Tamiya lacquer over red plastic. Any special advice?

[LDO]

I've got a kit in red plastic (with plenty of Evergreen styrene and glazing putty) that's getting ready for paint. Do I need to do anything special to prevent bleed-through? FWIW-some will be sprayed from the can and some will be airbrushed.

Thanks, Lee

[martinfan5]

You need to primer it before you paint.

[LDO]

I'm using Tamiya spray can grey primer. Will that be enough?

[MrObsessive]

Lee, If I were you------I'd barrier that red plastic before I did anything. I doesn't matter to me who the manufacturer is, red molded plastic is always the kiss of death to me when trying to paint over it........especially in the lighter colors.

Future Floor Wax (now call Pledge with Future Shine) has always been great for me in putting a barrier over that nasty red (or yellow) plastic.

Hope this helps!

[LDO]

Whoa. Cool. I have some of that. Do I need to thin it? What do I use for airbrush cleanup? I'm guessing lacquer thinner would do the trick.

[MrObsessive]

No need thin it..........alcohol (or Windex) will clean it up just fine. Now Future can be kinda runny, so the trick is to make quick but frequent passes to get good coverage. It will be dry within a half hour or so----I like to let mine sit overnight so I can concentrate on other parts of the build, then get to painting when I know it will be rock solid.

[martinfan5]

Primer sealers also can work as well, I have read that shooting the future through the Air brush can be tricky, I use foam brushes , and it takes a minute or two to appy the future to a body.

I have heard of thinning it

Edited April 8, 2012 by martinfan5

[MrObsessive]

A few years ago, there was a great complaining about Revell's "new" type of plastic which didn't take to automotive paints very well. I knew that Future would be good for this as well. I was building Revell's '05 Mustang at the time, and didn't want any drama-----so I airbrushed the whole body with Future before I did any primering or painting.

Here's a pic of the hood with the Future on it................

And here is a Revell Magnum that was sealed BEFORE any painting was done.............the results speak for themselves............

Jonathan mentions primer sealers...........well they work as far as it goes, but you still have to be very careful how much lacquer thinner you put in to airbrush it. Too much and you'll have a crazed body which will be more trouble than it's worth.

As I mentioned above Future does NOT have to be thinned! Trust me, it's thin enough as it comes out of the airbrush. Lowering the pressure would help to say 12 PSI or so.

[martinfan5]

Bill, I am not trying to give wrong info, I was just passing it along that I have read people on here and a website dedicated to using future on models thinning it.

I have used future as barrier , and it does work great, I have had problems with primer sealers crazing the plastic.

[MikeMc]

Great article by Dave T..in the current copy of the "other"mag......shows a "pink" white car. He uses Duplacolor sealer and then silver... looks good!

[Jim B]

I've had good luck sealing red plastic with Zinsser BIN Primer/Sealer, but you have to follow the directions on the can EXACTLY.

[MikeMc]

I've had good luck sealing red plastic with Zinsser BIN Primer/Sealer, but you have to follow the directions on the can EXACTLY.

Bob Downie did that ...also in SA. You need to A/B the Bin....It doesn't even shoot well from the can.

[jaymcminn]

This Fujimi Ferrari 512bb was molded in red. I primed it with Duplicolor white sandable primer, then gave it a light coat of the Duplicolor primer/sealer (which is NOT sandable, by the way). The Tamiya Chrome Yellow lacquer went over it beautifully, without a trace of bleed through!

[sjordan]

What color do you intend to paint the model?

PS: Supposedly, Future is self-leveling, so you could even use a brush to put it on as long as you don't allow it to well up anywhere. I used a cotton ball to apply it on one kit and there was no residue (though some modelers caution against that).

Edited April 13, 2012 by sjordan