dimi Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 (edited) Hi I am building my very first kit which is a Tamyia F-16CJ. I am facing some issues and i need your advise for a few of them: 1. While i was masking out my nozzle a piece of paint has been lifted (see picture bellow) . The nozzle was paint with Alclad II paints. How do i fix this? Do i just airbrush with the same color until it levels or do I add putty/sand/paint. 2. I painted the fuel tanks with AK Real Colors. Applied 2 coats of Alclad II Aqua Gloss varnish. Then added my decals and applied one more cοat of aqua gloss. So far so good but when i applied Titans mat varnish (spray can) the color dissolved.... 😕 (see attached image) . I have no idea why that happened, what did i do wrong and how (if) this can be fixed. Edited September 26, 2021 by dimi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
seawinder Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 1. I've found you can generally re-apply Alclad over such spots with satisfactory results. You may want to sand the area with some very fine paper to eliminate the step formed by the torn layer. If the step still shows more than you can live with after re-painting, it may be best to take the whole thing down to bare plastic using a thinner that will dissolve the Alclad without attacking the styrene. Gunze Mr. Color thinner should work; DON'T use hardware store lacquer thinner. 2. The lacquer flat coat has attacked and partially dissolved at least the Aqua Gloss and possibly the AK layer(s). I'd guess it happened because the spray can flat coat went on too wet (it's hard to control how much comes out of the can, which is why I invariably decant and airbrush such products). You may be able to recover it by sanding and carefully repainting. I notice that the decal has not been affected, probably because the decal film affording some protection, so you may be able to sand around the markings. Do be careful with any masking you might do to protect the decals: it doesn't take much to pull them right off. Good luck. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dimi Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 14 hours ago, seawinder said: 1. I've found you can generally re-apply Alclad over such spots with satisfactory results. You may want to sand the area with some very fine paper to eliminate the step formed by the torn layer. If the step still shows more than you can live with after re-painting, it may be best to take the whole thing down to bare plastic using a thinner that will dissolve the Alclad without attacking the styrene. Gunze Mr. Color thinner should work; DON'T use hardware store lacquer thinner. 2. The lacquer flat coat has attacked and partially dissolved at least the Aqua Gloss and possibly the AK layer(s). I'd guess it happened because the spray can flat coat went on too wet (it's hard to control how much comes out of the can, which is why I invariably decant and airbrush such products). You may be able to recover it by sanding and carefully repainting. I notice that the decal has not been affected, probably because the decal film affording some protection, so you may be able to sand around the markings. Do be careful with any masking you might do to protect the decals: it doesn't take much to pull them right off. Good luck. Thanks for the advice. For no 1 case, I used acetone to clear all paint from the nozzle, and it looks like its down to plastic without any damage to the styrene. Will re-paint the whole thing today and hopefully this time I will do it right (never used Alclad II before and completely noob with airbrush 😕. ). For the second one, I am still trying to understand which type of varnish to use according to the paint. For instance, can you spray lacquer based varnish over acrylic color (or acrylic varnish)?. Is there an article explaining what varnish to apply over your primary paint and then over weathering/washing? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
seawinder Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 A lot depends on the specific brands you're using as well as whether or not the layers beneath have completely cured, but in general, you should not expect adverse behavior applying (aqueous) acrylics like Alclad Aqua Gloss over lacquers/enamels. The danger comes when it's the opposite — lacquers and/or acrylic lacquers over aqueous acrylics. You didn't mention what brand of flat lacquer you used, but it was obviously too hot for the Aqua Gloss beneath it, especially if it went down pretty wet, which would usually be the case when it's applied directly from a spray can. There are a number of good aqueous acrylic flats on the market including Vallejo and Micro Flat and Tamiya that should pose no dangers to Aqua Gloss. Another alternative would be to use an acrylic lacquer gloss rather than Aqua Gloss, over which basically any flat could be applied safely. I'm a big fan of Gunze Mr. Color Gloss Clear (C46 or GX100) thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner and applied with an airbrush. You should be able to use it safely over most any paint providing the paint has been given ample drying time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dimi Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 I applied Ammo by Mig Titans spray Mat varnish and you are right, it went a bit wet on the surface. So, if i paint with Tamiya Acrylics or AK Real Colors which are both lacquer based Acrylics and use C46 or GX100 i will be fine? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
seawinder Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 I'd say yes for AK Real Colors, and be careful for Tamiya: make sure the Tamiya is thoroughly cured. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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