911 GT3 Model?

[LTT]

Oh, I have a question for either Henk or Dino, whoever gets it first. After laying paint down and letting it dry, should i spray the clear then use rubbing compound, or use compound on the paint itself then clearcoat it after polishing?

[Dino Scuderia]

Oh, I have a question for either Henk or Dino, whoever gets it first. After laying paint down and letting it dry, should i spray the clear then use rubbing compound, or use compound on the paint itself then clearcoat it after polishing?

If your color coat needs some smoothing before the clear, don't use compound, use some 600 or 800 grit sandpaper. Use the compound on the clear after it's plenty dry. Always do any kind of polishing after your last coats are on, some compounds contain silicone which you cannot paint over successfully.

[LTT]

Ok, great. I'm still not a perfect painter but my finishes are getting progressivly better.

[Dino Scuderia]

Ok, great. I'm still not a perfect painter but my finishes are getting progressivly better.

Well, as I always say, it's not so much how good you can put it on but what you can do with it after it's on...as in polishing(leveling).

[henk4]

A bit of heretic theory here. I found that spraying directly on a smooth body will give better results than using a primer first, which needs to be sanded again and increases the chances for "orange peel" surfaces. This works especially well when the colour of the original plastic is already very close to the desired one.
As far as clear coat is concerned I only put it on when there is a large area of decals, just to seal them off. As this mostly concerns racing cars, there is no need to to come up with a totally glossy/smooth body, so not too much rubbing required. I am not sure whether I understood what Dino said about sanding and then putting clear coat over it, I never tried that and seeing the results after sanding I doubt whether a clear coat will bring back the glossy shine of the original paint. May be I should try though.

[Dino Scuderia]

A bit of heretic theory here. I found that spraying directly on a smooth body will give better results than using a primer first, which needs to be sanded again and increases the chances for "orange peel" surfaces. This works especially well when the colour of the original plastic is already very close to the desired one.
As far as clear coat is concerned I only put it on when there is a large area of decals, just to seal them off. As this mostly concerns racing cars, there is no need to to come up with a totally glossy/smooth body, so not too much rubbing required. I am not sure whether I understood what Dino said about sanding and then putting clear coat over it, I never tried that and seeing the results after sanding I doubt whether a clear coat will bring back the glossy shine of the original paint. May be I should try though.

No, you don't always have to prime, but try this....spray Tamiya's TS8 Red straight onto a body molded in black and see what you get. What you'll get is dark red instead of the intended bright red because that particular paint is semi transparent therefore needs to be sprayed over red or white plastic or white primer so it ends up the proper color.

Primer also needs to be used if there is any major body work done other modifications, nd depending on what paint you use, you can't spray automotive lacquers which many modelers use straight onto plastic because it will etch into it.

You just can't make a broad brush statement about the use of primer, it may confuse people new to modeling and primer has nothing whatsoever to do with orange peel. You can get a smooth finish if you sand the primer with 600 grit before you put on the color coats, this is how real cars are painted. Sanding the color coat before clear coating will also result in a smoother clear coat finish, it's called color sanding and/or wet sanding.

I agree with you that if you are building a race car that real ones don't have a super slick finish....but most modelers want their models to look nice and shiney whether the real ones are or not.

Clear coating over decals can result in ruining them if you don't spray a couple of very light coats first just to be safe.

[henk4]

No, you don't always have to prime, but try this....spray Tamiya's TS8 Red straight onto a body molded in black and see what you get. What you'll get is dark red instead of the intended bright red because that particular paint is semi transparent therefore needs to be sprayed over red or white plastic or white primer so it ends up the proper color.

Primer also needs to be used if there is any major body work done other modifications, nd depending on what paint you use, you can't spray automotive lacquers which many modelers use straight onto plastic because it will etch into it.

You just can't make a broad brush statement about the use of primer, it may confuse people new to modeling and primer has nothing whatsoever to do with orange peel. You can get a smooth finish if you sand the primer with 600 grit before you put on the color coats, this is how real cars are painted. Sanding the color coat before clear coating will also result in a smoother clear coat finish, it's called color sanding and/or wet sanding.

I agree with you that if you are building a race car that real ones don't have a super slick finish....but most modelers want their models to look nice and shiney whether the real ones are or not.

Clear coating over decals can result in ruining them if you don't spray a couple of very light coats first just to be safe.

I said I was going to be heretic, and obviously I struck on a true believer in the primer

Yes I will not put TS8 over a black body, but it works excellent on a red one. My Modena is proof of that and it still has not been eaten into. I just found it remarkable how smooth the paint turned out after a couple of thin layers and without any primer. Rubbing was not required at all.
And you are right about the clear coat (cote is obviously not the correct spelling) but that is another subject.

[Dino Scuderia]

I said I was going to be heretic, and obviously I struck on a true believer in the primer

Yes I will not put TS8 over a black body, but it works excellent on a red one. My Modena is proof of that and it still has not been eaten into. I just found it remarkable how smooth the paint turned out after a couple of thin layers and without any primer. Rubbing was not required at all.
And you are right about the clear coat (cote is obviously not the correct spelling) but that is another subject.

Tamiya paint won't eat into plastic because it is a special synthetic lacquer, automotive lacquers are not, they are much hotter. Yes, Tamiya paint will give a very smooth finish directly on smooth plastic, but you can't always do that.