White paint on civil aircraft...my nemesis

Don, thank you and look forward to seeing that Stratocruiser!

Sounds good!  I will try these tips!!  I greatly appreciate all the responses to what can seem like in my opinion a dumb question.

GREAT!! And beautiful build!

Scotty'

I just spray flat grey, and after a couple of days I spray the white gloss finish a few layers.

I am one of those who use a white primer, and a number of my modeling friends do also.  For me, this means two or more coats of primer. I prefer Krylon regular gray primer for its covering and filling properties, but when satisifed that all imperfections are fixed and all seams filled, I shoot it with the Krylon white primer and then go to color coats.  I sand final primer (the white coat) with either 600 or 1000 grit to get a smooth surface for the gloss white.

I also occasionally research to find any livery variations that do not use the white :-)  For instance, I am doing a Northwest Stratocruiser.  The kit and the picture references I started with showed a white fuselage top, with NMF over the rest.  But in looking for more pics I found a few without the white roof.

I use Krylon primer for the perfect finish...

I've done a few large aircraft in white, but have always gone down the route of flat (Tamiya acrylic) followed by gloss clear.

White primer can make the job easier, but I found it pretty difficult to judge coverage on white over white, grey primer does away with that issue, but is harder to cover. A light silver undercoat is the easiest method I've found, like a half way house between grey / white.

No matter how I've done it, it's involved many light coats of paint under decent lighting to get a nice finish, using acrylic flat gives the advantage of being able to get plenty of coats down in rapid succession.  

Primer it neutral gray.Airbrush Tamiya flat white,gloss it with Fututre ,apply decals and overcoat again with Future.  No prob.  

I use Mr Color paints but I think this will apply to most gloss white (and any gloss paint for that matter).  

I typically prime my airliners with Tamiya White Fine Surface Primer.  After priming buff out the primer with a very fine sanding pad or cloth.  Or you can use paper towels.  Using a white primer means that you can use fewer and thinner layers of gloss white.

Next, I air brush on the white.  I thin it very much...more than I thin flat paints.  I spay it on so that it goes on just a little wet.  Not to much, though, because you don't want it to build up in spots or run.  Keep moving and don't spend more than one or two air brush strokes in one spot.

Let it dry thoroughly.  Any flaws or specks in the paint can be sanded out with fine grits of sanding pads or polishing kits.  Just be sure to use light pressure.  You just want to touch op the flaw...not remove a bunch of paint.  Then go back over this with the very thin mixture of gloss white.  Repeat this step as many times as necessary but you should have excellent results after the first or second touch ups.

Hope this helps