob has quite a selection of machined aluminum parts for sale , his product is top of the line !

The rims on the Nova are from Terry Kinnear's M.A.S. I am blessed to call both of these guys my friends , they have helped me tremendously over the last few years !

As I stated in an earlier thread that Virgil started , a photo does not do these Pearl X additives justice . The color shifts are so subtle , a camera just doesn't seem to capture them . The Charger is done up in Testors Competition Orange with a Bright Gold Pearl X topcoat mixed in the clear . The Nova has a Violet Pearl X overcoat .

[Chuck Most]

Hey... is that a '66 Nova that WASN'T raided for its chassis?

[Chief Joseph]

I've had good luck using Donn's method, too. I've learned to not be afraid of putting too much paint on the model-- the more the merrier (just until the gloss kicks in, anyway). I've been using a gravity-fed Iwata Eclipse for most of my modeling for the past few years, but when I decided to do some cars I dusted off my trusty Paasche VL. One thing I need to do is swap the medium nozzle set with the heavy nozzle set; more paint output means less time spent painting and less chance of airborne gunk landing on the wet paint!

Now if I could just get the weather to cooperate...

[Dr. Cranky]

Thanks for the wonderful energized commentary going on in this thread. I like the fact that a whole bunch of us is discussing painting once again . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

Here are a few more of Donn's gloss jewels:

[Terry Sumner]

Well this method looks okay but I wouldn't say that it wins hands down. Not trying to take anything away from Donn's method but there are lot's of ways to achieve that super glossy finish. Here's a pic of the roof of a Willys I did using the old Cobracolors line of acrylic lacquers, which was nothing more than HOK paint repackaged. I actually think the clarity of the surface is sharper than this enamel based finish. What you are looking at is the reflection of my light bulb in it's holder directly above the model. We used to call this the "light bulb test" on the old Modelcarlist. Maybe it's just the photos but I don't see the enamel based paint being as sharp as the Willys paint. And this photo actually sucks pretty bad as it was done years ago with a Mavica first generation camera with a resolution of 640 pixels...not even half of 1 megapixel!

That said, I will probably give this method a try and see if I can match my own proven method for glass smooth finishes. Always willing to learn something new!

Hosted on Fotki

[edward smith]

Donn's cars look great, I just don't like the dipped in syrup type of paints and with enamels you usually get that. I personally like to see all the subtle details on the bodies of some cars and when you put that much paint on a model, sometimes it kinda defeats the purpose.

[Dr. Cranky]

Terry, are you sure those Cobracolors were really HOK? I have seen them but not tried them. I have the HOK paints I get from both TCP GLOBAL and COASTAIRBRUSH out West. I get the candy concentrates so that I can build up the color fast or slow, depending on what I'm doing.

Edward, looking at Donn's work I see a lot of details. It's the reason why he either works directly on the plastic and or off the metalizer-turned-primer. Also, it's been my experience so far that because you cut the enamel with lacquer it really dries flat and tight on the body. I haven't seen how any of my body details are lost under the enamel coats and clear.

Just an observation.

[Greg Pugh]

It's an interesting point though. Anybody have any experience on that?

[Dr. Cranky]

In my conversations with Donn, I've expressed an interest in moving away from strong (toxic) paints because I am sure, like the rest of you here, I want to be more careful with fumes and exposure to some of these toxic compounds.

I'd be interested to hear from people who really know about the chemical compounds, etc., what some differences might be between urethanes versus enamels.

Most of us who work with these paint systems already know to work with lots of protection, the best mask and filters, long sleeves, paints, latex gloves, etc., everything to help you stay safe when working with this stuff.

[Foxer]

I'm throwing a pic of the first airbrush paint job I ever did when I got back into modeling about 20 years ago. It's some Testors enamel form the small jars which matched the tan of my wife's VW closely. The air brush was the first release of Testors cheap plastic one given to me as a gift. I'm sure no lacquer was used as all I would have surmised at the time was using the enamel thinner on hand. I still get amazed how smooth this came out. I had no idea about polishing kits at the time ,,, the paint is untouched except for some wax maybe. I do love lacquer for how fast it dries, but nothing but enamel seems to come out so shiny right out of the brush.

[Dr. Cranky]

Mike, many of us started this way, and then somewhere along the way we start craving more and more shine, but sometimes as simple smooth paint job will make a model look more realistic. Case in point with your VW bug there. It looks good.

[LoneWolf15]

Terry ,

The airbrushing is just part of the method . I preach the 5 P's !

Proper paint environment

Proper tools and product

Proper prep work

Proper paint application

Proper polish phase

If you drop the ball on any of these , you know as well as I do , the paint work is not going to be as good as it should be ! I simply took all of the voodoo , old wives tales , and plain old bs and tossed them out the window where they belong when I did the DVD !

[LoneWolf15]

Edward ,

What you are seeing is an optical illusion ! By applying a multitude of misted , whisper thin coats , the reflective quality of the paint increases 10 fold . It is very thin , but the shine looks miles deep . I can still lay the bare metal foil down on the thinnest pieces of trim and have it look exactly as it should , without the loss of detail.

The beauty of the enamels is that either a gloss base or a reflective color ( aluminum ) is going to bring the metallic or pearl reflection back to the eye . At the same time , the gloss enhances the richness and depth of the color . It simply becomes a dance and shimmer of color .

[LoneWolf15]

Hey... is that a '66 Nova that WASN'T raided for its chassis?

Chuck ,

This is a build for a customer ! That , my friend , is the only reason that it escaped the razor saw ! Lol !

[my66s55]

Donn has hit the nail on the head and said exactly what I was going to post. It's the 5 P's that make the grade. Terry, I have a 25 T that has the same shine on it's roof as your model in your post has. It was painted with cheap Apple Barrel gloss black acrylic and finished with Future. The difference in mine and yours is was I didn't expose myself to harmful chemicals that can harm my health or kill me. It was Donn's DVD that made the difference for me.

[Dr. Cranky]

Doug, I keep repeating that HEALTH is a primary concern to all of us, or it should be, which is why when you work with some of the more toxic paint lines, you begin to think that there's got to be a better alternative, and that's what brought me back to Donn's method.

And, Donn, those five Ps are precious indeed. Once they all line up you can paint body after body after body and get amazing results each and every time.

[Terry Sumner]

Oh I absolutely agree with the 5 P's. Heck if I didn't..like Donn said...no matter what paint was used I wouldn't get the glass smooth gloss. I was just pointing out that I don't feel that enamels are the way to go...as of right now....had too many bad experiences with them in the past. BUT..I haven't tried Donn's method and until I do I'll stick to what I know works...for me. As for the health...no problem. I spray 1:1 cars and bikes and I have the proper respirators and paint booth. I realize lot's of modelers may not have that. However, that being said, inhaling ANY paint, including enamels or water based ones, without proper equipment, is going to be a health hazard!

And Dr Cranky...that's what Leon told me in a series of emails I had with him back when he was putting out the line. And it sure smells, looks and acts like the HOK stuff I normally use on the 1:1 stuff...