TS paints on hard bodies

[ALEXKYRIAK]

Hi all, I don’t have much experience of TS paints on hard bodies. I have a few questions specifically around a couple of colours and finishes:

 

1- I want to do a sparkly / pearlescent white finish. Is Racing White the correct paint?

2- Ditto for Red. Is Mica Red the correct colour for pearlescent red?

3- is there any special advice for applying metallic TS paints?

4- I have white and grey primers to sit under the finish colours, depending on if it’s a light or dark colour. I understand a light sand to the hard plastic  is beneficial to the overall finish

5- is a clear acrylic finish recommended as a post spray over the above mentioned colours? Will it protect the paint? Will it negatively effect the Metallic and Pearlescent finishes, or enhance it?

 

Many thanks all

 

[TurnipJF]

The only one of those that I have tried is Racing White, which is more of an ivory. Not sparkly or pearlescent at all. 

[VagabondStarJXF]

I pretty much only use TS paints on the hard plastics nowadays so here's what help I can offer with my limited experience.

Sanding to give a light key to your surfaces is a good idea. Just make sure you give everything a nice clean after sanding then apply your primer. If the body you're using is a light colour it doesn't really matter which one you use (grey or white) unless you're going to sand to spot any surface imperfections. If this is the case then if the body is white then use the grey so that when you sand it back you can see the colour of the shell in white AND the imperfection in grey which you can either fill or sand out (depending on what's required of it). Once you're happy with the surface prep, apply another coat of primer and check again and, if all is good, you can start laying down your base colour.

I find that mica paints tend to get a good result from metallic base coats, I usually use metallic gold under the mica red (which I seem to have used a lot of) and metallic silver under the mica blue. Pearls can be paired with any base coat but to begin with I recommend sticking with either black (which will give the greatest effect with a pearl) or white if you're using a white pearl powder. If you use a white base under a non white powder you'll need to do a lot more layers to even up the finish/coverage. Another thing to keep in mind is that pearls can dramatically change the colour of the base coat. I accidentally discovered a really nice peach colour using Camel Yellow as a base coat before adding a Lightning Blue pearl (The powder was mixed in a gloss clear paint). It's a shame I didn't actually want that colour at the time so I've kept this in my mental colour swatch chart until I found a shell to do it on. If you can, I recommend doing colour tests before starting with pearls. I've seen videos where people use plastic spoons to try out base coat/pearl coat combinations. This is a really good idea that I've been meaning to implement but I haven't done any painting since I don't have a clear painting area any more.

Clear coating is a good idea. There is a TS Clear so you could use that. If you want to switch to an acrylic you need to make sure you allow the TS paint to cure. For years I thought that the TS paints were acrylics until someone explained to me that they're lacquer paints which made a lot of sense as, years ago, I was getting a weird reaction from the TS paints when I switched to an acrylic top coat. I thought it was just because I was rushing things (as I often do) but it's apparently because of the different types of paint. Clear coating will give the finish of the clear paint you're using and shouldn't change colours unless you're using a clear coloured paint. Use a gloss clear, do several coats starting with light and getting thicker as you go along then you can do a light levelling sand before doing the final gloss coat. This is apparently the proper way to do it if you want to have a nice glossy coat that can be polished to a high shine. I did that on my Midnight Pumpkin and it seems to have gone ok. It's not as shiny as I want it but that's probably because I rushed things (as I often do!).

Just remember that, as I mentioned, my experience is limited so I hope others can chime in to either correct or confirm the above and good luck with your painting!

[Shodog]

Tamiya makes a pearl clear. I thought I had bought ts13 clear but found out the hard way when I sprayed the tail gate of my blazer that it’s very different and pearlescent. You can use the pearl clear over what ever color you choose.

I have found you have to lay the solid TS colors down a lot thinner than the metallics. Too much on and it will run

[graemevw]

9 minutes ago, Shodog said:

Tamiya makes a pearl clear. I thought I had bought ts13 clear but found out the hard way when I sprayed the tail gate of my blazer that it’s very different and pearlescent. You can use the pearl clear over what ever color you choose.

I have found you have to lay the solid TS colors down a lot thinner than the metallics. Too much on and it will run

Yes, and ts16 at least is very thin. I assume they all are? Took 6 coats to even think about covering the light grey tamiya primer and really could have done with one or two more.

I found the ts paints a bit of a nightmare to be honest, but maybe thats because im so used to cellulose.

[Scipunk]

28 minutes ago, graemevw said:

Yes, and ts16 at least is very thin. I assume they all are? Took 6 coats to even think about covering the light grey tamiya primer and really could have done with one or two more.

I found the ts paints a bit of a nightmare to be honest, but maybe thats because im so used to cellulose.

Depends on the color/pigments used. I think because it's a lacquer paint it's designed to be put on in many layers. I remember using one of the really nice greens with a pearl on a skyline i did and it covered fantastic. So i think it may be the color that denotes it? 

[graemevw]

32 minutes ago, Scipunk said:

Depends on the color/pigments used. I think because it's a lacquer paint it's designed to be put on in many layers. I remember using one of the really nice greens with a pearl on a skyline i did and it covered fantastic. So i think it may be the color that denotes it? 

Yellow generally covers worse in most paints so no real surprise. It looked nice in the end, but i wont use them again, ill stick to what i know.

I imagine if your good with them though they would give good results, they lay down quite nice and dry quick.

[Scipunk]

57 minutes ago, graemevw said:

Yellow generally covers worse in most paints so no real surprise. It looked nice in the end, but i wont use them again, ill stick to what i know.

I imagine if your good with them though they would give good results, they lay down quite nice and dry quick.

Yeah yellow can be a major pain to work with, i find blue/ silver/ black/ some reds and greens usually are good oh and orange and gold but yellow is tricky. Enviroment has a lot to do with it. Eventually as much as i love Tamiya i want to get a airbrush so i can use the auto grade paints and alcad II

and the like.

[ThunderDragonCy]

I used halfords car paint in fiat yellow to get my grasshopper2 body painted. It covered just fine on a grey primer undercoat. Plus you get loads in a big can for 8 quid. Used halfords brand clearcoat over the decals too. Its been great. 

 

[Superluminal]

3 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

I used halfords car paint in fiat yellow to get my grasshopper2 body painted. It covered just fine on a grey primer undercoat. Plus you get loads in a big can for 8 quid. Used halfords brand clearcoat over the decals too. Its been great.

This......especially with yellow. Halfords even do a yellow primer. Almost evety other yellow I have tried esp the Tamiya paints is so translucent now that even with a bright white undercoat they look greeny.