Help a newbie with painting advice (in what order?)

[Jorgen]

I have just finished my Holiday Buggy and need to paint the last details.

I have bought the paints and masking tape but not sure in what order to do things. I have never done this before, and using masking tape is new to me.

For the cockpit, what is best to do first? mask of the body and arms with tape, then spray with TS-6 Matt Black? Or paint the whole thing black. Will the acrylic paint cover well on the black then?

Same thing with the Jerry cans. If I paint them all green, then put the tape around the leather straps, will I not tear off the green paint when removing the tape?

What brushes would be the best? Pointed or square heads?

Do I need thinner like X-20?

Greatly appreciated if anyone could help med out

Happy new year!

[mongoose1983]

6 hours ago, Jorgen said:

I have just finished my Holiday Buggy and need to paint the last details.

I have bought the paints and masking tape but not sure in what order to do things. I have never done this before, and using masking tape is new to me.

For the cockpit, what is best to do first? mask of the body and arms with tape, then spray with TS-6 Matt Black? Or paint the whole thing black. Will the acrylic paint cover well on the black then?

Same thing with the Jerry cans. If I paint them all green, then put the tape around the leather straps, will I not tear off the green paint when removing the tape?

What brushes would be the best? Pointed or square heads?

Do I need thinner like X-20?

Greatly appreciated if anyone could help med out

Happy new year!

Hi there Jorgen,

I'll tell you how I've done that in the past (cockpit). You paint the arms and the tshirt first. No need to make a perfect job on the borders at this point because after doing so you will have the chance to perfect those borders with a brush and a lil matt black. That makes a perfect line and looks nice. Once all dry you can mask with tape and a piece of newspaper the driver's arms and chest, and then you fill the matt black with a brush. It isn't complicated at all. I prefer the square brush for this job, the pointy one works better for real small detail (like the eyes of the driver).

The masking tape AND the enamels you bought for your build are the absolutely best stuff money can buy so I would be extremely surprised if you ever get to tear any paint. Just be sure to remove the tape before the paint dries completely.

Oh, and you don't need thinner, unless you use an airbrush.

Good luck with your Holiday Buggy, and don't forget to share pictures of it once ready

[KEV THE REV]

Good info. there Erich .

I mask the driver completely then spray the driver platform / steering wheel with primer and matt black . The drivers shirt is next , then the arms and face , then the face details and hat The face and arms are not just flat flesh , but I use colour washes - you can use flat flesh to good effect though  . I have sprayed the whole platform black before without any masking then painted the details and shirt but it does take a bit more coverage over the black with the flesh and shirt colour , but if sprayed carefully you can avoid too much overpsray over the body / shirt with the matt black .The cans can be painted , then the straps can be done freehand if your ok to do that , or give the main colour time to cook then mask the can and paint the straps and cap . I usually paint driver and details freehand . I use various sizes of pointed brushes to detail and small broad work like the shirt .I do use flat end square brushes for under body painting etc .  Everyone has their own method of detailing etc , it is whatever works for you , experience will show you your best way eventually

[KEV THE REV]

If you use the masking tape then it needs to applied with some pressure to prevent bleeding of the paint , easy as you go at first to get round curves and bends then press in firmly . I use a wood tea stirrer to flatten down the edges . Use the tape to mask the edges then use newspaper to cover the rest of the bulk . Small details like the arms etc can be covered with the Tamiya tape only in tight layers

[mongoose1983]

33 minutes ago, KEV THE REV said:

If you use the masking tape then it needs to applied with some pressure to prevent beeding of the paint , easy as you go at first to get round curves and bends then press in firmly . I use a wood tea stirrer to flatten down the edges . Use the tape to mask the edges then use newspaper to cover the rest of the bulk . Small details like the arms etc can be covered with the Tamiya tape only in tight layers

Yes, Kev. That's definitely something to keep in mind if you go for a perfect paintjob. By the way, what a LOVELY Holiday Buggy!

The other stuff i like a lot is Humbrol's MASKOL. Once you get used to it you will be able to avoid using masking tape on curved surfaces plus it works super good.

[KEV THE REV]

Sound advice , something  I will try at some point 

[Willy iine]

@Jorgen The paint you bought.. are those acrylic? If so,  you will probably have a hard time applying them using a brush, unless you use a SUPER SOFT brush and allow the acrylic layer to dry fully each time.  Tamiya acrylics are notorious for this and the only paint I brush on are the translucent colors like smoke, red/orange for tail lamps.  All others I use airbrush for acrylic.

I think you will be better off getting some enamel paints and thinner and start there.  Acrylic does not usually stick very well to bare plastic..  I usually spray Tamiya primer, or TS white (lacquer) and paint on top of that.. but again I don't use Tamiya acrylics for this stuff.

Basically adhesive bond works in these layers (well, at least for me):  starting from bare plastic, primer/TS, enamel, then acrylic.  In your case, I would spray the interior part black using TS matte black..  I would not even bother making the torso if the clothing is going to be a darker color..and just use enamel paint with a brush.    Then use enamel to paint your figure's face and head.   Enamel sticks pretty well to bare plastic, especially on driver figures where they are usually protected from flying objects (and some folks like crashing their cars into a bush..?).   For jerry cans I would get some TS paints of your choice and spray it.

Hope some of this info helps.. GL!

[alvinlwh]

.

[KEV THE REV]

23 hours ago, Willy iine said:

The paint you bought.. are those acrylic? If so,  you will probably have a hard time applying them using a brush, unless you use a SUPER SOFT brush and allow the acrylic layer to dry fully each time

This can be the case . I brush drivers and detail with acrylics , but they need to fresh paints and as you say , use a good brush , and work fast to keep a wet edge , with practice it is fine

[Willy iine]

33 minutes ago, KEV THE REV said:

This can be the case . I brush drivers and detail with acrylics , but they need to fresh paints and as you say , use a good brush , and work fast to keep a wet edge , with practice it is fine

Yeah, I move very quickly when I paint so for me it's better to use something that dries quickly to the touch. 

 

[Juggular]

On 12/27/2021 at 4:50 AM, Jorgen said:

paint the whole thing black. Will the acrylic paint cover well on the black then?

That would not be a good idea. Any color you paint on black would not look right. They get all dingy and dark.  

For that reason, you would paint the lightest color first. 

In Kev's example, I would have hand-painted white t-shirt first.  If you messed up and painted on the arms, no big deal.  You'll paint arms with flesh color anyway.  While painting the arms with flesh, if you accidentally paint over the gloves, you'll paint them with a darker color, brown.  If you accidentally paint the base with brown, you can paint over with black.  Using liquid mask to cover the painted arms would be a simple way to protect them from black paint also. 

If you want to spray the base however, masking the driver and spray before anything else might be better.  After you unmask the driver, if you discover the spray got to him, you can use thinner.  If you already painted the driver, you cannot use thinner since that will erase the whole thing.  

 

[Jorgen1]

Thanks a lot for all advices. I will give it at go . Will post the result when finnished. Thanks again! 

[Jorgen]

Well four months later I finally gave it a go

I think it turned out reasonable well. Thanks again for all the help 

I did however manage to screw the jerrycans up with a real uneven and rough surface. I tried to smooth it out with the X-20 thinner but it made it worse

Is it possible to clean them and start over? sandpaper? primer?

 

Thanks

[Jorgen]

[WillyChang]

29 minutes ago, Jorgen said:

I did however manage to screw the jerrycans up with a real uneven and rough surface. I tried to smooth it out with the X-20 thinner but it made it worse

Is it possible to clean them and start over? sandpaper? primer?

suspect looks like paint contamination or that jar has gone off if its clumping

good fresh X & XF acrylic usually brushes on very smoothly & leaves few brush marks

 

Soak the part in Methylated Spirits and that washes off all my X/XF acrylic mistakes pretty quickly. Light scrub with toothbrush & resoaking helps to shift the thicker paint in crevices etc. Metho don't hurt the ABS plastic, soak as long as you need.

[Jorgen]

Thanks a lot, will give it a try

[FooRCscale]

Tamiya acrylic dries very quickly as its an alcohol based paint and is not good for brushing. If I have to brush it I dampen the brush with a mix of 40% rubbing alcohol and 60% water (basically what Tamiya acrylic thinners is) and it helps to keep the paint flowing a little longer. Do not use straight water as the paint doesn't react well to it, it is not an acrylic in the normal sense (and Tamiya acrylics can also be cut with lacquer thinners, but don't try this for brush painting).

Once painted, seal it with some acrylic satin or matt varnish as these paints are very matt and soak up finger prints etc and look rubbish pretty quickly when being handled.

There are hundreds of good scale modelling videos on YouTube to use as reference.

Hope this helps.

[KEV THE REV]

6 hours ago, Jorgen said:

You can be clever with this as real jerry cans can get a bit beat up with use over time , so you could flatten back - if there is gray primer you could show some of that through the green as distress and wear , then detail the strap and buckle