What’s your favorite clear red paint?

[Monty]

I’d like to confine this discussion to hobby paints. As for usage, anything from detailing chromed tail lights to candy red paint jobs.

Over the years a number of these have been readily available-in fact Testors once offered two clear red spray paints.  I was disappointed to discover they both had a mild pinkish tinge to them and haven’t used them since.
 

In my limited experience with Tamiya acrylics, their clear red paint seemed to lean a little toward orange unless you buried it in multiple coats.

Humbrol clear red seems to work well for painting over chrome tail lights but I have yet to spray it over a larger surface like a car body.

I know there are all kinds of new paint lines out there.  Whose clear red do you like? Pics would be great if ya got ‘em.

 

 

 

 

[stitchdup]

i like the humbrol clears for older cars. their orange has that slight brown tinge like older lenses from the mid 70s back and the red is a little darker. for newer cars i like the tamiya clears. they just look more modern and less dirty

[stitchdup]

Just now, stitchdup said:

i like the humbrol clears for older cars. their orange has that slight brown tinge like older lenses from the mid 70s back and the red is a little darker. for newer cars i like the tamiya clears. they just look more modern and less dirty

also, the humbrol clears are not enamel, they are celulose paints

[Mike 1017]

I use the Wicked Transparents

Mike

[Bainford]

I am interested to hear the responses to this question. I used Tamiya acrylic for years, but as you said, it requires heavy coats to achieve a pleasing red. It also never hardens. These two qualities make it impossible to do a decent job of masking and detailing a tail light lens, especially when the clear orange has the same qualities. When the Tamiya lacquer bottles showed up, I was eager to try the clear paints, but disappointed to find they behave exactly the same as the acrylics. I have lately been seeking alternatives with better colour saturation that go on thinner and will properly dry/harden to allow masking.

Has anyone tried the Alclad clear red, orange, or amber? I am curious to know how they perform relative to the Tamiya clear colours.

[espo]

My default paint would be a Tamiya product based on the results thru the years. As mentioned, the Clear Red, and any of their clear colors for that matter, need to be thoroughly mixed before using. Try using a stirrer like a toothpick or a small coffee type stir stick to get the pigment that settles on the bottom of the jar mixed with the clear. This will make each light coat of color actually better cover say the kit chrome lenses. This has seemed to work better for mixing than trying to shake the bottle until your wrist wants to fall off.  

[jaymcminn]

Tamiya LP lacquer clears thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner are fantastic for airbrushing. It takes multiple coats to build up the color but the results are excellent.

[DJMar]

I've been using Tamiya clear acrylics for years. They're readily available, which is one thing keeps them on my workbench.

I think a lot of complaints about these paints come from using jars that are not thoroughly mixed. When I buy a new bottle, I drop in one or two BBs (actually slingshot ammo) to act as an agitator. When I need to use them, I will shake them for a minute or so, let them settle for a few more minutes, and then gently stir the paint with a small stir stick. Yes, you do need to build up the color with multiple coats, especially if you want a deep red. But they're my first choice.

I still have a few of the old Testor's clear red sprays laying about, and I have used that paint, decanted and sprayed through my airbrush. It works. It's also a lot of work to spray small parts like that.

MCW does have a few enamel transparent paints in their line. Years ago, I used their transparent red as a topcoat over a silver base and I liked it a lot. I'm not sure how it would work on clear or chrome parts - I didn't use it that way - but the paint certainly had nice coverage and good depth when sprayed on a car body.

[TransAmMike]

I've used Mr Color and Createx with good results. I like Mr Hobby paints. 

[Monty]

1 hour ago, TransAmMike said:

I've used Mr Color and Createx with good results. I like Mr Hobby paints. 

I've heard nothing but good about the Mr Color lines and I've seen some of your work with acrylics (IIRC a Cutlass for one) so I'll keep these in mind as well.

[Monty]

2 hours ago, DJMar said:

I've been using Tamiya clear acrylics for years. They're readily available, which is one thing keeps them on my workbench.

I think a lot of complaints about these paints come from using jars that are not thoroughly mixed. When I buy a new bottle, I drop in one or two BBs (actually slingshot ammo) to act as an agitator. When I need to use them, I will shake them for a minute or so, let them settle for a few more minutes, and then gently stir the paint with a small stir stick. Yes, you do need to build up the color with multiple coats, especially if you want a deep red. But they're my first choice.

I still have a few of the old Testor's clear red sprays laying about, and I have used that paint, decanted and sprayed through my airbrush. It works. It's also a lot of work to spray small parts like that.

MCW does have a few enamel transparent paints in their line. Years ago, I used their transparent red as a topcoat over a silver base and I liked it a lot. I'm not sure how it would work on clear or chrome parts - I didn't use it that way - but the paint certainly had nice coverage and good depth when sprayed on a car body.

My go-to paint mixer is my trusty Badger 

There shouldn't be anything left unmixed after using one of these.  OTOH Barbatos Rex (my hobby hero) has used your approach, but with hematite balls.  

I'm old-school and still love enamels so I'm thinking of exploring the MCW line.  If you get a chance and can find the car you used their clear red on, I'd love to see it.  

[Monty]

3 hours ago, jaymcminn said:

Tamiya LP lacquer clears thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner are fantastic for airbrushing. It takes multiple coats to build up the color but the results are excellent.

Kinda hard to argue with those results.  How many coats did it take to get that shade?  Same paints for the tail lights? 

[DJMar]

1 minute ago, Monty said:

I'm old-school and still love enamels so I'm thinking of exploring the MCW line.  If you get a chance and can find the car you used their clear red on, I'd love to see it.  

I would love to share it, but it was a model I built for someone as a gift. I don't think I took any pictures that I still might have. It was a commission build, so I'm not even sure of where it ended up!

[Monty]

15 hours ago, stitchdup said:

i like the humbrol clears for older cars. their orange has that slight brown tinge like older lenses from the mid 70s back and the red is a little darker. for newer cars i like the tamiya clears. they just look more modern and less dirty

Their clear orange is a distinctly different shade than Tamiya's, but I think that gives us choices as not all turn signals are the same. 

Curious what you meant by the Tamiya clears looking "less dirty".

[Monty]

Just the one Humbrol user?  I always found it interesting that they offered tins of clear red, clear orange and clear green but no clear blue.  Fortunately Revell's got that covered for us.  

[jaymcminn]

1 hour ago, Monty said:

Kinda hard to argue with those results.  How many coats did it take to get that shade?  Same paints for the tail lights? 

Sorry, this pic was actually to point out the taillights...the body color is Tamiya Mica Red over pink primer. I masked the clear section of the taillights and then airbrushed the orange. Probably about 5 thin coats. I then let it dry for a couple of days, masked off the orange areas and then hit it with the red. The orange provided a nice base coat for the red to grab onto and it only took about 3 coats to get the color I wanted. 

 

[Monty]

39 minutes ago, jaymcminn said:

Sorry, this pic was actually to point out the taillights...the body color is Tamiya Mica Red over pink primer. I masked the clear section of the taillights and then airbrushed the orange. Probably about 5 thin coats. I then let it dry for a couple of days, masked off the orange areas and then hit it with the red. The orange provided a nice base coat for the red to grab onto and it only took about 3 coats to get the color I wanted. 

 

Nice build!  Thanks for providing a pic of your work.  To a novice like myself who hasn't used these Tamiya LP paints yet, the dry time you posted seems long, but I'd guess this probably provides a better prepared surface for masking.  Also, as I've said before, it's hard to argue with good results.  

 

[stitchdup]

6 hours ago, Monty said:

Their clear orange is a distinctly different shade than Tamiya's, but I think that gives us choices as not all turn signals are the same. 

Curious what you meant by the Tamiya clears looking "less dirty".

i just think the humbrol matches older cars better. the old clear plastics weren't as crisp as modern clear plastic

[Dave G.]

If you want the Tamiya clear red to be a deeper red then drop in a little of their clear blue. Don't over do it, just a couple of drops at a time into whatever volume of the clear red you're using.. I've taken it all the way to a cranberry clear, then shot it over rose gold. For tail lights I brush it directly from the bottle.

Also the shade of silver you put it over can matter a lot.

A tutorial could be written on using the Createx Whicked transparent colors or otherwise, paint. But done right they can be a great choice. As far as for tail lights, all I'll say is that  the Candy 2o used in it's carrier base will stick awesome to chrome and give the desired refectivity. But the transparent color or Tamiya are a much simpler choice, and effective enough.

Edited November 14, 2024 by Dave G.

[Monty]

5 hours ago, Dave G. said:

If you want the Tamiya clear red to be a deeper red then drop in a little of their clear blue. Don't over do it, just a couple of drops at a time into whatever volume of the clear red you're using.. I've taken it all the way to a cranberry clear, then shot it over rose gold. For tail lights I brush it directly from the bottle.

Also the shade of silver you put it over can matter a lot.

A tutorial could be written on using the Createx Whicked transparent colors or otherwise, paint. But done right they can be a great choice. As far as for tail lights, all I'll say is that  the Candy 2o used in it's carrier base will stick awesome to chrome and give the desired refectivity. But the transparent color or Tamiya are a much simpler choice, and effective enough.

Hadn't thought or heard of that as a means of darkening paint but will definitely try it.  Taking it to "cranberry" range is intriguing.

I generally prefer to undercoat my candy reds with gold, but have seen silver, copper and bronze used to great effect.

IIRC you're one of the people on here who've mastered the use of Wicked paints.  Some stuff I've read about them suggests a steep learning curve, but the results speak for themselves.

[Dave G.]

18 hours ago, Monty said:

Hadn't heard of that as a means of darkening paint but will definitely try it.  Taking it to "cranberry" range is intriguing.

I generally prefer to undercoat my candy reds with gold, but have seen silver, copper and bronze used to great effect.

IIRC you're one of the people on here who've mastered the use of Wicked paints.  Some stuff I've read about them suggests a steep learning curve, but the results speak for themselves.

Just go easy adding the clear blue. Bits at a time. I think you will like the result a lot. I'm thinking I got to cranberry at someplace around 1/4 the content of color being blue. But this was three years ago, I'm 74 ? Take it from there lol !

As to Createx: Not as bad as you may think in terms of models. Their entire line is vast and they cover painting fabrics to 1/1 automobile and Motorcycles. To absorb all that can screw with your head ! In between there is us modelers though, and general artists etc. Ok, that said, to me the magic bullet folks miss with models is one additive, that crosses the acrylic paint over to poly acrylic. And that's their #4030 balancing clear ( you can use 4050 as well but it's thicker, though UV protected). Anyway, just 10-15% of BC added to the mix, converts the paint to where it not just sticks to hard surfaces but it gives a hard shell finish and loses that rubbery or tacky feel folks complain about with Createx. 4030 can be used across all ranges of Createx colors. I've made my own reducer that kind of falls between Createx 4011 and their 4013, as based off the Data sheets. But now Createx has come out with 4021, to me trumping all of them, not that the others don't work. 4021 is just hitting the shelves now as we speak.

I've also had personal dealings with Dennis, one of the owners. As it turned out, after we tested, he determined my problem bottle of paint had frozen someplace in it's life chain. He didn't just replace that paint but added items he knew I use or wanted to try. I thanked him for the " care package" lol. In all I think we spoke twice, and emailed about 5 time. Issue resolved. Hah, now I need a 58 Chevy to use the paint on.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2024 by Dave G.

[Mothersworry]

Alclad Candy red over Alclad silver base. 2K clear next...

[deuces wild]

On 11/13/2024 at 10:44 AM, espo said:

My default paint would be a Tamiya product based on the results thru the years. As mentioned, the Clear Red, and any of their clear colors for that matter, need to be thoroughly mixed before using. Try using a stirrer like a toothpick or a small coffee type stir stick to get the pigment that settles on the bottom of the jar mixed with the clear. This will make each light coat of color actually better cover say the kit chrome lenses. This has seemed to work better for mixing than trying to shake the bottle until your wrist wants to fall off.  

Stainless steel BB's in the bottle work great in this situation....?

[deuces wild]

2 hours ago, Mothersworry said:

Alclad Candy red over Alclad silver base. 2K clear next...

That's beautiful!....??

[deuces wild]

I saved these 4 pictures from a modeler on here... A BIG thanks for posting these on his build thread...??...

I believe he used a metallic silver for a base coat...

Edited November 15, 2024 by deuces wild