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advice needed ... wierd effect.

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  • Member since
    February 2009
  • From: Ontario, Canada
advice needed ... wierd effect.
Posted by VitG on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 12:52 PM

Hi,

I am just starting with my airbrush, building my first tank now. Tried to give my tank a dark coating before applying camo. The tracks and wheels are ok, but on the hull:Photobucket" border="0" />

Photobucket

looks like salt! or some other cool thing that people who know their modeling do:) 

I wouldn't mind the effect where it's needed... but not now.

What am I doing wrong?

  • Member since
    April 2006
  • From: Maryville Tennessee
Posted by oleander13 on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:54 PM

Hi VitG, Welcome back to the hobby!!

Based on the locations where it seems to be showing up, it may be some kind of effect caused by the type of glue you used.  Honestly I've never experienced anything like that, but that's my best educated guess.  Other than that I can only guess it's mold release.

Did you happen to wash your model in soapy water prior to painting?  Sometimes that helps remove any mold release agents (the gunk they use so the sprues come out of the molds - think PAM in the kitchen).

What type of paint did you use (enamel or acrylic)?  You might want to spray one more light coat and see if it covers those areas any better before applying your finish coats.  Otherwise you're gonna need to strip the paint and make sure you give her a good washing before applying your primer again.

-Mark-

Things could be worse. Suppose your errors were counted and published every day, like those of a baseball player. Life will always throw you curves, just keep fouling them off... the right pitch will come, but when it does, be prepared to run the bases.
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: 41 Degrees 52.4 minutes North; 72 Degrees 7.3 minutes West
Posted by bbrowniii on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 2:32 PM
 oleander13 wrote:

What type of paint did you use (enamel or acrylic)?  You might want to spray one more light coat and see if it covers those areas any better before applying your finish coats.  Otherwise you're gonna need to strip the paint and make sure you give her a good washing before applying your primer again.

-Mark-

WOW, that is quite an effect.  Nice job (he says tongue in cheek)...

I think, like Mark implies, that it might be helpful to have a little more info.  Type of paint and thinner, was the model primed, and if so, with what?  Stuff like that...

'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing' - Edmund Burke (1770 ??)

 

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Posted by VitG on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 2:50 PM

I'm using Tamiya acrylics and Tamiya glue. The model was primed before with grey primer (Tamiya:))...

I'll let this coat to sit for a few mode hours, then I'll try again.

  • Member since
    May 2008
  • From: Wherever the hunt takes me
Posted by Boba Fett on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 4:57 PM
Tamiya Arcylics HAVE done some wierd things to me... but not that... Primer-paint incompatibility? Maybe the Arcylic is reacting with the enamel primer. It's not the airbrush... Unless you thinned the paint with water. What did u use to thing the actual color? If it's water, and you have salt or a mineraal in your water, that might be it. Use their thinner... only. It reacts NASTILY with anything but Tamiya thinner. Good luck and welcome back!

  • Member since
    May 2008
  • From: Wherever the hunt takes me
Posted by Boba Fett on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 4:59 PM
Just thinking though... If it doesn't work... that would look AWESOME for a derelict T-34 sitting in a field, years later. It looks like heavy corrosian. Please! Tell me what you did! You might have discovered something... I really like the texture for a heavily corroded, rusted, and destroyed tank.

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Posted by VitG on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 5:32 PM

Boba Fett, It's water!!!

I thinned it with water, and I think I did too much paint in a single coat. I guess it worked a bit like a wash.

I applied a few more light coats and the effect is gone.

But I'll definitely try it on camo. I plan to set the tank up going through muddy terrain in spring time and like it's been through a lotEvil [}:)].

I have to experiment some more!

Adding more salt might increase the resedue. 

 

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Posted by VitG on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 5:38 PM

Just asked my wife, if there are colored salts..

There are! Bath salts. I wander if they leave colored resedue. It would be awesome for rusting models.

  • Member since
    May 2008
  • From: Wherever the hunt takes me
Posted by Boba Fett on Friday, October 2, 2009 7:32 PM
I think the water did it. Use Tamiya thinner, I think it's X-20 or something like that. If you DO have salt and/or minerals in your water, say a water-softener, that might also do it. Water is good for cleaning brushes, not thinning paint.

  • Member since
    June 2006
  • From: Calgary
Posted by MaxPower on Friday, October 2, 2009 10:15 PM
Yeah I can't agree more with using Tamiya thinner. I get the bigger bottle and it lasts a good while. I've heard people use 99% isopropanol and even windex but not water.
  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Huntington, WV
Posted by Kugai on Friday, October 2, 2009 11:20 PM

My My 2 cents [2c]:

This looked familiar, then you mentioned Tamiya and I immediately remembered having something similar happen to me, even though I'm stuck with brush painting and rattle cans.

I noticed that sometimes Tamiya flats have had the white particulates ( the same stuff in the additive they make available in the standard paint bottle to allow you do "dull" their gloss colors ) used to give them their flat finish separate on occasion after being applied.  I've had this cause uneven white dusty-looking deposits here and there that look similar to what you seem to have.

I don't know of any "fix" for it in the middle of a project like yours, but the next step on the projects I was working on were ready for gloss coating before decals and the gloss spray cleared up the "dusty" look.

http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww122/randysmodels/No%20After%20Market%20Build%20Group/Group%20Badge/GBbadge2.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/razordws/GB%20Badges/WMIIIGBsmall.jpg

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Hayward, CA
Posted by MikeV on Friday, October 2, 2009 11:54 PM
 VitG wrote:

I'm using Tamiya acrylics and Tamiya glue. The model was primed before with grey primer (Tamiya:))...

I'll let this coat to sit for a few mode hours, then I'll try again.

I use Ethyl alcohol 70% for Tamiya acrylics and have had no problems. 

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom. " Charles Spurgeon
  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: Sydney, Australia
Posted by Phil_H on Saturday, October 3, 2009 12:18 AM

It looks like your Tamiya paint has been thinned too heavily with water and then applied too heavily so that it has pooled around moulded details. While drying, the paint and water has separated to some extent and (possibly) dissolved minerals (as described above) or components of the paint itself have left "tide rings" or deposits.

I do concur with the others, Use Tamiya thinner, Isopropyl alcohol or as Mike has suggested, Ethyl alcohol. When using either type of alcohol, it may be advantageous to add a drop of acrylic retarder to the mix. 

Water will work to an extent, but it is one of the least favourable options. If you must use water, don't use tapwater - use demineralised or distilled water.

  • Member since
    March 2008
  • From: london-uk
Posted by ludwig113 on Saturday, October 3, 2009 5:43 AM
 Phil_H wrote:

It looks like your Tamiya paint has been thinned too heavily with water and then applied too heavily so that it has pooled around moulded details. While drying, the paint and water has separated to some extent and (possibly) dissolved minerals (as described above) or components of the paint itself have left "tide rings" or deposits.

 

hi,thats exactly what it is.i had that with humbrol when i first started back airbrushing last year.

slightly too much thinner and applied too heavily(maybe you had the airbrush too close) so it pools around the mouldings.

its a nice effect when used in the right place.

 

paul

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