1/48 Dora Wings Messerschmitt Bf-109B

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It's been long time since I've gotten back to the bench and its time I got this 109 finished. The last job I did on this one last year was to spray on a coat of Mr Color gloss clear to seal the acrylic - and then it all went pear shaped. The gloss clear ended up drying into matt finish and is really grainy. Does anyone know what causes this and how I might stop it from happening again? Advice and/or guidance would be most welcome.

I plan on redoing the whole paint job as I sanded back the clear and rubbed through to the base coat in a couple of spots (one should never try to fix a bad job when cranky!!!! ). Might be time to break in the new air brush and see if that helps (I know - a bad tradesman always blames his tools!).

Update on progress will be made once I get a clear spot on the bench to work.

Cheers.
 
I assume this was a rattle can.

1. Insufficient mixing
2. Sprayed from too far away - particles dried in flight

I find rattle cans lack control as it's either max pressure or zero. Do many fast passes, allowing the coating to fully dry between coats.
 
Thanks Andy - was actually using my Badger 150 airbrush. I've had it for over 30 years and resurrected it a couple of years back when getting back into the hobby. I replaced all the perishable components (and a couple of more besides) and it has worked flawlessly since. The only issue I've had is with this clear coat. I think that I could be holding the brush just a bit too far away from the model and the particles are drying in flight - as you noted about rattle cans. Once I get the model surface repaired I'll give it another go with the Badger and hold it a bit closer. If that fails I might crack out the new Paasche unit I bought and try that.

Pretty sure, however, that the issue is with the user rather than the tools....
 
I have a hard time with gloss coating myself. There seems to be a very narrow envelope of pressure and distance combinations that work for a given brush and it's tricky, for me at least, to get a wet coat that is essential for that high gloss finish without getting runs. I have found the most success with my old Paasche VL with the #3 head but it borders on spraying too much through the nozzle for smaller models. That's why I went with my Iwata HPC+ with a .3mm needle on my Avia B-534 just yesterday but got a so-so result.
 
I'm still brush coating Future with a soft wide brush. It takes a couple of coats but works well for me. I once tried airbrushing Tamiya Clear Flat and didn't really like the result or the fact that the clear seemed to be drooling of the end of the tip. I'm going to give it another try on the current GB model.
 
I mainly apply gloss ( Humbrol clear gloss acrylic ) using a medium-sized soft brush, doing two to thee coats. If required, depending on the surface and overall finish, a final coat is sometimes sprayed, using the airbrush.
 
OK - so it seems that applying gloss clear is not quite as simple as I had assumed. Andy- from your feedback I think the following was were I went wrong:
  • Held the brush too far away from the model
  • Used a spray head that was too small for broader coverage (checked the brush and found I had the fine head on when I did the job)
  • Possibly had the pressure set too high (trying to make up for the smaller head size & subsequent coverage issues)
Geo & Terry - its interesting that you both use brushes to apply gloss clear. I must admit that brushing had not even entered my thinking (past experiences tell me I am terrible with a hairy stick over bigger surfaces). I have a "foam" brush that might do the trick if the last shot with the AB doesn't pan out. With respect to Future - we cant even buy that down here in Oz. I have seen a lot of articles about alternatives, but to be honest I am hesitant to give any of them a try. I've had that one on the "too hard" list for a while now.

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and thoughts on this. Time to put some of this into practice I think!

Cheers!
 
I'm with you Grant, on the Future/Pledge drought here in Aus. I was searching high and low for an alternative for dipping canopies in to brighten them up and get rid of some minor scratches. Have just been put on to "Looks Like Glass" by Deluxe Materials, and have heard it can be used for a gloss coat as well. Slow drying though. Lovely looking clear stuff (not milky) and thin too. Costs about as much as a bottle of Grange Hermitage (if you bought 750 mls of it!) at $19.95 from my local hobby store for a 100 ml bottle. Some drying now on some clear parts as a test. Will let you know how it goes if you're interested...
 
Progress at last! I've spent the last week or so experimenting with my new Paasche AB and have now worked out how to get decent results. Unlike my old Badger it seems to like running slightly higher pressures (I could go as low as 15 psi with the Badger and have it work fine but min is about 22 psi with the Paasche). I am also finding the new brush is very sensitive to viscosity levels - seems to prefer a slightly thinner consistency than I ran in the Badger.

So - having finally finished sanding back the grainy clear coat (plus some of the underlying colour - doh!) I set to work to re-apply the pre-shading to panel lines etc. This time around I decided to be much more heavy handed in applying this. There is some logic to this. Earlier in this thread I noted that the colours seemed to be a bit too "bright". I'm hoping that by having a heavier pre-shade this might help to dull the top colours back a bit. Time will tell...

Photos of pre-shade and the white tips reapplied follow:
 
Nice painting stand. Available online? I've been using sprues glued together. Time to go big.
 
bdefen said:
Nice painting stand. Available online? I've been using sprues glued together. Time to go big.
Click to expand...
Not exactly... I did see a few stands online and baulked at the price, so I thought I would make one myself. Used some 3mm MDF I had lying around, cut it all to shape and glued it together where necessary. Added a couple of rubber feet underneath, a coat of black enamel and voila! It works pretty well, although I have broken one of the uprights a couple of times. I think the next one I make will be out of some mild steel - that way I can weld the uprights together. Job for another day...
 
I like the design. Looks like the three supports are adjustable for fuselage length, wingspan, and height..right?
 
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