Getting a good paint finish
Discussion
Preparation, preparation, preparation.
Doesn't matter if you're using Halfords' excellent range of aerosols or a jewel encrusted airbrush, if your preparation is off, you'll get a poor result.
Cleanliness. Make sure everything is clean. Really clean. That means grease (finger marks) as well as dust.
A light touch. Spray very light coats. Better to build up the finish than go in on full auto and cover everything in sight.
Temperature. Make sure your paint and model is warm. If the paint is cold, especially aerosols, you'll have trouble getting them to mix correctly. Make sure you can hear the balls rattle.
Environment. Well ventilated, draught free, clean are the watch words here.
There are some very good guides here;
Preparing a body for paint
Using rubbing compound
Full list of Guides at Automotive Forums
Most importantly, have fun doing it.
Doesn't matter if you're using Halfords' excellent range of aerosols or a jewel encrusted airbrush, if your preparation is off, you'll get a poor result.
Cleanliness. Make sure everything is clean. Really clean. That means grease (finger marks) as well as dust.
A light touch. Spray very light coats. Better to build up the finish than go in on full auto and cover everything in sight.
Temperature. Make sure your paint and model is warm. If the paint is cold, especially aerosols, you'll have trouble getting them to mix correctly. Make sure you can hear the balls rattle.
Environment. Well ventilated, draught free, clean are the watch words here.
There are some very good guides here;
Preparing a body for paint
Using rubbing compound
Full list of Guides at Automotive Forums
Most importantly, have fun doing it.
Try this link, it's a tutorial written by Alex Kustov who seems to be a bit of a legend with regards to car models!
http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/...
I followed these steps, using Halfords aerosols as Eric mentioned, and have got some results I'm pretty chuffed with! I'm usually left with some orange peel, but as long as you have 2 decent 'wet' coats you should have enough paint to flat it down and bring back the gloss with fine sandpapers and polishes. As halfords paint is car paint, you can use any T-cut or polish you already have for your real car which will save you a few quid. Note that halfords white primer doesn't seem to go down well on coloured plastics, so I use a coat of grey primer first then white.
BTW, the tutorial authors site is here: http://italianhorses.net/, he has done a caouple of Enzo's so you can compare!
Hope that helps!
http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/...
I followed these steps, using Halfords aerosols as Eric mentioned, and have got some results I'm pretty chuffed with! I'm usually left with some orange peel, but as long as you have 2 decent 'wet' coats you should have enough paint to flat it down and bring back the gloss with fine sandpapers and polishes. As halfords paint is car paint, you can use any T-cut or polish you already have for your real car which will save you a few quid. Note that halfords white primer doesn't seem to go down well on coloured plastics, so I use a coat of grey primer first then white.
BTW, the tutorial authors site is here: http://italianhorses.net/, he has done a caouple of Enzo's so you can compare!
Hope that helps!
I've gone off Aerosols now, at least for small models. The atomisation of paint from an aerosol nozzle is nothing like as consistent and fine as can be achieved with a decent airbrush.
I found that, with a can, if I spray very light coats, the paint doesn't flow well enough, and the surface is rough. If you put a thicker coat on, surface tension takes over, and sharp edge detail doesn't cover well (making washes very difficult to get right), and after several coats trying to overcome this, the paint becomes so thick that surface detail is lost.
Not so much of a problem for larger models, but for a 1:24 scale car, if you really want the best finish, buy or borrow a good quality airbrush.
EDIT: You also said you were struggling to get a good finish, implying you'd painted it already. If this is a case you must strip or flat all the old paint. On a 1:24 car, I'd advocate stripping it completely and starting again.
I found that, with a can, if I spray very light coats, the paint doesn't flow well enough, and the surface is rough. If you put a thicker coat on, surface tension takes over, and sharp edge detail doesn't cover well (making washes very difficult to get right), and after several coats trying to overcome this, the paint becomes so thick that surface detail is lost.
Not so much of a problem for larger models, but for a 1:24 scale car, if you really want the best finish, buy or borrow a good quality airbrush.
EDIT: You also said you were struggling to get a good finish, implying you'd painted it already. If this is a case you must strip or flat all the old paint. On a 1:24 car, I'd advocate stripping it completely and starting again.
Edited by dr_gn on Tuesday 26th January 11:28
konamonkey said:
Has anyone had any luck decanting Halfords spray paint and firing this through an airbrush? I'm sure I read that with suitable thinning this was possible. Not sure what to thin halfords paint with though.....
Pretty sure you can spray it directly into your airbrush reservoir and spray it without any additional thinning.You'll want to leave it for a while after spraying into your preferred container to allow the propellant gases to go away though and for all the air to bubble up to the surface. It's easier to do this if the jar you are spraying into is in a bath of warm water.
Also, it's a bit cleaner to spray through a drinking straw (think fat McDonalds variety).
Also, it's a bit cleaner to spray through a drinking straw (think fat McDonalds variety).
tim-b said:
Try this link, it's a tutorial written by Alex Kustov who seems to be a bit of a legend with regards to car models!
http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/...
I followed these steps, using Halfords aerosols as Eric mentioned, and have got some results I'm pretty chuffed with! I'm usually left with some orange peel, but as long as you have 2 decent 'wet' coats you should have enough paint to flat it down and bring back the gloss with fine sandpapers and polishes. As halfords paint is car paint, you can use any T-cut or polish you already have for your real car which will save you a few quid. Note that halfords white primer doesn't seem to go down well on coloured plastics, so I use a coat of grey primer first then white.
BTW, the tutorial authors site is here: http://italianhorses.net/, he has done a caouple of Enzo's so you can compare!
Hope that helps!
you are certainly right - the guy from italian horses is a legend, his enzo is amazing! that tutorial i had never seen before and is very usefulhttp://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/...
I followed these steps, using Halfords aerosols as Eric mentioned, and have got some results I'm pretty chuffed with! I'm usually left with some orange peel, but as long as you have 2 decent 'wet' coats you should have enough paint to flat it down and bring back the gloss with fine sandpapers and polishes. As halfords paint is car paint, you can use any T-cut or polish you already have for your real car which will save you a few quid. Note that halfords white primer doesn't seem to go down well on coloured plastics, so I use a coat of grey primer first then white.
BTW, the tutorial authors site is here: http://italianhorses.net/, he has done a caouple of Enzo's so you can compare!
Hope that helps!
following from this thread, i am in the process of painting a 1:43 Mclaren f1 GTR, with a lot of decaling to do. I had a few questions about the polishing & waxing process. i didnt know at what point I should apply the decals and wax
Depending on whether you do too, it might be worth a quick read of this thread and a few questions I asked about how to go about it, quite useful!
http://www.f1m.com/main/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&am...
and the thread about the mclaren..
http://www.f1m.com/main/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&a...
eta - just realised its an enzo with not much decaling, a bit of polish on any carbon decals might make them shine abit - any hope this helps someone !
Edited by 11110111 on Wednesday 27th January 20:58
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