Help! I just now started painting my Eduard 1/48 X-1 with MM acrylic orange. I thinned it slightly with alcohol, which has never been a problem ever with this paint. But I’m getting those – Darn! I don’t know what to call this phenomena – it’s as though the paint is not sticking right and these empty little circles form in the midst of the painted surface, and the wet paint is also pulling away from the edges. Does anyone know what could be causing this? If I didn’t know I had cleaned the surface well, I’d swear there was a thin oily surface under the new paint I’m putting on. Is it the surface or the paint? Should I sand the surface completely (I thought I’d try to get away with skipping that step, but perhaps I shouldn’t have).
Tom[V]
Fish eye
That’s it! Fish eye. What is the cause, and what can I do to prevent it? I am ashamed that someone with my experience should be having this problem, and worse, not knowing how to prevent it, or fix it after it’s done. Thank god it’s restricted to the gear doors and the hatch, because I wasn’t sure about this orange shade, and I wanted to start with the minor parts. Thanks, Glen.
Tom
I once tried painting a very highly polished auto body and the results were very BAD. It sounds like the same sort of problem - paint pulling away from the door panel, etc. Very light sanding with 1200 grit paper solved the problem.
I have used both MM acrylic thinner and alcohol to thin the paint, and I have never had this problem with either except with that one body.
Tom, Sorry to say this but you have to remove the paint and lightly sand and wash the surface . You may have some oil or grease on the part. Yet it may be that you have release still on the part.
clean you caintor and remix and try paint on a spare pice of material
don’t be ashamed it happoned t all of us lol . I was a painter for United and it happoned to me on a 727 what a mess. lol
On my way to do just that. Thanks a lot guys. I wish I had a way to show you the result, although if you’ve seen one photo of an X-1 model in Glamorous Glennis makeup, you’ve seen them all.
It’s not like it carries any weathering, or even panel lines, since these were filled on the real thing and the plane heavily waxed to cut down drag. I’m happy with it so far because I almost wrote this build off when I could not get the PE instrument panel to even go in the cockpit with a poor fit, until I read another post (I don’t know who you are, but God bless you) that said the only way to get that panel in was to cut off the rudder pedals. This Eduard Profipak I highly recommend, because the cockpit’s resin parts are beautifully molded and fit perfectly; ditto the resin wheels and tires. But, I spent half a day scratchbuilding an oxygen regulator using a bunch of tiny parts on the kit’s rewin disk representing the regulator. I even added a filiment from a smashed lightbulb I dipped in thick paint and allowed to dry (stil the best oxygen hose you can have for love or money). That beautiful regulator had to be sacrificed in the fitting. But, as you guys know, there are just some models you become attached to for reasons known only to you, and this is one of mine, so I don’t want to blow the finish.
Tom
BTW Glen, I wish you’d been around the other night when a thread got started with the question: How much weight was saved by removing the OD from the earliest B-29s. I know with modern jumbo jets that weight is pretty heavy, but wasn’t the lead based paint they used back then even heavier than our modern, synthetic-based paints? Can you give is a new thread on that subject when you get the time? I find that subject interesting, and surely I’m not the only one.
i can try but I have to do some resurc e again also I saw an Art. on the amount of Paint on the camo C5 … Was that an eye opener … the weight was close to 2000 lbs of paint. lol
Ah, then when I said the paint could add up to a ton on the B747 I wasn’t too far off. So it had to be at least 200-300 lbs. on a B-17, which was significant if you were trying to limp home with engines out.
very that was a big problem when Dolittle flew off the carrier need more fuel. even on the smaller planes the weight of the paint took away from the amount of time they could stay aloft.
The paint used today is lighter but still is significant on all a/c . just try this and see how significant … take any a/c you have an that you did not add weight to and find the balance point. then use the same finish , clear of matt , and just spray a little on the nose or tail section and watch the balance dhange. just think what it does to a real a/c when you paint a , small section , to the cg.even a small repair is weighed and has to be logged in the a/c log book of the plane . it changes the weight and balance a lot.
Glen S
Tom
Did you ever get the F3F paint job fixed?