Painting in Winter?

[SNAKEBITE]

I was lucky, we have a downdraft bench in the workshop at work so no fumes.

Then it's on the top of the oven where the heat is enough to dry it properly without cooking it.

 

Shame I'm not a very good sprayer!

[Ian_Gsi16V]

I suppose I could paint in my garage but my 1:1 project lives in there so I will have to try and cover that up plus then I have to heat the place.

 

 

[Jason1145]

3 hours ago, Ian_Gsi16V said:

I painted my original Monster Beetle using all Halfords plastic primer / paint / lacquer and it came out great. Wet sanding is using wet and dry paper while keeping the paper and body wet (generally by dumping it in soapy water). 

My latest Beetle is being done with Halfords plastic primer but this time I have bought a custom paint online which came with free lacquer so a lot cheaper than Halfords! 

I saw your Beetle job and it looked tough as nails, not only a deep finish but glaze coated! What grit sand paper did you use Ian and how often did you sand it during the process?

3 hours ago, Newsh said:

Halfords primer is a great but it does need smoothing down with some fine Wet and Dry

Halfords colours are also good but as the are designed for use on cars, sometimes the spary isn't quite as fine you need for model painting, so multiple light coats is needed.

Humbrol acrylic sprays are quite cheap, and cover well

I've just seen those Humbrol Acrylic paints are  £5 for 150ml, thanks for the heads up

[Ian_Gsi16V]

2 minutes ago, Jason1145 said:

I saw your Beetle job and it looked tough as nails, not only a deep finish but glaze coated! What grit sand paper did you use Ian and how often did you sand it during the process?

I've just seen those Humbrol Acrylic paints are  £5 for 150ml, thanks for the heads up

I would love to tell you but it was 2008 / 2009 and I can't remember the exact process but I imagine along the lines of:

1. Clean body and prep using 1500 grade or a scotch pad.
2. Prime and then flat once dry using a slightly harsher grade around 1000 / 1200
3. Repeat prime process and flat using a fine grade.
4. Paint
5. Flat paint using a fine grade
6. Paint again
7. Flat using fine grade
8. Lacquer
9. Flat and polish

I'm not an expert by any means and I have only painted a couple of bodies, plenty of other people on here will be able to give you a better idea. 

Came out well though

 

 

[Jason1145]

Thanks Ian, what's the flat and polish last step?

[Ian_Gsi16V]

Just now, Jason1145 said:

Thanks Ian, what's the flat and polish last step?

Flat the lacquer using a very fine grade and then use automotive polish to shine it up 

[Jason1145]

So a finer grade sandpaper is a higher number, 1000 rough, 1500 finer....

[Ian_Gsi16V]

8 minutes ago, Jason1145 said:

So a finer grade sandpaper is a higher number, 1000 rough, 1500 finer....

Yep

 

[Buggyjam]

5 minutes ago, Jason1145 said:

So a finer grade sandpaper is a higher number, 1000 rough, 1500 finer....

Hi Jason, I use "wet and dry" rather than sand paper on my kits. It's that black paper. You can dampen it. You're right with the numbers. 

[Newsh]

Well, you learn something every day - i didn't realise you could flat the laquer too, then polish it up. Thought that when you laquered it, then that was it. Cool.

 

[Ian_Gsi16V]

1 minute ago, Newsh said:

Well, you lean something every day - i didn't realise you could flat the laquer too, then polish it up. Thought that when you laquered it, then that was it.

 

TBH it's more of a thing on 1:1 cars as you can use a polishing device on it, not quite as easy by hand but doable on models. 

[topforcein]

I would only flat/sand the top coat if required ie Ifni need to nib out any bits in the top coat I usually like to "wet"coat the final coat 

[topforcein]

Plus if you want a even gloss'ier top coat you could always flow coat the clear coat

[racer1]

Living here in the states i'm near Chicago where it's bitter cold this time of year with warm days mixed in with rain like we are having today. 

After a few bad experiences I've decided that I will wait to do any painting until the weather warms up and the sun is shining bright. Unless I'm doing restorations of vintage original cars I tend to stay away from Tamiya and other Hobby grade paints. While the colors are correct for the cars I find them far too soft for anything but a shelf queen and they seem to be really difficult to get right. I have an Original Brat painted with Tamiya paints that looks terrible after just a few years of doing nothing but taking it off the shelf and wiping the dust off.

Here in the states we have a brand of automotive paint called Duplicolor that makes every color imaginable. It's true automotive grade stuff that comes in a can and it's darn near impossible to scratch in normal use unless of course you roll the car over. I'm been using these paints for hard bodies for about 15 yrs now without a single issue if I follow a few basic steps. 

- Wait for a nice sunny 70F+ day. 

- Sand the body with 320 to 500 grit to remove any parting lines or obvious lumps in the body. This seems to be much more of an issue these days than in years past.  Just look at the scorcher body as an example!!!

- Wash the the body with a green scotchbrite pad with a ton of dish soap. I like the Dawn brand.  This gives the body the necessary surface to bite into. 

- Set the body out in the sun and let it dry and warm up.

- Give the body one last wipe down with a paper towel soaked ion is 90% alcohol and let it dry.

- Turn the body upside down and apply one coat of  Duplicolor sandable primer and let dry for at least and hour.

- Turn the body right side up and give it two coats of Duplicolor sandable primer about 30 mins apart and let it dry for an hour.

- Sand primer using 1000-1500 grit. If doing a body with large flat areas I use a small sanding block to really make it slat, smooth and straight. By the time i'm done 90% of the primer is gone. 

- Wipe body down with alcohol again and let dry outside. 

- Apply one more coat of primer. 

- Sand using 2000 grit to remove any dirt or lumps. 

- Wipe down with Alcohol. 

- Apply the first light coat of Duplicolor paint. This coat is so light you can barely see it.

- Apply additional light coats of paint 15 mins apart until you get the coverage you are looking for. I typically do 5 to 8 depending on the color. Again these are very light coats. Once you have applied the last coat let the paint dry for as long as possible in the sun. 

- The next sunny warm day I will apply the clear coat.  Same process. Wipe the body down with alcohol and let dry. 

- Apply Clear coat the same as painting. Very light coats with 15 mins apart until you get the coverage you are looking for. I typically put on at least 6 coats of clear sometime more. 

- Now comes the hard part.... Wait.......... Wait ....... Wait.........  I typically put the body away for at least a week and forget about it to give the paint time to cure.

- Now it's time to sand the clear with 2000 grit. I typically start with 2000 dry then go switch over to 2000 wet for the final. 

- Buff out the body using automotive polishing compound until perfect. 

- Wash with warm water and dish soap to remove any residue left over from the polishing process. 

- Do the detail painting. Window trip, doors, lights etc etc. 

- Apply Decals 

- Assemble as much of the body as possible. 

- Apply clear coat over the decals. It is very important that you apply extremely light coats here to prevent the paint from affecting the decals. I've only had one issue and it's when I got in a hurry and applied a heavy coat first. I typically 4 or 5 coats over the decals. 

- Wait......... Wait.......... Wait some more.......... At least a week. 

- If required, Lightly sand the clear coat to remove any waves. Most of the time at this point all I need to do is rub the clear using compound and it looks perfect. 

- Apply your choice of auto wax and your'e done. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[markbt73]

I would definitely advise against using a spray can indoors. I once lost my damage deposit on an apartment from painting one body in the back bedroom; even though I laid an entire newspaper on the floor, the paint (nice bright blue) seeped and settled around the edges of it and left a faint blue square on the tan carpet (and outlines of every piece of furniture on the floor). I dodn't notice a thing until I picked up the newspaper. And the smell lingered for weeks, even though I opened the window and had a fan running. I'll never do that again, even though I own my home now.

I've gotten away with an airbrush indoors, using acrylic enamels that don't smell. The overspray from an airbrush is much more controllable, and there's a lot less of it to begin with.

[markbt73]

oops, double post

[khyzersoze]

I wait until the weather is good before painting.  There just isn't a way around it unless you happen to have a workshop with a de-fumigation system and paint booth.  The Tamiya rattle can fumes are toxic.  My wife hates it, can smell it months after painting and forces me to put all my R/C's in the garage because of it.

I'm looking into getting an airbrush setup so that I can use some of the water based paints.  Supposedly not as toxic and does not off-gas heavily like the rattle cans do.

Also always always remember to use a respirator mask.  Health comes first.

[Nobbi1977]

9 hours ago, Jason1145 said:

Wow I would love to find £1 paints... are those spray cans??

I'm thinking I need to buy a Halfords Plastic Primer spray can , then some more Halfords car colour spray cans... and finally finish with some Tamiya clear coat for my first ever ABS body.

There are a few tutorials on the net if that mention wet sanding is required... not sure what wet sanding is..... is it using wet sandpaper.. or wetting the plastic first as you use the sand paper??

Pound shops are great for cheap spray paint. Limited colours but it works ok if finish is not your top priority.

You need wet and dry paper to wet sand. Test out very fine stuff, I rip off a small bit fold it and then use both sides. It only goes a short way before a new bit is needed, you can see when it is dead.

I use washing up liquid sometimes on a wet sand

[Pumesta]

11 hours ago, Jason1145 said:

Wow I would love to find £1 paints... are those spray cans??

I'm thinking I need to buy a Halfords Plastic Primer spray can , then some more Halfords car colour spray cans... and finally finish with some Tamiya clear coat for my first ever ABS body.

There are a few tutorials on the net if that mention wet sanding is required... not sure what wet sanding is..... is it using wet sandpaper.. or wetting the plastic first as you use the sand paper??

 

The biggest problem with Halfords paint is the price the last time I used it to paint a shell by the time I bought primer, colour and lacquerer, it cost me £25. to paint a Blackfoot shell.  Oh and it still looked poo and as it was going to be a shelf queen I wanted it to be pretty perfect. I ended up getting it sprayed by a body shop, and it cost me about the same as the Halfords paint.  

[Tamiyabigstuff]

Take a look at Hycote aerosols - tons on ebay - around £5 per 400ml can of plastic primer including delivery.

Also loads of colours to choose from - 150ml cans of acrylic colour are around £3.50 including shipping.  

I've used Hycote paints for spraying 1:1 plastic car bumpers and had very good results, would definitely use again.

I find DIY outlets very expensive for spray paints.