WHITE PAINT

 what?

Sorry ,  I hate it when caps lock that stays on as you start a new text.

1.   white is a bear to get, uh, er, white.
2.  a light gray or white primer will help 
3.  successive light coats, of white flat allowed to set/dry, followed by a last gloss coat.
4.  thick coats white paint, shot all at once, will not be successful

good Luck I'm sure others will have even better bits of advice.

A light colored primer is key to a good white paint job.  There are even white primers available in spray cans at hardware stores. Krylon makes a very nice line of primers.  Have been using it for years after being led to it by another forum

I had a good result using tamiya white surface primer finished with ts 26 pure white, decanted fir airbrushing. I find it hard to control gloss spraycans as it tries to go on too thick and runs. Trying to put gloss on too fast always ends in swearing for me..

Though not my question, thanks for the suggestions.  I've had this problem brushing Vallejo whites of various shades.  I'm going to try a primer and see what happens.

Thanks.

While gloss paint in spray cans can go on thick and tend to run, I find flats and primers pretty easy to control. I always sand out a primer a bit anyway with a fine sandpaper.

Note that with a ship model you may elect either a flat or a gloss paint.  Paints in days of Constitution were never all that glossy even when fresh, and the paint chalked rapidly.  So I always use flats on ships.  Painting is easier with flat paints- they dry faster and do not tend to run as much.  In fact, for a flat white I sometimes use the flat white primer as a finish coat- a coat for priming and then one or two coats as the final even color.