Another Hasegawa T bolt Bubbletop, my first LSP. November 12, 2022, It is DONE at last!!!!!!!!

[bdthoresen]

Here is a 1/48th cockpit coated in the above mixture, single medium wet coat, dries overnight…..notice the sheen……

 

Hope it is of some help…..

 

Thor    

[Citadelgrad]

Here are some photos of the setback and repair. 
 

heres a shot of the ugliness on full display, no attempt to do anything other than show the mess

 

after some repair it looked a bit better

honestly, drips or sagging, i could understand.  I dont understand why it went off in such a 3d manner, it was very rough to the touch.

 

so i dutifully attacked it, lots of water, the finest grit i have, first a sheet of synthetic sandpaper so fine its shiny on both sides and hard to tell which side is the “rough” one, then with the finest micromesh pads i have.  
 

i did two full iterations, and now its so smooth to the touch it squeaks when i rub with a dry finger. 
 

after the first cycle, in sunlight 

First the left bad one

Then the wing i was smart enough to leave alone

 

really hard to show the shine, but the cobblestones are gone 

 

As i said, its smooth as bare plastic now but has a strange quality. I hope i didnt ruin this. 

 

should i keep going?  Coat it with something else?  
 

dang it.  I was hoping i had this nailed down.  

[scvrobeson]

Could try coating it with a light coat of something else. I'd ditch the Alclad though.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Timmy!]

Certainly a day late and a dollar short.  You are not alone with Alclad clear troubles.  Of all things I made full-scale blaster, Rey's blaster from The Force Awakens for my 8 year old niece. Anywho, the blaster was painted in a metallic finish and I used the Alclad stuff because of the metallic finish.  It really disappointed I found it to cure exceptionally slowly and felt sticky, since this was an object meant to be handled that feature was a real problem.  Now this was my one an only use so I can't condemn the stuff definitively.

 

This has been a really long way around to tell you that I clear coat with Future.  Extremely forgiving and if applied over hot paints (Gunze, MM, MRP) you can remove future with windex and no damage to the underlying paint.

 

Anyway, looks like you have made a good recovery and I'll continue watching.

 

Timmy!

 

p.s. Mike Reich

[Citadelgrad]

I appreciate the input.  Here is what the one “damaged” wing looks like after gentle wet sandong

 

 

 

versus the other wing where i didnt try to reapply

 

 

the sanded wing is ridiculously slick to the touch, almost like a decent gloss coat. 
 

so is the consensus 1) ditch my own efforts at aqua clear (which i am 100% in favor of)

and 2) try a coat of something else?  Should i wet sand the other wing first?

 

what should i try?  I have Future.  I have alclad klear, which i thinned slightly and got a nice gloss on unpainted sprue parts, or something else?

 

again, total newb here, so anything in terms of advice is appreciated. 

[MikeMaben]

If you have a gloss finish by fine sanding, you have accomplished the same goal as clearcoating.

As you know the goal is to eliminate silvering , the little hills and valleys that exist on matte surfaces.

The reason for clearcoating is that it's much less labor intensive and therefore quicker.

Give the Future a shot , lottsa people use it . Like Woody said , practice on some junk to get a feel for it.

 

[Fanes]

What a bummer with the Alclad aqua clear!
I'd go with any laqcuer clear coat (Gunze, Alclad Klear or simply Tamiya X-20) thinned with levelling thinner.

[Citadelgrad]

9 minutes ago, MikeMaben said:

If you have a gloss finish by fine sanding, you have accomplished the same goal as clearcoating.

As you know the goal is to eliminate silvering , the little hills and valleys that exist on matte surfaces.

The reason for clearcoating is that it's much less labor intensive and therefore quicker.

Give the Future a shot , lottsa people use it . Like Woody said , practice on some junk to get a feel for it.

 

Can i thin future, and if so, can i use self leveling thinner?  Sorry for all the questions, but virtually everything on this build is my first time with everything. 

[LSP_Kevin]

5 minutes ago, Citadelgrad said:

Can i thin future, and if so, can i use self leveling thinner?  Sorry for all the questions, but virtually everything on this build is my first time with everything. 

 

You can thin Future, but I wouldn't use Levelling Thinner. Personally, I use Windex, but any ammonia-based window cleaner will probably do the trick. I have, however, long given up using floor polish for anything other than the application of stencil decals and dipping canopies. Oh, and polishing floors.

 

Kev

[MikeMaben]

Yeah , if your Future is getting a little thick, I thin it and/or remove it with 91% alcohol.

Future is mostly liquid acrylic so you 'should' be able to thin it with any acrylic thinner.  Experiment.

[Woody V]

11 hours ago, Citadelgrad said:

It seems like it was drying very fast, despite the low pressure and the slow, heavy passes. 

 

Just out of curiosity, what size tip is your airbrush?
That "low pressure" thing is troublesome. What air pressure are you running?

For reference a .3 tip at 15psi worked for me.

Low air pressure = larger atomization = orange peel.

But it's all moot at this point - the damage is already done. Bite the bullet and start wet sanding. If you get a selection of micro-mesh grits you can start with 2400 followed by finer and finer grits you can achieve a glossy finish without bailing on anymore paint.

 

Like I said, I used to use AG with success but I switched to lacquer and it's so far superior it's not even in the same solar system. 

 

I feel your pain.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Archer Fine Transfers

[bdthoresen]

The others have given some very sage advice, but I guess at this point it really depends on what kind of weathering you plan to achieve. Are you going to try and apply enamel washes? 
 

If you are done with the markings, and are not going to apply anymore decals, then I would figure out how you are going to weather the model. You could give it a nice flat coat at this point, and weather the panel lines with an extremely sharp mechanical pencil after it cures. The flat coat should get rid of that uneven sheen you have at the moment. Once you are happy with the panel lines, you could also use some pigments or chalk pastels for exhaust stains, grime, etc. Add some light chipping here and there with a silver prismacolor pencil, and then give it a final seal coat of flat clear.

 

Whatever you do, I would listen to Woody in that with clear coats, you want a higher air pressure for finer atomization. I spray mine between 18 to 24 psi, depending on how thin my mixture is. (Thinner mixes tend to need a little less air pressure, reducing the overspray fog).

 

Thor    

[Woody V]

9 minutes ago, bdthoresen said:

Whatever you do, I would listen to Woody in that with clear coats, you want a higher air pressure for finer atomization. I spray mine between 18 to 24 psi, depending on how thin my mixture is. (Thinner mixes tend to need a little less air pressure, reducing the overspray fog).

 

Could not have said it better. I liken airbrushing to photography in that there are variables (aperture and shutter speed) in getting a correct exposure just as paint viscosity, air pressure and distance to the surface are the variables in airbrushing. It's a skill that can only be mastered through experience.

[Citadelgrad]

5 hours ago, Archer Fine Transfers said:

 

Just out of curiosity, what size tip is your airbrush?
That "low pressure" thing is troublesome. What air pressure are you running?

For reference a .3 tip at 15psi worked for me.

Low air pressure = larger atomization = orange peel.

But it's all moot at this point - the damage is already done. Bite the bullet and start wet sanding. If you get a selection of micro-mesh grits you can start with 2400 followed by finer and finer grits you can achieve a glossy finish without bailing on anymore paint.

 

Like I said, I used to use AG with success but I switched to lacquer and it's so far superior it's not even in the same solar system. 

 

I feel your pain.

Its an iwata hp cs, .35mm, but i dont have a good pressure gauge.  I use an iwata inline mac type valve.  I estimate 10-15 psi. But likely low pressure was the issue. 

[Citadelgrad]

5 hours ago, bdthoresen said:

The others have given some very sage advice, but I guess at this point it really depends on what kind of weathering you plan to achieve. Are you going to try and apply enamel washes? 
 

If you are done with the markings, and are not going to apply anymore decals, then I would figure out how you are going to weather the model. You could give it a nice flat coat at this point, and weather the panel lines with an extremely sharp mechanical pencil after it cures. The flat coat should get rid of that uneven sheen you have at the moment. Once you are happy with the panel lines, you could also use some pigments or chalk pastels for exhaust stains, grime, etc. Add some light chipping here and there with a silver prismacolor pencil, and then give it a final seal coat of flat clear.

 

Whatever you do, I would listen to Woody in that with clear coats, you want a higher air pressure for finer atomization. I spray mine between 18 to 24 psi, depending on how thin my mixture is. (Thinner mixes tend to need a little less air pressure, reducing the overspray fog).

 

Thor    

I am going to apply decals, everything on the model is paint at this point.  One large kill marking decal, and hgw transfers, and weathering.