A couple of less than perfect Deuces

Dunno if this should be here or in the 'hints' section.

Here's one of my stuff-ups. This was my first time using water based paints. All went well until the blue decided it didn't want to cover. I figured the white primer may have been toe wrong base. Instead of stripping it and starting over I just added more paint until it seemed OK.



Once the blue was dry, like a couple of weeks later I masked it off and sprayed the yellow. It covered better and all was looking good. Until I removed the masking, to find that the glue or something had attacked the blue.



Since it was already stuffed I did a quickie paint job on the drive-train and assembled it. I kinda like it so I've hung on to it anyhow.



Another lesson I learned from this one is that the hot rod louvred bonnet sides from the roadster don't fit when the fenders are installed. Found that out after the paint was done too. Only other 'mods' were lowering the front suspension and using the wheels from the roadster


This little red AMT 5 window came out a little better, but again I had paint trouble. It was supposed to be red but dried more orange, so I thinned some clear red and sprayed that over the top to get what turned out to be a very red red.



As you can see I did this one the way we did them in the old days and I was relatively pleased with it, although again I rushed a couple of things and messed them up. The grille is a one piece resin number from the Parts Box, painted then foiled. I used the same water based black wash as I do with normal chrome grilles but instead of settling into the low spots, it just stuck to the Bare Metal Foil like paint.



The Hemi fits in the AMT deuce roadster chassis so I figured it'd be a cinch to use here. Bugger, it all went well enough but I didn't test fit the headers. Admittedly they are probably too low because of the aftermarket dropped front axle and custom cross-member I installed to get it even lower. I guess I'll remember to check next time.



This was the first time I used solder to make an exhaust system, well to join the headers to the aluminium tubing tailpipes and at least that worked out OK.



My one dislike about how this one turned out is the front axle, it's a resin copy from The Parts Box, and it looks great but I think I added too much weight as the ends tend to bend and give the car too much negative camber. I guess that's a problem with resin axles, coz I've never struck it with plastic and the white-metal ones are really strong.

shame about the paint on the 1st 1 carps, its a great colour combo and a really good looking 32...

They're both very nice models as usual Carps. I've seen this happen before with blue paint - if the pigment isn't mixed thoroughly and for long enough it won't cling to tightly radiused curves or grooves.

Was the acrylic paint hand brushed or sprayed? Was the undercoat flat finish? When I started spraying from cans I had to shake them for ages and then warm them in warm water before I could get full coverage. Sometimes I would use a hand dry-brush technique to paint grooves and curved areas first before spray-applying a final smooth top coat.

Also the type of masking tape makes a big difference - Tamiya have a very thin low tack tape that is good, and there's also a professional blue coloured tape used by painters, but you would have to trim that to size.

Painting isn't easy on any model - I finally got myself an airbrush and then things started to work better, because I had more control, but it is of course very messy and airbrushes need heaps of cleaning to make sure they keep working OK.

tezza43 wrote:Was the acrylic paint hand brushed or sprayed?

Airbrushed.

Was the undercoat flat finish?

Smooth sanded primer.

When I started spraying from cans I had to shake them for ages and then warm them in warm water before I could get full coverage.

One of the first things I learned in Paint Technology classes. I usually hit the spray cans with my heat gun before shaking/stirring. It softens the gunk in the bottom of the can and aids mixing.

Sometimes I would use a hand dry-brush technique to paint grooves and curved areas first before spray-applying a final smooth top coat.

That's a good idea, the paint sprayed on will flow into any grooves and should polish up OK. I may have to give this methoid a try. Thanx.

Also the type of masking tape makes a big difference - Tamiya have a very thin low tack tape that is good, and there's also a professional blue coloured tape used by painters, but you would have to trim that to size.

Both are in my arsenall and I think it was the Tamiya tape that I had trouble with. Has never happened since, although I've not tried to spray this brand of paint since. Only other time I used it was as a single colour on a '36 coupe. Had the same issue with coverage no matter how much I applied.

Painting isn't easy on any model - I finally got myself an airbrush and then things started to work better, because I had more control, but it is of course very messy and airbrushes need heaps of cleaning to make sure they keep working OK.

Yup, it's tricky in all scales and you need more than one airbrush. A few combinations of tips and needles for various types of paint is also important. Sometimes for a body job, I'll decant from the spray can and use one of my 1/1 scale touch up guns, I've grown particularly fond of the HVLP equipment.

I haven't tried high volume low pressure spray guns but I hear they are easy to operate and obviously they give good results. My spray equipment is over 35 years old - I use a Binks airbrush (from my art school days) with multiple choices of needles for thick or thin paints, and a 3-cfm piston type electric compressor. I have to buy spare parts from overseas now. I generally use 30-psi of pressure for high gloss enamel and 25-psi for acrylics.

I still have a couple of Binks guns I bought when an apprentice,, the bakelite handle on one is cracked and aged but it still works a treat and is still great to use.

Binks Airbrush I've never seen.

I don't use quite so high pressure with my airbrushes, maybe around 20psi, I find it applys the paint with just the right 'wetness'.

Carps this is my old Binks Wren 'B' single-action airbrush. It still works well. The trigger controls air flow and the knurled screw at bottom controls liquid flow. Balancing the two gives either a fine spray or heavy coverage. Most airbrushes now are double-action, where the one trigger does both operations. This is how it looked when I bought it new. Binks always recommended 30-psi for this brush.

That is one neat looking tool.

Another thing I have a penchant for, vintage tools.

They look fine to me!!
Chris

That red one would be nice to cruise up to lorne in