1/20 Tamiya Lotus Type 79

[handiabled]

That looks smooth as silk!

[joelw]

The primer looks really good. Not quite super smooth as one of it's main functions is to give the 1st color coat some "tooth" to grab on to, but certainly smooth enough not to cause any issues. Being me, I do give the primer coat a light sanding with a 3000 Tamiya sponge.

My two go to primers are Mr. Color and Tamiya as both are lacquer based as both look, and air brush exactly the same.

joel

[greg]

I got lost. Didn't you have that pontoon assy painted, decaled and polished? I see where you mentioned strip and redo, but I missed the reason somewhere.

I might have to try the Mr Color Primer. I took to using Stynylrez several years back, and I just gave up on it after ruining the same assy you just primed in black, here at my end. Looking for a lacquer or acrylic lacquer I can spray straight out of the bottle.

At the risk of sidetracking your build thread, as there is a lot of car building talent reading, what primers do y'all favor?

[project510]

Oct 20, 2024 4:39:35 GMT -5 handiabled said:

That looks smooth as silk!

It does!

Oct 20, 2024 7:26:00 GMT -5 joelw said:

The primer looks really good. Not quite super smooth as one of it's main functions is to give the 1st color coat some "tooth" to grab on to, but certainly smooth enough not to cause any issues. Being me, I do give the primer coat a light sanding with a 3000 Tamiya sponge.

My two go to primers are Mr. Color and Tamiya as both are lacquer based as both look, and air brush exactly the same.

joel

Yea I do the exact same. Primer, wet sand at 3k dry for a day then start the paint process. At least thats what I do

Oct 20, 2024 8:37:09 GMT -5 greg said:

I got lost. Didn't you have that pontoon assy painted, decaled and polished? I see where you mentioned strip and redo, but I missed the reason somewhere.

I might have to try the Mr Color Primer. I took to using Stynylrez several years back, and I just gave up on it after ruining the same assy you just primed in black, here at my end. Looking for a lacquer or acrylic lacquer I can spray straight out of the bottle.

At the risk of sidetracking your build thread, as there is a lot of car building talent reading, what primers do y'all favor?

The decals were terrible. Paint really good in some areas, really bad in others. This kit was very first try at anything decal related and being this intricate, it was too soon haha. I messed them all up. I have a set of indycals for this. I'm going to use those and pray for the best haha!

[greg]

Got it, James.

FWIW, even though the decals on my lotus version are nothing compared to your black beauty, I'm in the middle of the same thing on the hood of mine. If I ever stop thinking about it and make some progress, I'll post something.

[joelw]

Greg,
Both the Tamiya and Mr. Color lacquer primers are readily available in rattle cans, as their extensive line of clear coats. what's more if they have a primer color for air brush, they also have it in a rattle can.

And I'll confess that I use the rattle cans for both primers and clears for my Model Railroad as painting and weathering processes are completely different then plastic modeling. As an example I need to seal every layer of a series of washes before the next layer. A rattle can works great for this as just the thought of having to stop and clean out one of my air brushes multiple times during a long work session usually causes me to find another project sooner then later.

joel

[greg]

Joel,

Thanks for your thoughts on primers. I've taken to grabbing the rattle can of Tamiya fine or extra fine lately, and I agree with you, it's sure convenient.....and it does a remarkable job.

Sometimes I ponder what goes into learning airbrushing, and I still mess up after all these years. But it seems with rattle cans, so long as we follow the basics and keep the can moving, results are amazing and predictable.

[project510]

Oct 20, 2024 12:42:47 GMT -5 greg said:

Joel,

Thanks for your thoughts on primers. I've taken to grabbing the rattle can of Tamiya fine or extra fine lately, and I agree with you, it's sure convenient.....and it does a remarkable job.

Sometimes I ponder what goes into learning airbrushing, and I still mess up after all these years. But it seems with rattle cans, so long as we follow the basics and keep the can moving, results are amazing and predictable.

I love the rattle cans. When its late, and I know ill get lazy about cleaning I use the rattle can primers. I have used the Tamiya stuff for a long time. Keep multiple cans of white and grey on hand at all times. It does go down a bit thicker. So if you are doing something the requires saving as much detail as possible, that would be a good reason for the airbrush. The Tamiya cans, spray wonderful. Its just a heavy high pressure coat. So as long as you know that, they work great.

[greg]

Good points, all, James.

I especially like the parts about using rattle cans when late/lazy. I am one to walk away after having about enough airbrush cleans for one day, and also the bit about using the a/b when detail preservation is important.

Good stuff, thanks.

[406 Silverado]

Dang it man!! You are having a whale of a time with this build James. I am glad to see this one back in action again bud.
Will be watching this round of painting.

PS: I am learning a TON watching this build.

[joelw]

Greg,
There's nothing hard about basic air brushing. Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can. My method works 95% of the time, and it's easy to repeat. The other 5% is making friends with Alcad Metallics.

I don't want to hi-jack James thread with a air brush post.

joel

[project510]

Oct 20, 2024 17:01:24 GMT -5 joelw said:

Greg,
There's nothing hard about basic air brushing. Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can. My method works 95% of the time, and it's easy to repeat. The other 5% is making friends with Alcad Metallics.

I don't want to hi-jack James thread with a air brush post.

joel

I posted this thread a while back, seems relevant if Greg is thinking about getting into airbrushing. Airbrush Recommendations Feel free to post away in there. Good airbrush info in there also.

[project510]

Got a decent bit accomplished today in between the boys Tennis practice and other household duties. 

[kyledehart5]

Primer looks awesome James!! That is my primer of choice ans well. It lays down so nicely. Your paint will look wonderful on top of that. And you have some nice work going on there on the tub too too.

[joelw]

james,
The primer coat looks perfect with just a little tooth to it. And thanks for the ok to post my air brush technique for Greg to try.

joel

[greg]

James, just wanted to mention that I am slowly working my way through the build thread from the start, and it is so very helpful to me as I am building the same kit. Just reviewed your first shot at the finish paint in Oct '23. What a beautiful finish you got on that hood.

Anyway, point being, thank you for this WIP thread. It is so very helpful to me.

[joelw]

Greg,
I'll try to keep my air brushing tutorial as short and simple as possible.

Airbrush: Top gravity feed, .3mm needle setup for primer, color & Metallics coats. .5mm setup for clearcoats. 18-20 PSI when you have the trigger depressed for a correct flow rate of air.

Primer & Colors: Standardize of Tamiya and Mr. Color Lacquer. For Mr. Color use their 1500. thin 50/50 with Mr Leveler # 400 which has their leveling agent already added.

Clear Coats: Tamiya lacquer LP 9 or Mr. Color clear coats. thin 50/50. Final wet coats thin 40/60.

Metallics from Tamiya and Mr. Color 50/50 mix. Alcad 2 straight from the bottle but at a flow rate of 12-14 PSI

Pre-thinned paints follow their directions on the bottles, but they seem to be all over the place. Gravity works best at 20 PSI while Scale Finishes recommends 25 psi. Always test for what works for you.

For air brushing always use a tack coat to start. Never, ever fload the paint on. Use light, consistent coats to build up an even coat per pass. Don't stop and do one spot over, and don't go back. Just consistent passes. Give the paint/primer 5 min between coats to dry and gas off. There's no hard fast rule as to how many coats are needed. I've gotten great coverage a few times with as little as 3 coats, but usually I need 4-6 coats. All Lacquer paints are Matt, so don't go looking for a super gloss finish and flooding on the paint.

For clear coats, I use 1 or 2 tack coats, 2 or 3 semi wet coats, and 2 wet coats. For wet coats open up the paint flow rate a tad and slow down your passes but don't stop and flood an area.

For primer I give it 24 hours then lightly wet sand with Tamiya 3000 sponge. Color coats I give it 2-3 days to cure and gas out, then depending on the surface start finish I give it a light wet standing with 6,000-8000. For gloss I give it 4-5 days to cure, then give it a full set of we emery cloth starting at 4,000 or 6,000 right to 12,000. Then the polishing system of your choice. I do wax the finish at the end of the build only.

Hope that this helps with all the confusion out there. The key is to stick to one set of standards and not watch a vid then try to duplicate what you saw. That almost always leeds to a disaster.

joel

[greg]

Joel, we cross posted. I saw your reply above before I typed the stuff the below comment. I just took a quick look at your airbrushing tips and let me say that is JUST the sort of input I've been looking/hoping for!!! You managed to hit a major problem of mine on the head, too. I'm all the time trying new products, techiques, and never getting proficient with any of them. I think that is why I never get anything done!

Thanks so much for that Mini-tutorial, I'm printing it out and taping it on the side of my spray booth as soon as I hit send!

Below is the comment I posted before I saw your tutorial...............................

__________________________________________________________

Just to make sure I haven't misled anyone, I'm not new to airbrushing, but I am new to shiny car finishes. First/last one I tried (as an adult, I mean) was a few years back when I put a final coat of f.....f......future (think of Fonzie trying to say "wrong" or Maynard G Krebs attempting to say "work" here) over Alclad gloss black and ended up with spiderwebbing. That, by the way, is the day I stopped using f...f...future.

So in a way, I guess I am new, to the extent of learning to use spray solvent based paints and clear coats properly. And I am an absolute newbie at sanding/polishing sanding for a car quality finish. And I'm having an unexpected problem with clear coats over decals on these shiny cars which has taken me completely by surprise. More on that once I've decaled and attempted to clear coat my hood, just as James did a year ago.

I'll take whatever help I can get. I'll try to post some pics of where I'm at on my own Lotus '79 pic over in my thread today to give y'all a better feel for my trials and tribulations.

I'm going to make a priority to get something posted over at my build thread so we can get on with following James progress here.

[joelw]

Greg,
Looking forward to checking out your build thread. As for my mini tutorial, I'm glad that I could be of some help. Feel free to ask any and all questions at ant time.

I still have my bottle of Future which I do use for clear instrument lenses as it does dry super fast and clear. But that's all I use it for.

As for decaling, I've posted about laying down a gloss surface prior to decaling, which isn't necessary. What you need is a almost smooth surface with a touch of tooth, that's why I use a 3000 Tamiya sponge. It's the nooks and crannies that trap air and cause silvering, and no amount of running a Q tip over those spots will completely work. I use the same exact decaling procedures now as when I was a military aircraft modeler. Same issues always resulted in a poor prepped surface. Enough gloss will surely help fill those crannies but it also fills all the recessed panel lines, etc. Try soaking the decal in very warm to almost hot water to soften it prior to placing it on the model. You'll be amazed how it handles compound curves without the usual battle.

  And since you've been a military modeler and use to air brushing, gloss finishes are move about a consistent surface application rather then working one area at a time depending on the  paint camo pattern.  

joel

[project510]

Oct 21, 2024 7:28:46 GMT -5 greg said:

James, just wanted to mention that I am slowly working my way through the build thread from the start, and it is so very helpful to me as I am building the same kit. Just reviewed your first shot at the finish paint in Oct '23. What a beautiful finish you got on that hood.

Anyway, point being, thank you for this WIP thread. It is so very helpful to me.

Glad I could help! You will do just fine on your build. Cant wait to see yours all done!

[project510]

Got a little further on the tub last night, but either my computer was having problems or forum was down because it wouldnt load. Either way, here we go.

[greg]

Front end looks great, James!

Not sure what the gizmo at the top right is (fuel pump, maybe??), but I surely like your detail painting on it.

[joelw]

James,
The tub is really coming along quite nicely.

joel

[handiabled]

Oct 21, 2024 9:21:00 GMT -5 project510 said:

Got a little further on the tub last night, but either my computer was having problems or forum was down because it wouldnt load. Either way, here we go.

Great looking paint work on all of the detail! ProBoards was having a little issue with a few forums last night but got it squared away fast.

[project510]

Oct 21, 2024 9:47:45 GMT -5 greg said:

Front end looks great, James!

Not sure what the gizmo at the top right is (fuel pump, maybe??), but I surely like your detail painting on it.

Thank you! Yea, Fuel pump. Last year when I started the build I was going to get all fancy and add braided lines and all that. I'm going all simple now and just out of box parts. Focus on keeping it nice and clean.

Oct 21, 2024 10:20:35 GMT -5 joelw said:

James,
The tub is really coming along quite nicely.

joel

Thank you, Joel!

Oct 21, 2024 10:24:12 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Oct 21, 2024 9:21:00 GMT -5 project510 said:

Got a little further on the tub last night, but either my computer was having problems or forum was down because it wouldnt load. Either way, here we go.

Great looking paint work on all of the detail! ProBoards was having a little issue with a few forums last night but got it squared away fast.

Thanks, Brent! Got it. I thought so. I checked ProBaords status but they said there were no issues. I also only waited like 10 minutes lol. I was also tired, and opted for an early bed time haha.

[greg]

Joel, thanks for the confirm on the fuel pump.

[joelw]

Greg,
The credit for the fuel pump was from James, although I'm pretty sure that's what it as it's located right on top of the fuel tank.

joel

[project510]

Waiting for a bazillion small parts to dry, so no major work tonight. For fun here is a little mock up. Its a shame all of this will be covered up haha. It looks really cool. So far, the fit on this kit is what I expect from Tamiya. Total precision.

[armornutii]

  Cool, mine ain't gonna look that good AND it's twices as big LOL.

[project510]

Oct 21, 2024 22:27:15 GMT -5 armornutii said:

  Cool, mine ain't gonna look that good AND it's twices as big LOL.

Yes it will! You got this!