iahawk Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 hello, this is my first post on this board and I'll apologize for the length...I'm just casually getting back into modeling after 30+ years off! I've realized I will never have the time, money, space or skills to restore real cars so this is a great substitute! My issue is the hood on the 53 Revell Corvette I'm building. (I built a 53 Vette back when I was about 12 and it is terrible..never painted, glue everywhere, you guys know what I'm talking about..but I've kept it all these years and always wanted to build another one and do it right, to make up for my bad one). The body on the car has painted fine...a few fish eyes, but I can live with them. The problem is the hood has fish eyes all over it...even after I've sanded to remove the paint, cleaned it properly and repainted. It looked like the surface of the moon! I'm using Tamiya gray primer, followed by Tamiya white primer and then Tamiya Racing White as a top coat. (interior is Tamiya bright red, floor pan is Testors flat black enamel and frame is Testors gloss black enamel) I initially washed the hood in dish detergent, sanded with 400 grit wet/dry, washed again, rinsed with DI water, dried, wore gloves and primed with gray, then white, then color coat (with plenty of time between coats). The fish eyes were bad so I lightly sanded it down, re washed, rinsed, dried and wiped with 70% isopropyl. Painted again and the fish eyes were even worse! So I sanded it down to bare styrene with 400 grit..scrubbed with a toothbrush and Bon Ami (didn't have comet), washed in detergent, rinsed with Di water, dried and wiped with 70% isopropyl all while wearing gloves. Painted my first coat of Tamiya gray primer and there were fish eyes in the primer! They show up in the (hopefully) attached picture as faint white spots mostly in the upper right quarter of the hood. I'm at a loss as to what to do next to get it painted without fish eyes! I'm afraid if I paint over the primer the faint white spots will just be bad fish eyes, again. I've also included a cell phone pic of the body and the 36 yr old 53 Vette behind it! thanks, guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 It IS contamination of some kind. That's all it ever is. What kind of dishwashing detergent? What kind of gloves? Some detergents have silicone anti-spot ingredients. Some gloves may have something equally nasty if they're the powdered variety. If you use the same gloves over after getting fisheyes, you run the risk of just spreading the contamination all over again. I've personally never experienced a fishy episode I couldn't kill by doing all the steps you've done. But you really REALLY have to think about re-spreading whatever is contaminating your surface...with gloves, paper towels...something is doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stray Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Welcome back to the bench man. Sounds to me like a bit of solvent pop. As well as trying what Ace just said, maybe try further agitating your primer. Also try warming it up in a bath of warm water. I have sometimes gotten fisheyes when laying paint on too thick, so are you doing a very light first tack coat? Maybe just go with the white prime instead of the grey? Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Or household dust/lint; especially if you or your wife is fond of Johnson's Pledge furniture polish. Pledge furniture polish is loaded with silicones in order to give a shine--but those same silicones are the absolute enemy of paint jobs. A good vacuuming of your work area, perhaps closing the door to it when you spray might help as well. Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iahawk Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 I appreciate the replies. I thought about what Ace said...since what I was doing was not working I had to change something. It turns out we have Dawn in the house so I used that instead of the Kirkland (Costco) Environmentally Friendly detergent and the hood felt squeaky clean (after I again sanded off the gray primer with 400 grit). I also put on a new, powder free nitrile glove....and sprayed Tamiya white primer...after 3 mist coats it looks perfectly smooth. Changing the dish soap may have been the answer! I'll reply back tomorrow after I get a color coat or 2 on...to let you know how it turns out. I don't have much to offer the forum, yet, but I sure enjoy reading all the great info on here. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iahawk Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 changing the detergent must have done the trick! Since washing with the Dawn there are absolutely no fish eyes in the paint. I put 4 coats of Racing White on today and it looks really good...I'll put one more on to equal the number of coats on the body and the minor orange peel should be easily polished out. (The pic isn't very good, cell phone camera and poor lighting.) That is a good life lesson...if what you're doing is not working you've got to change something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Good news ! And now we ALL know that Dawn is good for washing models prior to paint. You've helped everyone here by doing that little experiment and posting the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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