Foxer Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 Just to clear up what I used it was a cheap lacquer thinner. I've had the same gallon can I've been using for a few years on all the automotive touchup paint and lacquer paints. The Testors Glassy Black enamel was mixed 2:1 as Don Yost recommends.This was unusual for me as I didn't have a primer on either body .. at least the last coat wasn't primer .. both have primer on the bare body. The infiniti has been painted with a few different paints .. testors or tamiya gloss black enamel and a flat black automotive primer last time. All were left on and sanded smooth as I couldn't soak it in th epond because of body putty I didn't want to do over. The Mini was painted on top of the automotive touch up paint from Paint Scratch. I guess it could have been a reaction to the paint underneath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I have encountered that "sandy" finish before, when I was shooting lacquer paint at too high a pressure (and possibly too high an ambient temperature). The paint was blowing around and particle deposits built up on the edges of the window frames, etc. I think the thinner was drying too much before the paint even hit the model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatW Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I know I'm 'Old Skool' after 50+ years in the hobby, but I still use rattle cans, I've never gone 'up market' to an airbrush, so never had this type of problem, sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Morning Mike. I've used the enamel mixed with lacquer thinner process many times on many builds. First let me say, when using a cheaper brush. Mix it 50/50, and for me I set my compressor PSI to between 15 and 20lbs. Second, If your using tamiya paints, (be they the spray cans or acrylic bottles) for your copper base color, the testors enamel mixed with lacquer thinner will not play nice with it. It will etch through it and yes even cause a grainy look. Testors makes a copper enamel that can be mixed the same way as your black and it would have been compatible with the over coat of black since both would have been mixed the same way. When I mix my testors enamels I use cheap hardware store brand lacquer thinner. Not sure what type you used, but any form of automotive lacquer thinner, (even the cheap stuff) will not play nice with testors enamels, the hardware store brands work fine with it however, since they are not as hot. The issue your having seems to indicate to hot of a lacquer thinner. The hardware store brands should not be that hot and mix fine with testors enamels. The age of the enamel paints can make a difference as well when being mixed with this process. (a lot of trial and error taught me this over the years). As for a safe and effective primer to use under the paint. I use Tamiya white or grey fine spray can primer since it is lacquer based. I've had a few issues with different types of cheap primers such as duplicolor or krylon when laying testors paints mixed with lacquer thinner over them. Just wanted to pass along some tips for using the Don Yost process, effectively, that seems to have always worked for me. Many of us long time modelers that have been around almost as long as Don, have used that same process. Especially since we started out trying to find a way to lay down smoother enamel paint jobs, long before the days of acrylic or lacquer model paints, and many of us have found that mixing it this way gives us that smoother finish with less orange peel to have to polish out. It won't be glass smooth, but it will dry faster and make it easier to wet sand and polish to get that glass smooth look. When applying your paint coats, start with a couple of medium coats followed by a couple of good wet coats. That's pretty much my process. Yes I know Don suggests a couple of light mist coats, but in my experience, doing it that way, the paint always dries before it hits the model, causing a dull grainy look, so I go with with a little heavier starting coats than Don does. That and setting my compressor to a lighter PSI setting than Don does seems to help keep the paint from drying before it hits the model as well. The air pressure idea, was something Boydd Coddington suggested to me many years ago when he offered me some advice at a model contest he came to guest judge at a car show in St Ignace, Michigan. Hope this helps find an answer to your problem. To fix the issue, you most likely will have to strip it down and re-spray it. If you do, try it with the process I discribed above and it should turn out better. Oh, and one last thing, the lacquer thinner idea, does not work as well with sem-gloss and flat black for some reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Basher Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) It does look like it's drying before it hits the car. I wonder if there is some variation in cheap lacquer thinner. I had good results with this process, and then had to buy a new can of thinner. When I tried to paint a body, I got smooth paint mixed with clumps. No changes in thinning ratio or air pressure would help. For my next paint job, I thinned the enamel with Testors Universal Enamel Thinner, and it came out nice. The stuff aint cheap, but if you buy the 8 oz. can at HL with 40% off, it's halfway reasonable. If you can sand the texture out of that roof, maybe try the gloss enamel and the Testors thinner. On the other hand, it looks like you have discovered an excellent way to do vinyl roofs! Edited July 10, 2015 by Kit Basher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxer Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 Jim ... some great insight and experience for me to look into. I thought the lacquer thinner had was cheap hardware store stuff, but I've had it for some time and don't really know where I got it. There's a good chance it's an automotive thinner, so I'm going to get "hardware" store as everyone has been talking. I also cranked the compressor up to 30psi . as high as it would go. I rarely spray aver 20 if that. So another thing for me to look into. The copper base was paintscratch.com paint that exactly matches the 1:1 Mini I had and I believe it's lacquer .. I have to look deeper into this as internet supplier rarely actually what kind of paint you're buying. I's possible it a water base like about all automotive paint nowadays and maybe that the problem .. with the Mini anyway, which is the worst of the two. And, Hugh .. I have used Testers enamel thinner with their enamel paint and have gotten one of my best paint jobs with that, but I wanted to try for a quicker drying one this time and with black, hopefully a shiner one. And the lower body will stay as Is as you're right .. it has the perfect look for those plastic panels! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kucaba Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I used to thin enamel with lacquer thinner, but then I tried Testors airbrush thinner for their enamels. It worked great and reading the label I found that xylene (sp) was the predominant component and have been using it since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Basher Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I don't think you should try this on your Mini at this point, but sometime if you want a really shiny gloss black that dries fast, take a look at the Model Master Gloss Black Lacquer in bottles. Sprays really nice and has a killer shine. I hope you can save that Mini, it looks awesome so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxer Posted August 17, 2017 Author Share Posted August 17, 2017 No progress on the paint, but just going to repaint top and leave the rough fender trim as it's more realistic!Added a few new photos above as I changed links to Fotki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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