On avarage, how much paint do you use..

For my 1/72nd scale aircraft, I usually go through (in tottal), about 1/2 oz. of paint for an average size aircraft from start to finish. I usually have to restock one or two bottles of Model Master enamel once or twice a year. When I built larger 1/48 scale aircraft, I'd go through about a bottle and 1/2 in tottal for the kit from start to finish. I noticed that, for me it depends greatly on the size of the model, how well the paint covered during airbrushing, and the age of the paint. This was the case for me when using enamels or Tamiya acrylics.

There's no real good way to answer that question because there are so many variables. How much you thin it, how well it covers, how much overspray you get, how much waste in the bottle or paint cup, how much area for each color, etc.

On the bottom of 1/32 scale jet aircraft (which is usually a single color) I can easily put a couple of coats on with about 1/2 of a bottle of paint, maybe less. That's thinned at 3:1 and sprayed at about 15 psi and about 4" from the surface. Those birds are pretty big to. My F-105 and F-4 are both about 21 inches long with roughly 14 inch wing spans, so there is a good bit of surface area.

I avg. about 1/2 - 3/4 on the 1/48 a/c I build

Thad

i only do automotive cars and i would have to say about
Body only
2 oz primer
4 oz base coat
8 oz color coat
12 oz of clear coat

for the rest of the stuff
4 oz of primer
2 to 4 oz base coat
2 to 4 oz of color coat
4 to 6 oz of clear coat

QUOTE: Originally posted by SCH3 i only do automotive cars and i would have to say about Body only 2 oz primer 4 oz base coat 8 oz color coat 12 oz of clear coat

You are kidding right?

12 oz of clear on a model?

Mike

Wooah, 12 oz.?, holy...cow!

Did you prime the kit first??

I found a good layer of primer cuts down on the amount of paint I use, rattle-can primer I found a pain and too expensive. Squirt my primer through an airbriush now.

As for how much paint I use really depends on the kit and the colour scheme.
Robot models tend to take a LOT due to the amount of different colours, etc.
1/8 and above figure kits less but than I use a lot of top-coats & masking tape between the paint layers.

QUOTE: Originally posted by plasticmod992 Wooah, 12 oz.?, holy...cow!

That would be a good 100 coats or so I would guess.

Mike

not im going by what i mix up and shoot.. Yes i wast a little but i do it a little different then most.

After the color coat this is how i go about every thing. Remeber we all have are ways of doing stuff.

Color Coat
Clear Coat - 3 coats
Polish with 3200,3600,4000,6000,8000,12000 grit.
Clear 2 coats.
Polish 3600,4000,6000,8000,12000
Clear 2 coats
polish 4000,6000,8000,12000
clear 2 coats
polish 6000,8000,12000
Clear 2
Polish 8000, 12000
Clear 2
Polish 12000
Clear 3 coats.
When its done the trueth of it is that the color coat and clear coat becomes one as if it was a base/clear coat paint job.

This was started by the custom Hot Rods being done like this back in the late 80s.

Hey, thats cool, God knows some of my techniques have caused a lot of the scratching of the heads as well. If it works, keep it up!

SCH3, when that body is done, it must shine like there's no tomorrow. Do you have any pics?

I think my biggest problem is that I probably did not thin the paint enough. I tried my first cup with 1:1 maybe, but the paint was so thing that it started running on the model. I think I should have tried spraying from further away to get the paint to dry on the model.

QUOTE: I think my biggest problem is that I probably did not thin the paint enough. I tried my first cup with 1:1 maybe, but the paint was so thing that it started running on the model. I think I should have tried spraying from further away to get the paint to dry on the model.

Spraying from farther away typically means more overspray which is just wasted paint. Try thinning it less, say 2:1 or 3:1, instead of spraying from farther away. That will give you much better opacity and coverage than 1:1. You could also try a lower pressure. Thinner paint takes less pressure to make it spray.

The hardest thing is to find something that works for YOU. Everyone has a slightly different technique, everyone uses their tools slightly different. The specifics don't matter. All that matters is that YOU are content with the results and how you got there. Treat the advice given as just that: Advice. Then use it to find a way that you prefer.

here is my folkie folder and it realy shows on the new Hot Huges paint line down in the F/W Speedster folder.

http://public.fotki.com/shawCustom/

But all of them have ben done this way.
Build on and Merry Christmas to all

I don't have an airbrush, so I do mostly brush painting for smaller surfaces with occasional use of a spray can. Partly because of color mixing, I've been using quite a bit of black, white and grays (both gloss and flat) on the model I'm currently building, plus a fair amount of silver. This is my tornado chase vehicle, which has a gray interior with black trim and dashboard face plus a couple of various radios which are primarily black, silver or gray and a computer, which is semigloss white tinted with just a droplet of flat light gray to tone down the stark white appearance. Not too much in the way of other colors, although where I'm adding wood trim (made with real wood rather than using the kit decals) and a computer table (also made from real wood), the wood is stained walnut.

The last model I built, a 1932 Chrysler Imperial, used a lot more in the way of browns for the interior, plus gloss light ivory for the body and gloss brown for the fenders and running boards and flat tan for the "canvas" top.

I don't use much in the way of bright colors like red, yellow, blue and so on.

Chas,

I am curious as to why you put so much work into that?
Real cars painted for shows don't involve that much work and they look like glass.

Mike

Mike, real cars painted for show quality finish require just as much work as Chas has done on his kits.

It's not so much the 'shine' that their after, it's to try and acheive the'deepest' colouring possible.
Looking at factory finishes, you can tell it's a light spray on job, but a decent spray finish will have so much depth it appears to have no end point. And thats the job of the clear coat. Light reflection/refraction blah blah blah.

Of the 2 I have done over the years, it is something that can send you crazy after 5 or 6 layers of clear, with intricate sanding between coats to remove ANY imperfection, and realising that the final coat has got a dust spec in it, which invaribly stands out like squirrel food on Lassie.

This I think you know, but just thought I'd put it down for others.

As for my paint usage, I can get through 3 kits to a bottle of Gunze/Tamiya acrylic.
I cheat by picking out the closest matching primer colour I can find, that way I can thin the paint more, and get more kits for little expense.
Might be stingy, but less bottles in the rubbish is good for the environment!!

Thats my line, and I'm sticking to it!!

QUOTE: Originally posted by tweety1 Mike, real cars painted for show quality finish require just as much work as Chas has done on his kits.

I have yet to hear of them putting 16 coats of clear on a car, especially with catalysed clear uros. Maybe in the old days with lacquers they did that but everything I see nowdays has about 4 coats of clear and it is incredible to see.

Mike

QUOTE: Originally posted by MikeV QUOTE: Originally posted by tweety1 Mike, real cars painted for show quality finish require just as much work as Chas has done on his kits. I have yet to hear of them putting 16 coats of clear on a car, especially with catalysed clear uros. Maybe in the old days with lacquers they did that but everything I see nowdays has about 4 coats of clear and it is incredible to see. Mike

We had one guy here who layed down a base colour, then applied 14 coats of various pearl shades, then 5 clear coats, and 4 finishing coats on a 67 Ford.
The finish was remarkable, at every angle there was a different hue.
Very impressive, and ALOT of time.

But hey, that was his thing, I would never do it again personally.

3 months later it was stolen and found burnt.

Sean,

I could post what my friend in the business told me but it is fairly long.
If you want I will post what he said as he gives prices, labor, etc in it, but the bottom line in regards to how many coats of clear was this statement:

QUOTE: The answer to your original question is 5-6 (if you term each pass as a coat).

Mike

My contacts in the biz tell a story consistent with what Mike says. For today's 2-pack urethane clears, the number of coats is far less than what was done in the lacquer days.

In lacquer technology, each coat effectively melts into the previous coat. Also the name of the game wasn't how much paint you put on, but how much you left on. The intermediate sanding and polishing steps remove a fair amount of the build. The 2-pack urethanes build much thicker with each pass. They don't so much melt into each other as chemically bond - provided you don't wait too long between coats. A few coats of urethane give a film that's easily as thick as many more coats of lacquer.