Paint speckling =(

It looks almost like the paint is drying too quickly and has not had enough time to form a smooth skin. 40PSI is an awful lot and may be causing a lot of overspray which is settling on adjacent areas and being force-dried by the airflow.This may also occur if your paint is insufficiently thinned.  

What's the air temp and humidity like where you're at? If it's hot and dry, this can exacerbate the effect. It's hard to tell from your pics, but it  also looks like your coat may be a little light and you may not have achieved sufficient coverage to attain a uniform finish.

Lower air pressure, thinner paint and lots of thin coats.

I would try lowering the pressure A LOT.  I normally spray at between 10-15 PSI.  It also appears from the picture that the paint was too thick, that is what caused the "bumps".  The higher pressure you used just forced out the thick paint, and it was not thin enough to settle onto the surface smoothly before drying.

Too much pressure and not thinned properly is my guess. You can save the paint job by using a polishing stick and a little water to rub out the paint. This lowers the peaks so that the surface is more uniform. If you normally use 10-15 why did you jump to 40? You rained on your own project switching methodology.

so in short 40 psi is too much....?  I will try to spray the next color at 15 psi =)

I will post more on the results today. Thanks, 

All of the above.

And yes, many lacquer thinners will attack styrene.

I have another question, when people say LOTS OF LIGHT COATS, what does this mean exactly. Does it mean that I spray one coat, let it dry (wait a few minutes) then another coat, or can I lay down color in several light coat at once moving to from different parts of the model. 

I have seen some videos where they paint the whole model at once and they hold the airbrush very close... recommendations on technique please?

okay guys, this is such a learning experience, a good one though. I wish there were some videos as reference. Anyway, I sprayed the front of the car today:

I thinned the paint (tamiya acrylic) quite a bit. I mixed 3 full pipettes of paint with 1 full pipette of tamiya thinner.
This gave the paint a nice think 2% milky texture. Although the paint directly from the bottle is pretty thin, its really a big difference when thinned.

I also sprayed at 20psi at first, but I was not getting the best results so I upped the pressure a little more to 30psi. I started to spray at about 2" away from the model and relatively slow building up the paint. Unfortunately the first coat I laid at 20PSI was not perfect, but the second and third at 30PSI blended in most of the imperfections. 

What do you guys think. Comment and advice or things to keep in mind are greatly appreciated. I want to build a static model that I bought 10 years ago. I never touched it because my paint jobs with rattle cans were not very good. But i think that with what I am learning here I can start building some nice models. So please feel free to comment and advice.

Looks like you are still getting some orange peal. I normally thin Tamiya acrylics close to 50%. Do that, drop your pressure, and then check your distance. Two inches is not bad, but you have to feel your way.

where do I go from here?  wet sand and polish before the clear coat?  or just some wet sanding with 2000 grit?

If I were doing a car, I'd wet sand and polish. Wet sanding starting at about 1000 or 1200, maybe even 1500 grit.

Well I got some 1500 and 2000 sand paper, then tamiya polishing compounds (coarse, fine, and finish) and got to working on the car. I am pretty happy with the results.

now I would like to do a wash to accentuate the panels of the cars (mostly on the pink) since the paint is acrylic, what should I use?  - one of the video here on FSM mentions that enamel can go on arcylics and the other way around. Is this true?

Once I paint the darker color (I am thinking a pink with a little red to make it just one shade or two darker) what should I use to remove the excess enamel?

Should I spray a coat of gloss clear coat prior?

Here is my progress:

Generally speaking, use an enamel or oil wash over acrylics, and an acrylic wash over enamels. The only drawback to an enamel—as opposed to artist's oils—wash is that enamel washes dry more quickly (if that's a drawback, for some it might not be). I just find oils a little easier to control.

You don't have to put a clear coat on the model before the wash unless you use MisterKit acrylics, which are attacked by mineral spirits even after they are cured. (Weird. Just plain weird.) However, I like to do so "just in case." (Yes, I'm paranoid. Deal with it.)

I'd suggest a darker shade of the pink on the pink areas, and a lighter shade of the darker colors on the dark areas. Be sure to use mineral spirits as the wash solvent.

Thank, I will be SAFE and clear it. I agree with you. How do I need to leave the panel lines to dry before I clean them with (more mineral spirits on a Q-tip?) 

BTW, Clear coat (tamiya) need to be thinned correct?

If you are usng an enamel wash, you can probably remove excess in a few hours. Oils have to be allowed more drying time.

Wring out the cotton swab or you may wash away all the wash…

Tamiya clear does need to be thinned, just like the colors. Future does not need to be thinned.

I see, well Im going to clear it today and hopefully by tomorrow this time I can do the wash. I need to make sure the clear goes on nicely and or polish it a bit. I am just doing a light coat to seal right?  

I want to do the wash and apply decals then clear again to seal everything and get some racing done. This project had really sparked a interest in modeling though. This is why I want to go "all out" on this body as a learning experience.

By the way, I was thinking of painting silver on the tail light wells with a brush before putting on the red taillights? Would this add more depth to the light or not really a valuable consideration?

Actually, I see the clear coat as a protective barrier for the paint underneath, which is why I use Future for this. Future is extremely tough and chemically resistant to anything not containing ammonia and/or alcohol. It will even tolerate a single, brief exposure to 90% isopropyl alcohol.

For a car,  you will almost certainly want to polish whatever clear you use. Do this after the wash.

I also suggest applying the wash with a fine tipped brush mainly to the areas where you want it, rather than sloshing it on. Again, reducing the chance of an "Oh !@&*#$@!!%!" and clean up time.

Silvering behind the lights is a good idea.

I feel a little silly asking this, is mineral spirits supposed to a while milky liquid? I went and bought a bottle from home depot, and to m y surprise it was. I can't see I am going to use that to think paint.

It was the odorless environmental friendly kind.  (did i get the wrong thing?)

Regular Mineral Spirits should be clear.

The only silly question is the one you don't ask.

I'm not sure what it is, but mineral spirits it ain't.

Hey guys, Its been 5 days and I have not progresses much due to other distractions. anyway, today I sprayed some tamiya cleat coat on the body but I have a few concerns.

The car was very glossing before the clear coat since I have polished the tops coats, now after the clear, it is not a shinny. I am assuming I need to let the cleat coat dry and polish it?

If this coat, is going to be a layer where I apply decals and a wash, It need to be polished prior to any work correct? - this is considering I want a 100% clear coat. 

My biggest concern is that I cannot see the paint I am spraying. I know it coming out and onto the panels of the model because of the "dullness" but I cannot see how the paint is laying on the surface (in order to adjust my technique or thin more, add more air etc.)

Comments are welcome, I am very close to getting this down (in terms of method - just needing lots of practice)

For decals and wash, your car body is already glossy, so this step may be superfluous. There's no particular reason why the decals and wash can't be applied directly to the painted surface and then clear coated later.

It can be very difficult to see where your clear coat is going when applying to an already gloss surface. One technique I use (with varying success) is to work under a very bright light and hold the subject at an angle to the light so you can see where the clear coat is landing on the surface. (You should be able to see the edge of the spray pattern on the surface.)

Thanks, 

I was just reading another thread on clear coating. It says not to "mist" the clear, and rather just lay it a little heavier that you would the color coats, or there wise the clear will dry as a matte rough clear?

Which I think is what was happening to my model? It was shinny (the paint) then i became less shinning with the clear.

Yes, if you mist your clear coat, you may not be applying sufficient paint for the droplets to coalesce to form a continuous film. You need to apply enough to "wet" coat the model, but not too much as to flood the surface and fill details. As mentioned, this can be difficult to do when applying a clear gloss to an already gloss surface.