Black

[wingnut509]

so i am fairly new to the hobby and have only built 15 or so models and was wondering how the hell do u get black paint to look rite? ive tryed several types of black paint and they are all thick as hell and if its sprayed it makes the worst orange peel effect ive ever seen. and if i paint it thick enough to wet sand down it ruins all the detail of the body and fills the body lines.

SO HOW THE HECK DO U GUYS DO IT???

[Nick F40]

Engines, bodies, chassis...what you talking about?

For a nice smooth version, there is Poly Scale Engine Black

[Andy Wyatt]

For spray cans I'd have to say the Tamiya spray is about as nice as it gets for black. Has nice gloss to it and aprays really nice right out of the can. Warm it up and shake the heck out of it before and during spraying and you'll get a nice job out of it.

[curt raitz]

Ditto on Tamiya's Gloss Black TS-14 - best black in a spray can I've found

can be covered with either Tamiya's Clear TS-13 or Model Masters Ultra Clearcoat with great results.

[wingnut509]

i am talking about painting bodies and tamiya paint always seems to be the best i should have tried it first. but it all just seems to be to thick.

[Nick F40]

Yeah, Tamiya is the best.

I have a food dehydrator we use to warm up the paint so it flows smoother, try warming it up

[jbwelda]

yeah tamiya again rules, but theres some things you can do to help any high gloss paint along, like putting the can in some warm water before spraying it, and trying to keep things as warm as possible when painting during the winter.

if your paint was coming out way too thick, i take it you mean so that it ran or sagged, you were probably using model master enamel and yeah you have to watch it with that stuff. tamiya is much thinner and has a much better nozzle that makes getting a nice level high gloss finish easier.

[Harry P.]

Don't use enamel paint!

Black, especially, seems to be trouble.

I use acrylics and/or lacquers exclusively. They go on smooth and dry fast.

[hookedonplastics]

I have had problems with black paints(Testors and Tamiya alike) "easing away" from edges; door gaps, body panels, etc. Sort of like the results you get from candy colors. Harry, would acrylics and lacquers help with that problem?

Edited February 13, 2008 by hookedonplastics

[monkeyclaw]

Hey Wingnut; The guys are right; try using a better Quality paint to start...I prefer Lacquers myself....even if you use dupli color; warm the cans; shake them well; and I go a step further; I have a food service heat lamp that I pass the painted parts under to "melt" the wet coats down....if you can read the lettering from the light bulb in the reflection of the wet coat; you will have minimum polishing to do....matt

Edited February 13, 2008 by monkeyclaw

[Harry P.]

I have had problems with black paints(Testors and Tamiya alike) "easing away" from edges; door gaps, body panels, etc. Sort of like the results you get from candy colors. Harry, would acrylics and lacquers help with that problem?

I haven't had that problem with the paints I use. Sometimes paint will tend to pull away from sharp edges, but a second coat will take care of the problem. Better two or three light coats than one heavy one.

I've found that lacquers and acrylics are just so much more "user friendly" than enamels.

[Cornpatch]

I have had problems with black paints(Testors and Tamiya alike) "easing away" from edges; door gaps, body panels, etc. Sort of like the results you get from candy colors. Harry, would acrylics and lacquers help with that problem?

Hookedonplastics:

You can cure that problem by taking a very lite grit sandpaper and or a #0000 steel wool pad and knocking off the sharpness on the edges. Be real carefull when you do this as you darn sure don't want to take off any plastic. That is why I use the steel wool it does not remove any thing it just knocks it down a little bit.

I am with Harry on the fact that lacquers and acrylics are a lot more user friendly, and they also clean up faster and easier. Drying time they beat the hell out enamel.

Jeff

[Aaronw]

Never had a problem with black vs other colors. I like Krylon, but the various Rustolium brands and Duplicolor are good too. I've never used the Tamiya or Model Master spray paints since they cost about 4x as much. I use their bottle paints a lot though.

If you don't prime first you might try that too, I try to use a color similar the the top coat, black for black, white for white or other light colors, red-brown for red and grey for everything else. I find the primers cover better making later coats easier to apply.

[Terry Sumner]

Well, if this photo comes on here okay, is this the type of finish you want? I used acrylic lacquer on this Willys I bought from Leon Tefft, but I got the same result using good old Modelmaster Black Enamel on a 40 Ford. The whole secret is in polishing out the finish. All paint has microscopic hills and valleys and must be leveled out to reflect light in a mirror image manner. You first color sand the paint with something like 3600 grit, then go on to 4000, then 6000, then 8000, then 10000 and finally 12000. By now you have it almost there. Then you can use a buffing/polishing compound on a soft flannel rag for that final polish. Top if off with some Canuba wax and you'll have a gleaming finish. All it take is some elbow grease and a polishing kit made by LMG Enterprises. It contains all these grits and the polishing compounds.

Or you can obtain the sanding grits from other sources...I think maybe Smallparts.com

This same polishing kit is what I use to polish airplane canopies to a glass like finish. Same thing for model car windows.