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I'm somewhat a novice-intermediate when it comes to auto modeling and gloss paint.
I'm building the Tamiya LaFerrari which is a spectaculary engineered kit and difficult at best.
The MM Italian Red gloss red enamel has gone on terrific and polishes out very well. I tried to polish the gloss black parts (roof, door tops) and after a week of drying time the polish glazed out or did something to the gloss black paint. It was still very glossy but looked like there were polished striations in the paint. So I washed the parts, let dry and airbrushed them again with another wet coat.
It looks good, a very little orange peel at just one corner. Does anyone know why the gloss red cured very well and the black seemed to create problems? I had let the first gloss black wet coat dry for at least a week before polishing.
Gloss black has to be the worst for even one speck of dust.
Your last statement sums it up. It's a tough color to come out right. I've had the same problem with polishing, and I never got that solved, but I'm sure someone here has.
I find their gloss enamals take a long time most of the time. FS 16473 and dark sea blue are pretty bad also.
On Ed's bench, ???
Gloss enamels, especially those from Testors, do take a long time to dry, and the drying time depends a lot on the temperature and humidity during their application. I built a drying box, which greatly speeds up things. Also, many thin coats work better than a few thick ones.
However, in addition to that, even when completely dry, enamels never polish as nicely as lacquers or acrylics. Personally I use very fine sandpaper on any flaws in my enamel finishes, say 1500 or 2000 grit. Of course, after that it does require a clearcoat.
Don Stauffer in Minnesota
I have all the grits from 200 to 12000. I used the Tamiya polishes in the situation described above. and not the fine sandpaper. I'm going to give it a week and then maybe use Don's advice to gloss clearcoat after I rub out the small orange peel area on the black roof.
My workroom is in a full basement as well so the humidity is naturally higher down there. I may bring the parts upstairs for a week to facilitate curing.
It's too bad because the MM black enamel is very very glossy, but there is always a small flaw that you can see and have to deal with.
I have done two Blue Angel F-18s as comissions and used MM Blue Angel Blue enamel and clear MM enamel gloss over them. I let them cure for over 2 weeks and used Novus on one and Simoniz haze remover on the other with no sanding. Both polished out like smooth glass. The longer you let the paint cure, the better. Shooting clear gloss enamel over it will polish out even better.
Too many models to build, not enough time in a lifetime!!
Wilbur Wright ... It's too bad because the MM black enamel is very very glossy, but there is always a small flaw that you can see and have to deal with.
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I like the stuff because of that gloss too, but like you, I usually end up with a dust speck or two, or several, or many. I know folks who spray their work area with a fine spray of water to hold down dust (too dry an atmosphere is just as bad for painting as too humid). Others have a special work area just for painting, kept as clean as the cleanrooms I sometimes had to work in. Too much work for me. I must admit that occasionally on a car or airliner where I want a gloss finish, I resort to a lacquer where I can sand and polish out finish flaws without clearcoating, which is just too glossy sometimes for vintage subjects.
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