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Enamels WIN!


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As to safety ...

Very soon , I am going to have to bury my twin , not of my blood , they refer to us as " twin sons of different mothers " . One of the most prolific custom painters I've ever met , his work is beyond anal retentive ! Stone cold beautiful !

He complained of a lump on his foot , I chewed him a new one , and made him go to the doctors . Final diagnosis ... Cancer , tumours throughout his entire body .

He has sworn me to secrecy , his family doesn't know nor will they , I gave my word . Once a vibrant , 208 lb. bundle of coiled steel , he is a mere shadow of what once was . His beloved '64 Dart is now for sale , he no longer has the strength to turn the wheel .

Last Saturday , I had to mount the side guards on a Chevelle for him in the shop , he didn't have the strength to push them in . Kathie had to turn away from him so he wouldn't see her tears .

I wish that I had $ 5 for everytime I walked in the shop and ended up raising Cain with him about wearing his respirator while he was painting , I'd be wealthy beyond the imagination !

Now , I get to watch my best friend slowly dissolve away to nothing . This flat out sucks !

If you insist on using the automotive products , protect yourself , don't be a ###### fool !

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Shhhh! ,

The remaining ones might hear you ! They are cowering in the corner as we speak ! Now , if I could just find something to do with the 15 Superbee bodies , I'd be a happy boy !

Well... when I plugged a Super Bee pro street chassis under a '78 Monaco body, I had a '70 Super Bee and a somewhat crude Mopar chassis. I'm thinking of using the Monaco chassis, gluing the hood closed on the Super Bee, and using it as filler for a junkyard/car lot/repair shop diorama.

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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...

Good to know; I still have a nice stash of Cobra Colors paint. I'll have to revisit it.

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I got so dang excited to day.Testors black enamel 1 to 1 ratio..........And dang the people down the block heard me :lol:

Umm hmmm !

And y'all thought The Old Man was as dumb as he looks , Mother Nature could never be so cruel ! Looks like another convert , Virgil !

On a serious note , If you are happy with the overall finish ( the shine is evidently there ) you don't have to polish it out at all ! Let it flash out , apply a coat of The Final Treatment Detail Wax and call it a done deal !

Oh the shine i would post a pic if my camera wasn't a cell phone cam.

It would not due justice ...........it wont even need polishing but i will.

I can believe the shine on that sucker.....i did a 1 to 1 ratio and maybe a little more thinner and shot at 13lb of air!

And the lightest coat i could spray i mean light......Then ! POW! the shine came......Man oh man.

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This is a great thread. I recently got off a halfway decent high gloss paint job using rattle can Duplicolor and I have to agree, the 5 P's or nothing - you aren't even in the game...

I have always wanted to get back to enamels for any number of reasons including gloss, depth, cost, color selection and VOC. I used to do hand brushed enamels as a kid, and I got to the point where I could do them so they were near flawless by using a combination of thinning them and rubbing them out with auto rubbing compound and then Simonizing them, so I know what a good enamel job can look like. IMHO, nothing really beats it in terms of final effect.

But I've known it would involve using an airbrush if I was to take advantage of the near limitless variety of colors inherent in all those little (cheap) jars. I have the equipment in my possession but the road block has been finding a place to do it. I will start a separate thread about this issue. In the meantime a Big Thanx to you all, as Cranky said, for the enthusiasm. It will go a long way to getting me there.

Edited by Bernard Kron
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All this time I never remembered I painted this last year using Donn's method. I could be a little more glossy, but i dont have a spray booth and was dealing with dust particles in the paint. The shine looks quite in scale, and the paint was dry to the touch in only a few minutes. Just o'l Testors Lime Gold in the bottle with hardware store lacquer thinner.

DSCN0808-vi.jpg

This 39 was done in 1984, again Testors plain old orange with lacquer thinner. Pic is pretty bad, but its smooth and shiny, and despite being enamel, and has held up perfectly over the last 27 years. This method works fabulously with the Model Master line, and I think the gloss is better, and it dries even faster.

40side-vi.jpg

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Okay, so I was a little bored today. I have been working on correcting some details on one of my 1/24 69 GTO bodies but I decided since the weather was nice I needed to get in another practice paint job. I opened up one of my NASCAR kits and pulled out a body to play with: a 1/24 Monogram Lumina molded in white. I knowingly violated at least a couple of Donn's "P" rules, though-- I did not wash the body and I did not scuff it or try to correct any flaws. All I did was wipe it down with some thinner and started painting. The paint was a gloss brown 1/4-oz Testors bottle that I have had for years but it had never been opened. Mixed 2:1 paint to lacquer thinner and sprayed at 32psi with a Paasche VL with #3 (medium) nozzle. Ambient temperature about 61-62 degrees.

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For this test I tried to spray a little closer to the body and reduce the volume of paint I was putting out on each stroke. My goal was to reduce the orange peel problems that I've had on my previous tests. I still picked up a little bit of texture in the finish, though, as you can see in the reflection in the second photo. Also picked up a few spots of dust as I was nearing the end of the paint job. Dust is one of the things I have a hard time overcoming because of my paint environment. After this dries for bit in the paint booth (fan off, naturally), I will put it in a hot box and see what happens.

Way back in the age of dinosaurs (the 80's), we used to paint with enamels and then at the very end of the paint job, we'd put thinner (usually mineral spirits) into the jar with the paint that was left over and spray the body with this mix (basically tinted thinner) and it would make the gloss pop out like crazy and all the orange peel would flow out and level. It would also run very easily if you weren't careful. We called it a "kiss coat." Is anybody still doing that?

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While I'm here I might as well post a couple more pics of a previous test. This is a 1/24 Buick Grand National that was painted with Duplicolor black enamel decanted from a rattle can and sprayed with airbrush. This body had been scuffed but did not have a primer applied. The finish had quite a bit of orange peel to it but I polished out the roof and it looks okay but not great. Actually looks a lot like the real car did from the factory :lol: .

JO034782.jpg

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I look forward to repeating this test with a Testors black enamel and lacquer thinner...

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Go for it ! Rustoleum cuts down quite well with the laquer thinner . That being said , don't screw it up , I have no idea how well the Rustoleum strips off of plastic ! Lol !

I do know for a fact that Krylon just sits there and laughs at the brake fluid , thus my word of caution ! Far be it for me to lead you down a path of sin and degradation , that just ain't gonna happen !!!!!

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