Search the Community

I just wanted to start what has been one of my favorite threads on airplane modeling forums. It’s not meant to brag or prove has the biggest modeling budget; I just like to see what other people are buying... Today I got the ‘50 Ford p/u with the Ardun flathead I’v been lusting over, a Caddy 354 parts pack motor, and some HOK “Burple” candy paint Casey

Got these 28 cans of Testors extreme lacquers at Joann fabrics $2.97 per can on clearance, I cleaned out both the stores that are close to me, less than $100 for all this, it would have cost $232 at Hobby Lobby I believe we figured I saved $140 and I thought it was an excellent deal!

I am trying my hand with airbrushing. I have watched several YouTube videos and tutorials, I think I have a basic understanding. I have also been messing around with watered down acrylic craft paints for my technique. If I get into doing this on my models which paints should I start off with for primer, color, and clear? I would love your knowledge in this subject?. Thanks, Elliot

i remember seeing it on the paint shelf at my hobby shop and thinking it was kinda funny that there was a can of sparkly clearcoat, but just now i started thiking of what it could be used for. is it ment to make non-metallic paints metallic? or to add a touch of snazz to windows?

I saw a couple of videos on Youtube about mixing mica powders with clear and airbrushing them. It looks like an economical way to get a whole bunch of cool metallic colors relatively cheaply. I did some research on Amazon and found a 63 color box of 10g each mica powders for $40. I also found a quart can of clear lacquer for $20. Today, I tried out a few of the colors with a rudimentary mixing ratio of 1/8 teaspoon of powder to 2ml of Mr Color Leveling thinner and 2ml of the relatively thick clear. The superfine powders mix with the thinner pretty well and then the clear was added. I shot it through a 0.5mm airbrush at 20 psi. It lays down like a typical tinted clear whereas you keep adding layers until the color is where you want it. It is very tolerant of running if you wait 15-20 seconds between applications of 6-7 passes. You can go heavier towards the end. When you are done, it looks really glossy. It dries in a couple of hours to a satin to semigloss sheen. I am sure with experimentation of ratios or technique, the gloss could be manipulated. As is, the sheen would be perfect to simulate a vinyl interior. Overall most colors that I tried look like 1/25 scale factory metallics. The few that have larger flecks in them have the "bass boat" look to them. The one pearl I tried really has a pearl effect with pink highlights and a light green aura. It just does not show in the pics. The other reason I got the mica powders was to try it as flocking for carpet. I have yet to do that. $60 for almost a lifetime of metallic paint colors is not a bad deal.

I've got a lot of Testors Racing Nascar color spray cans... never used or opened. Willing to trade all as a lot. 18 cans in total.

I did my first paint on a scale model car in 25 to 30 years. About 25+ years ago i started to assemble the MPC 1960 Flipnose Corvette but got side tracked by life. And at the time I needed to do some upgrades on my real life 1960 Corvette. A few weeks ago I decided to give my attempts at 3D modeling cars a bit of a rest and started to work on my MPC Flipnose. All the parts were present but a tire got welded to the hard top roof resting in the box over time. Did not know this could happen. I now place my parts in zip lock like bags. I primed the body with Rustoleum grey which seemed to take close to 2 weeks to dry. It was very humid in August. Last week I put a few coats of Krylon Short Cuts "Forever Blue" on the car and did some light sanding to remove some orange peel. Testors spay paints and bottle paints are in very short supply at the 3 local Michaels stores. A sales clerk about Tamiya paints believes Michaels never carried this line. We do have three other local model stores, but they are downtown, where a lot of the street parking meters were removed to give way to bike lanes. So parking in downtown Halifax is very limited. I believe the Krylon is enamel. Michaels sells Krylon arcylic clear. I can also purchase Rustoleum clear from Canadian Tire. Reading a few threads here by Dragownhwak1066 got me interested in acrylic craft paint as I do own a compressor and a few air brushes. So I purchased several bottles of acrylic paint from Michaels, Dollarama and Wallmart. So I picked up a 2 oz bottke of Decoart's DuraClean Gloss varnish. Of my options Decoart, Krlon or Rusloleum, Pledge floor polish which clear would you recommend? And if none, could some recommend a good clear coat? Is it wise to use acrylic clear over enamel if the intent is to protect the paint from chipping or scratching? Thanks kindly and many cheers from Nova Scotia....

Easy, cheap, works perfectly and fits any hobby paint bottle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7jwhy7neaI

Is it just me and my area, finding Model Master 'flat black' paint in stock, is like looking for TP. Is it the same for other brands, and other countries?

I have purchased this model Porsche . The listing says it’s made of resin. I want to repaint the numbers to “11” instead of 70. I have never painted a model car. How can I do this ? Do I need to remove the numbers first ? What paint and chemicals should I use ?

I am using Tamiya TS-43 Racing green to paint a model Bentley. I need a brush-on green to match that color. Tamiya has only X-5 - not a match. I can't find any Testors or Model Master that's close. Any suggestions?

Hello all, I'll looking for some extra info on using Tamiya's TS-59 color. Has anybody ever tried different base/primer colors and what were the results? I'd like the color to pop!! Any help will be greatly appreciated! MG

Has anyone tried the new Testors Color Shift paint? They come in 3 oz spay cans in 4 colors. I have only tested their Galaxy Blue. It shifts between blue and green depending on the angle to the light. You need to spray it over gloss black in two light coats. Anything heavier and the effect goes away (still a nice green color). The item painted goes from a medium green to a dark blue. When I used a clear coat on it it did take some of the color shift and gloss away. But once buffed it looked good. I will be painting a 1956 Chevy with it and when finished I will post photos of the paint job. I found it at Hobby Lobby (not sure if I can mention them). Not on EBay.

Anybody have experience with these?? Liquitex acrylic spray paint nozzle assortment Would like to know if they can work on other than Liquitex paint cans, hopefully primers.

Looking at the engine for my junior fueler, I noticed this on the front cover...it's corrosion/rust! I didn't put it there (obviously, the cover would be aluminum, so, why would I? ). I sprayed the part with Testors metalizer, many years ago. I'm not sure what the yellow is, but, the reddish-brown is rust. Therefore, I have concluded that some of the pigment was iron. Anybody ever seen this, before?

So I bought a. Compressor from Jarbor Freight hoping to avoid spending an excessive amount of money. I now have a dilemma of trying to connect my compressor to my air brush. Anymon her ever used this compressor and what did the use to connect the hose for the air brush? Any help would be appreciated.

So, yesterday I'm working on laying down the first color coats on the lindberg Dodge 330, for the "Bring out your dead" group build.... 3rd and final coat goes on smooth as butter and then poof the top of my brand new Tamiya paint stand falls off sending the body roof down into the floor! You all can imagine the scene I'm sure... The wife is at work, the dogs are asleep and it's been dead silent except the mild hum of my compressor for nearly 3hrs.... NIRVANA!! And then Murphy barges in and wrecks it. Anyone ever had this happen? I'm about to go back to pipe nipples...

If you're like me, you don't have the money or space for an airbrush setup. So I do all my body paint jobs with basic spray cans. I'm getting tired of getting a lot of orangepeel in the paint, and it ultimately leaving the paint looking unprofessional or unfinished. I want to try and start polishing the paint I work with from now on, but I'm very unsure of the best method. Should I use sandpaper, a buffing wheel with polishing compound, or a combination of the two? I'm also looking for a method that isn't too complicated, I'm not looking for show quality. Just something that can eliminate most of the orangepeel from coats of spray cans. Thanks.

Hello friends, after a long time suffering from the lack of space and the discomfort of keeping the paint cans in boxes I decided to make a small piece of furniture to store the paintings. It has a great capacity and the possibility of being able to store different types of boats and adapt their capacity to the boats that have a specific brand. Made the wooden structure, aluminum supports cut by laser and metallic guides to be able to extract the boats. Greetings and I hope you like it

I recently got an aqua '65 Continental promo that had been repainted orange. Several days in the purple pond took care of that, but it also removed the metallic finish the car originally had. What's a good way to bring it back? I was thinking of giving it a coat of Tamiya clear pearl; any other ideas? Thanks!

I purchased a spray can of Testors Gloss Custom Transparent Black and was attempting to create tinted windows. My first attempt on some clear taillight covers from the junk box came out great after two light coats. However when I tried some car windows the results were not nearly as good. I laid down the first thin coat perfectly, however I wanted a slightly darker tint, so just like the taillights I put a second thin coat on. It looked fine going down, but when I went back to see how it turned out... well it looks all spotty now. Is there anything I can do to fix this? What did I do wrong, so I don't make the same mistake again?? Thanks

Hey everyone- I just got back into the hobby that I used to enjoy as a kid. Picked up a few 1/25 car sets on clearance at my local hobby store and found that decision to be easy. However, I was completely overwhelmed by paint choices. I have a paasche model H and plan to spray most of the parts with that, aside from small details. I've watched a few videos and done some reading on the forum but I'm overwhelmed by the info. I want to be as frugal as possible with my paint choices for now and would like something airbrushable... which leads me to my broad and probably controversial questions: 1) What's the "go to" brand these days? 2) acrylic or enamel... or both? 3) most cost effective way and place to purchase?

I tried to paint a set of wheels with some Testors lacquer. Using my usual technique, the paint puddled in the low spots and the high spots looked like they had no paint. So I striped them, primed them, this time. And got the same result. I decanted some and tried air brushing several different parts, from my parts box. Thinking maybe the plastic of the wheels was the issue. Regardless of the pressure or amount of paint, I got the same thing. Is there a way to thicken the paint I have decanted? Maybe just a bad can of paint? I like the color, but right now, its completely useless. Any help would be appreciated

So I'm having another interesting problem with Scale Finishes paint. I am not sure it is specific to that brand. Here is the story. First, spoons. I very often test paint on plastic spoons. I bought a box of 1000 styrene spoons and have bene using them for years. Lately, the spoons show a glossy/not glossy pattern on them - see the photo below. This is with MANY different brands of paint, so I assume it is something to do with contamination in the plastic of the spoon. I tested the Dark Camel color from Scale Finishes on a spoon, and it exhibited the problem. After I applied the paint to the car, I noticed the same problem. See the photos - there are non-glossy patches on the body. This is after several light/medium coats of the paint, and it looked fantastic wet. As it dried, it got blotchy. Notice the picture of the hood, though - it looks great. Yeah it's orange-peely but this is before any gloscoat or sanding/polishing. --> What is going on with this blotchy paint!? Does anyone have any insight? Hoping that gloss coat would make it look right, I took my test soon and put on TWO medium/heavy coats of alclad clear kote, then a very heavy coat. When wet it looked like glass, but after it dried - blotchy. So it seems that no amount of clear coat is going to fix this. It is possible that the hood has more primer on it than the body. I had to fill dimples and depressions, and to cover the putty and sanding it took more primer. Is that the key? A lot more primer? Any help you all can give would be great. Thanks.

Hi Guys, Sorry if this has been asked before - I tried a quick search but couldn't see anything. I'm hoping to do a future model in pearl/flip paint but can't find much in terms of guidance on what to do, or indeed what not to do. I'm after a green/purple flip and can see Tamiya to a PS-46 which looks perfect, however it's stated as not for use on plastic models, only polycarb stuff. Does anyone have any recommendations on what to use, or if the PS stuff can be used, but in a certain way? Thanks!