Painting Whites

[Mossie]

Arrrggh, wish I'd read your advice earlier Tom!  I've been using Halford's (Brit automotive store) Appliance White on others advice on my P-40 build.  I've had just that problem of the paint pooling because I've been that little bit over enthusiastic!  Now I've got a lot of drip marks to contend with.

The other problem I've found with the rattle cans is that my P-40 is a floatplane & has some very tight corners.  This means that when you have to get in at very odd angle (I know your supposed to keep it 90 degrees to the surface but there's no other way), other surfaces get an extra heavy coating & it ends up in uneven coats & yet more drip marks! :dum:

I'm close to my first & a half go with with an airbrush.  I say '& a half' because I had one that I was bought as a teenager.  I was too nervous to use it, I finally plucked up the courage about fifteen years later.  When I eventually got around to using it, it packed up!  It had been shoved in the back of cupboards, had a house move & been thrown about in irregular tidy ups through the years.  It was so old that I couldn't find any spares.  I got myself a shiney Badger 155 at the Nationals, but this had to endure a house move just a month later so I've got my fingers crossed!

[Daryl J.]

My best results have been with using Mr. Surfacer 1000 white for two base coats lightly sprayed on followed by a good long curing time say a month or better.  Then Tamiya Flat white goes on with a thinned coat with virtually no trouble at all.  The acrylics never seem to yellow as the yellowing is apparantly a reaction in the oils over time creating an amber cast.

The one time I used Polly Scale Reefer White I was stunned by how good it is too.  One coat, done.     Airbrushed straight out of the bottle after a good shaking up and warming to body temperature.


White's tough!  



Daryl J.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

The KIT SLAYER is the best to give advice on white's he's done so many USN models over the years - I learnt the dark art - pun intended - of spraying white from him: So with all due respect to him, and please bear in mind I have a USN 1:48 A-4 on the bench and a 1:48 A-7 & 1:32 F-4 in advanced planning, so I have a vested interest in the subject.

Priming:
Start with a Halfords rattle can 'White Primer' but spray very sparingly, and definitely not on the smaller items (actuating jacks, undercarriage parts etc). If you are building smaller than 1:48 I'd miss this out entirely. Try and get an even tone in no more than two coats.

Middle coat:
Whichever is your favourite paint - I prefer enamel - thin your paint as you normally would. If using enamel, I spray H130 Satin White in two thin coats, if there's any uneveness in the primer coat try and address that here.

Finishing coat:
A mix of 50/50 Satin & Gloss (H130 & H22) and thinned as above and add a couple of drops of blue to prevent yellowing - mentioned earlier in the thread. One sprayed coat should be enough, but two are fine.

I find that a straight hi-gloss final coat can be prone to pooling - again as mentioned earlier in the thread and halving it with the satin makes it much more 'flexible'.

That's how I do it - not complicated, but as Tom mentioned it is time consuming. If you want to look here Britmodeller thread, you'll see my A-4 (first) after just one coat of primer then later in the satin only middle coat.

HTH

Ian