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Highest Gloss Black Paint or Primer?


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Hi All,

 

I know this topic is an old one, but frankly, searching for other posts/threads did not find nearly as much as I expected.

 

I am going to be doing a P-51D in natural metal finish (NMF), and this is going to be the first time in my modeling career that I'm doing so.  Perhaps strange for a kind of longer term modeler, but true.  I know that there are many metallizer paints that claim to be able to provide a good (or better) metal finish without having to apply it over a black or other color high gloss primer/paint, but I'd like to try my hand at the 'most perfect' gloss NMF to begin, and then back off to try for other, perhaps less glossy, NMF.  

 

So....what have you found to be the 'glossiest' black primer or paint to use as a base for a high shine NMF?  I have a number of supposed gloss black paints/primers in my paint collection, but frankly, I've never tried any of them.  I realize that conventional wisdom is that 'the best' way to determine an answer to my question is to perform my own tests, in my environment, etc., etc.  However, I'd like to get the opinions of experienced modelers to use as a starting point, which will, hopefully, allow me to reduce the amount of 'testing' I need to perform.  What do you recommend as the highest shine black finish for a base for an NMF finish?  

 

Thanks in advance.

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I do indeed suggest you try. Painting has a strong user-specific aspect to it. For example, I've never gotten anything but a lousy result from Future, so I never use the stuff. Others get brilliant results.

 

Having written that, I get excellent results from Mr Color paints, so my suggestion is their Gloss Black, C2. But, to reinforce my point, Mr Color demand good airbrushing skills to achieve their absolutely amazing results.

 

The cowling is Mr Color gloss red with gloss clear. The rest of the airframe is MSI Micro Satin

snj-done2.jpg

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3 hours ago, Bob Beary said:

Tamiya TS-14 in the spray can. Decant and airbrush. If it's good enough for Chuck Sawyer (check out his F-5 and P-38 builds) it's good enough for the rest of us.

 

Bob

 

Thank you, sir, I will definitely look into TS-14.  I continue to wonder why Tamiya doesn't offer all of their spray can colors in bottles as well.  I haven't yet tried decanting, but I'll give it a try with this stuff.  I hadn't been aware of Chuck Sawyer's work, but I looked him up after reading your post, and what a spectacular modeler he is!  Thanks for pointing him out to me as well!

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31 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

I do indeed suggest you try. Painting has a strong user-specific aspect to it. For example, I've never gotten anything but a lousy result from Future, so I never use the stuff. Others get brilliant results.

 

Having written that, I get excellent results from Mr Color paints, so my suggestion is their Gloss Black, C2. But, to reinforce my point, Mr Color demand good airbrushing skills to achieve their absolutely amazing results.

 

The cowling is Mr Color gloss red with gloss clear. The rest of the airframe is MSI Micro Satin

snj-done2.jpg

 

Agreed that trying things for oneself is almost always a good way to go.  As it happens, I have almost all the Mr. Color lacquer paint colors, but, as luck would have it, C2 is one of the few I do NOT have!  I'll have to pick some up and see what kind of success I have when spraying it.  Thank you for the idea.

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Hi, Curt.

I'd add to previous suggestions a consideration regarding the kind of NMF paint.

In my experiences I always used Testors enamel gloss black with good results.

If you are going to use a lacquer based NMF paint as Alclad2, the enamel base is a must.

Acrylics gloss are not suitable to be tinted with that stuff, but also for enamel based NMF.

Acrylics NMFs are OK on almost any kind of base.

 

Note: Acrylics paints make a strong barrier on the surface and (even if hot) lacquers don't stick on them and this way is how lacquers work; just tinting and not painting.

 

Always, as we speak about paints, I miss the opinions and the tips from @Triarius that I don't see posting since years.

 

Best regards

Euge

 

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Tamiya has their new laquer paints in the bottle. If you can source some, they might be worth trying. I think there is a seller on Ebay that sells them. Also, Gunze GX2 is a really good gloss black. I thin mine with either Tamiya laquer thinner or mr. Leveling thinner.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I find that Mr. Color GX-2 is the glossiest black out there. Thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner, this produces a super glossy finish that is extremely durable and performs well as a base for NMF. Another good alternative is Mr. Paint Super Glossy Black, it is not as glossy as the GX2, but it comes pre-thinned and works well.

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