I have a dilemma. I completed a very important project which is a 1/35 LCVP. Everything seemed fine until I sprayed the flat finish which revealed that some of the paint at the most hard to get to part of the model had a rough finish. I live in Colorado and this is typical of the paint drying as it hits the model even though I used a retarder. I’ve sanded down the finish without damaging the paint but there is much I can’t get at due to the structure of the model.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can repair this? I was thinking about carefully applying a few coats of Future and then applying another coat of flat finish. Thoughts?
That might work, Future is self levelling so you should end up with a pretty smooth finish.
I’m presuming you’re using acrylics?
To prevent this problem in the future, make sure you drop the psi to the lowest your airbrush can use and get right up close to the model 1-2" away. This will help keep the paint from drying before it hits the model.
Since you’re already using a retarder, try a bit more in the mix. Also, you can try lowering the amount of thinner. Most acrylic thinners use alcohol with exacerbates the problem.
Just following up on this repair. I was able to successfully repair the rough finish and not damage the model. Here’s what i ended up doing…
First I wet sanded the areas that I could with a fine sanding stick.
I then brush coated on 3 thin coats of future.
Next I repainted the area with the base color carefully masking off the cables that were in place. I did this with a post it and just blocked the spray as I painted. YES!
The paint looked and felt nice and smooth
The final test was to give it a clear flat coat and viola! It came out perfect. No more rough finish in those hard to get to spots.
I don’t know how this would work in other situations but in this case it resolved my problem perfectly.