Bish
Any news on this one Harold.
I just finished it today. The 79th Scottish Horse Medium Regiment AEC Matador Artillery Tractor. Sadly, I did not have good results with my camouflage painting. I tried twice to camouflage the canopy and each time I developed what looked like oil or water spots on the lighter color G3 Khaki Green.
I used AK Interactive Elastic Putty the first time and MIG Masking Putty the second and both times I developed spots on the lighter green paint, but both masking products are advertised oil-free. I also used Natural Rubber Latex Exam Gloves while applying the masking putty so I would not get oil or moisture from my hands on the paint.
Each time I stripped the paint off the canopy with VMS Clean Slate rmvr 3.0 Ultra produced in the UK and washed the plastic with warm water and DAWN dishwashing liquid until the plastic was squeaky clean. Then air dried the plastic for about an hour. I never figured out what caused the spots until later.
When I gave up on the camouflage painting and just gave the canopy a finish coat of G3 Khaki Green I noticed a few more spots on the new paint. This was without any masking putty even near the freshly painted canopy. I decided not to strip the canopy a third time, but just give the entire model a sealer coat of Vallejo Gloss Varnish so I could apply the decals. After the varnish was dry, I noticed the wet spots had disappeared.
Finally, I figured out what I think caused the spots on my paint. Each time I finished camoflage painting I would leave the masking putty on the canopy while the paint was drying and clean my air brush with Vallejo Air Brush Thinner and Cleaner.
While I clean my air brush, I used a blow-out pot next to where the freshly painted canopy was drying, and I think the exhaust from the blow-out pot had a small amount of thinner and cleaner that settled on the canopy surface. The rest of the model was not in the paint booth at the time. The spots were on both the Khaki Green and Dark Green, but I couldn't see them on the dark paint.
I do my painting and air brush cleaning in a large paint booth, but the blow-out pot was too far away from the exhaust fans to keep the thinner and cleaner droplets from drifting over my freshly painting canopy. This model has been a real challenge, but I am pleased with the finish even though it is not camouflage.
Harold
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