I think I want to build a fire engine

I just prime the body and spray it with a Tamiya gloss red very finely over the bodywork with an airbrush. A couple of coats make my cars come out beautiful whatever gloss colour it is. Well that’s my method. But I would say use semi gloss or matt if you want the fire truck to look old. Good luck anyway.

Below is a sample of some engines I have built. The Hummer, however, is a diecast model and is prepainted. The two jeeps, though, were painted by me.



I've had the best luck spray painting (usually from a can on 1/24 models, airbrush on my HO scale fire trcuks) gloss red, then finish with either Future or Testors Gloss coat.

I have sprayed gloss over flat/matt finishes in the past, and I just didn't like the final results. It never quite achieved the smooth, glass-like finish that I wanted. This assumes that I did it correctly, and we know what happens when you assume.

There may be some folks out who have had good luck with the flat technique. What you may want to do is go the Painting part of this forum and float your question there.

Good Luck!