Model paint question

Get a cheap kit, some paint, and try it out until you get it right.

I've got three ongoing Ferrari model projects that I've spent hundreds of hours on. It's worth thirty to fifty bucks worth of materials for practice and experimentation to make sure I don't botch all this hard work with bad paint jobs.

 

I have heard lots of folks are trying the "Duplicolor" primer from the automotive paint line at autozone, pep boys etc etc. I am currently trying it on a scrap body shell that I have.

Also I like to use the white primer, but it seem that Tamiya is the only one making white, everyone else uses grey.

I just bought the 1/12 Revell F2002...since it is pre painted...it will be my next project till Tamiya get there act together.

Ciao'

Steve

 

I've found the only primer to use is Tamiya Fine White, and Tamiya canned spray lacquers can even make me look like I know how to paint models.

I've got a Monogram '53 Chevy kit on the way in the mail-the tail light lenses are the closest thing I could find to use for a generic Ferrari 250 TDF Berlinetta that I'm kind of scratch building from a few other parts models I had.

I'll use the Chevy body to practice painting on.

 

Tamiya Fine white for Lights colors, Tamiya Fine Grey for darks. Its the best if your talking plastic kits. Some of the others will do the same job in the interim, but when a model sits on display for 12months, you will see a difference in the models. The Tamiya finish will stay the same, will the testors/modelmasters ones will eventually ruin the paintjob, trust me.
Basically, in anything in Hobbies, you cant go past Tamiya.
Cant you use Towerhobbies???

 

Popular recreational drug out there, eh? I'll check the price and let you know.

 

The testors will work fine under the Tamiya spray. The texture is more coarse, but a little bit of wet sanding with some 600 then 1000 grit paper will take care of this.

Just make sure the Testors is completely dry (4-5 days) before you spray the Tamiya over it. Also, don't sand thru any of the Testors or the TS color will bubble and craze over the exposed plastic.

California does indeed suck in regards to warning labels. I find it amusing that some products are "know to cause cancer in the state of California" but no in the other 49.

 

I have had 4 cans of primer on order with tower hobbies for over a month. At first they said early April...now it's late April. I found 1 can at my local hobby shop, but they said it would be there last as they are dropping the tamiya paint line =(


I will be glad when this is all resolved.....before long we will see cans of primer on ebay selling for $50!

Cheers'

Steve

 

www.hlj.com

 

I've also used plain white Krylon primer -- from grocery store, Home Depot, just about anywhere, $2-$3 for a big can. It's good if you've done lots of body alterations--"kustomizing"--because it's thicker and hides putty, but it also tends to obscure body detail.

When I resumed modelbuilding a few years ago, I discovered Tamiya products--they do make the absolute best in raw materials; a bit more $, but well worth it.

Best website out there for model car building:
http://www.briansmodelcars.com/index.asp

Alex Kustov, who built the awesome Lusso Berlinetta model that was the subject of a recent thread in this section of Fchat, is a regular contibutor and has posted some great tutorials on painting.