[rant] I’m building a model Yak-38 and I’m trying to paint the stupid AA-8 missiles white. Three coats of acrylic white didn’t work. Windexed it off. cleaned the plastic real good with my nasty black soap. sprayed white primer on it let it dry fro a few days spray white paint on to it twice a couple days apart can still make out the color of the plastic. One more time and the paint will look thick. #*#&$#^$#& [/rant]
Sorry I had to bring this to everyone’s attention but I don’t want to start talking to myself.
Well the trick I read about on these forums, and successfully used just recently, is to paint the part silver, and after it dries well put on a coat of white - voilla, nice white in just two coats.
I just shoot the area with Tamiya white primer then Testors or MM paints. Never had a problem. Very light coats to build up the color. Another hard color to shoot is yellow which is best to have a white undercoat.
I’ll be sure to remember that silver trick. I have had bad luck with white acrylic being difficult due to clogging the needle tip area on my AB (MM and Vallejo) and all my other colors don’t do that and that’s thinning it down to almost too thin at that. I thought about trying another brand of white. I would use enamels but currently paint inside so that’s out.
I use Krylon white primer and find it works fine for flat white. However, gloss white is a real challenge- one of the hardest paints to do well. Again, I typically start with white primer, but even then both gloss white and gloss black show up every tiny flaw in both the paint and the surface beneath the paint.
Exactly. When I spay gloss white I just accept the fact that its going to take several very light coats to get a good gloss cover.
I also thin my paint a bit more so that it always goes on a bit wet…not thick…just wet. After I spray on these thin wet coats I go back over the paint with the airbrush just blowing air to help dry it out. I use Mr. Color paints mostly.
Hey seasick I hear you on the white paint just got done doing the bottom of my F4 Phantom, I used Testors paint in the 1/4 oz. bottle. I thinned with a good grade of Mineral Spirits. Then sprayed a light coat on, let it dry 20minutes then opened the valve on my airbrush then sprayed on a second heavery coat. let that one dry for 20 minutes then sprayed on one more coat came out real good. I guess the key here is three lite coats rather one heavy one. ACESES5 ON BENCH REVELLE 1/48 F4 PHANTOM C/D [snWcm]
And if you HAVE to have gloss white try the tamiya TS26 spray can, its brilliant. Try decanting it, as the cans throw paint out furiously. The tamia flat white is indeed a very good paint too. I tend to avoid all the gloss pots of tamiya and use flat plus a clear coat.
Working on a Tomcat and shot the wings with MM enamel gull gray, masked today and shot MM enamel white on the remaining areas. Light even coats sprayed at 12 psi in my Badger and looks like smooth glass for both colors.
Reasoned…next time spray a white undercoat then the yellow, same thing for red. I find that both colors look deeper and richer with the white undercoat
I don’t prime probably 95%+ of my models. No problem with Tamiya XF-2 here either. Reefer White from Polly S is darn good as well but more expensive. I don’t use gloss white or gloss black (unless for Alclad base). If the finish needs to be gloss, I rather add a coat of gloss clear instead of painting with a glossy color.