Yep a real beauty!
i’d go 1 step farther and say anything that has a modern paint job on it, be it single stage or base/clear can have a super glossy finish to it. They can all be polished out to a mirror like shine.
I don’t mean to create a thread drift here, but…
I am glad to see someone here that thinks like I do! To me that glassy gloss coat shine interferes with looking at the model and for the most part makes the model look more…like a model. With the exception of maybe a custom “show car”, real cars are not that glossy. I had much rather see a nice satin finish where you can see the details of the car without all of that glare. The same goes for too much chrome. Boy, is that an eyesore trying to see the details!
Now, back to the question at hand…
After 60+ years of modeling, I am getting tired of having to find a new paint line time after time. First Floquil, then Floquil formula change, then No Floquil, now no Model Master!!!
Thank goodness for MCW! I find this paint easy to work with and I like using their primer and lacquer. Why I like using a lacquer for the main color is that if there are details that need to be painted, I will use an enamel to do that work. Then, any small slips of the wrist can be removed with a little bit of regular paint thinner" without harming the main color.
My latest project using MCW paint.
Beautiful McLaren! I’m an MCW fan myself, lacquers and enamels rock
Yes!
I agree, okay? But. when a certain type of car looks like it’s poured out of Resin or Glass and has no Flaws or Scratch marks or Polish Swirls I gotta wonder!
Awesome McLaren. [Y]
May I ask what kit is that? I’d never seen a McLaren in this paint scheme, only on the GT40 II. So very cool.
A question about MCW paints…
So I perused their website, noticed they offer both enamels and lacquers. I neither understand why, nor do I understand enough about paint to know the pros and cons of one vs the other.
Sure appreciate any and all insight.
Just a warning about lacquers!
You first need to use some type of primer that protects the plastic from the lacquer. MCW has a gray primer that does that. In the past when I used Floquil paints, they made what they called “Barrier”. It was a fine clear coating that protected the plastic. Scalecoat also made a product called “Shieldcoat” that was clear.
One little story to tell about the above. On one of my models years ago I was using Floquil paint. It was the original lacquer at that time. I had first coated the main body with “Barrier”…at least the outside was coated well. The inside not quite as good. As luck would have it, I somehow messed up on the paint job and the paint needed to be removed. Suffice it to say that where I had coated the model with “Barrier”, the paint came off easily. On the inside, in the places that didn’t get a coating of “Barrier” the paint was adheared to the plastic and would not come off.
One other thing I would add is, if you are one of these people that just has to use spray paint from your local hardware store (heaven forbid), I would first use MCW’s primer for lacquers!
BTW, MCW lacquers come “Ready To Paint”, no thinning needed. So, figure this into how much paint you will need to order.
Greg,
This is the MPC 1/20 M8d kit from around 1981 I think it is. No, you have never seen a real McLaren painted this way. This was my own design.
I had tried buying one kit to do the Dan Gurney edition, and wound up with two. One of them was screaming at me to paint it in JWA Gulf colors!
Just ordered some of their Guards Red lacquer to try alongside their Guards Red enamel that I got last week…gonna see which one works better for me. I didn’t even know they also had lacquer versions of their enamels until I read your posts, and I prefer lacquers for the same reasons you listed. Interestingly…I found that Tamiya’s new lacquer paints don’t appear to have that advantage…paint thinner still damages those for some reason. Sure does make a nice, glossy black base coat for Alclad though. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of gloss I get with the MCW lacquers. That McLaren is gorgeous!
No worries about needing primer. I prime everything as a matter of course anyway with decanted Tamiya Grey Surface Primer.
Thanks for the info!
I wondered if that was the case. I think it looks GREAT in the Gulf colors. And that leads me to ask which MCW colors did you use and how did you find them? I see Gulf Orange, but I don’t think that’s right, and no idea about the baby blue.
A side note, I have those two colors on order from Zero, for Meng GT, starting to wonder if I’ll ever see them.
Oh, and now you’ve made me nostaglic for an MPC kit. I see Roundupmodels.com has one in stock, I’m tempted…
Greg,
Look for Gulf Blue #2064 and Gulf Orange #2065.
i can offer my experience here as well Based on using MCW for the last couple years.
lacquer -
dries super fast. I can tape it, including burnishing edges down in as little as 15 minutes.
MCW & MRP spray right out of the bottle. I tend to use some mr color leveling thinner with MCW if ikm going for a gloss finish, or f the air is real dry and the paint is spider webbing on me even after adjusting the air pressure down a bit.
can be applied super thin
can be applied right over kit plastic with no primer
stinks like crazy. Use ventilation
dries to a gloss finish if you apply it with a “wet” look to it. decal right over this without any other product needed. Microsol beads on it so almost useless lol
my favorite primer is Citadel but have used tamiya fine, mcw, Duplicolor decanted with no issues.
Enamels -
Dry SLOW.
MCW enamel needs a thinner (i use hardware store lacquer thinner), and a hardener if you want to do anything in less than a day. 4hrs dry to touch and 8hrs dry and can tape it.
Superb gloss without using a clear. Show car gloss if you use their clear.
Applying it thin tends to take away the gloss.
I don’t have enough experience with it to speak to not using a primer. I’ve used mr surfacer, mcw, citadel and duplicolor auto primer decanted from spray can all with good success. Have only used lacquer primers under my enamels whether it was mcw or Model Master.
this is Citadel primers with MCW Enamels for the vibrant colors and mcw lacquers for the dark blue(yep it’s blue, just painted on a black primer fading to bone white primer from back to front).
edit-forgot to mention there was a noticeable increase in shine using the enamel gloss clear vs the lacquer gloss clear! In the end my final coat was the enamel clear over everything.
Found them both, thank you, Jim! [Y]
Great lacquer vs enamel basics rundown! I really appreciate your taking the time, very helpful. [Y]
Thanks!!
Just saw this and thought I’d add one more thing to what good buddy Mongoose said.
When using enamels and lacquers together…
REMEMBER THIS: Enamels will work fine when sprayed over lacquers…NOT the other way around. Lacquers will make a mess of any enamel paint laid down prior. Ask me how I know.
Yes. I found this helpful
Like Keavdog I’ve always gone with the LEA order (think of it as a woman’s name and it’s easier to remember).
The mcw has been a rare exception to this rule, and it is pretty accurat. Messed up an F-4E not following it. I spayed thin coats of laquer over enamel and almost a year later still no problem. Insert the stock quote here, past performance does not predict future performance and such lol