TOPIC:

Imo, your own mix are more realistic Jonny.

caprinut wrote:

Nice to see another advent build.

I had planned to do a build myself, but with model kit.
But I soon realized that I had too little stuff to do a build.
Need to order some paint, brushes etc.
Ah well, guess I can do it later..

 I’m going to do a lot of the prep/research – and possibly even painting - before Christmas, but as this is meant to be a gift I still plan not to start the actual building until the day itself (or after)

stingray-63 wrote:

Imo, your own mix are more realistic Jonny.

Thanks Stingray I do like a lot of the Tamiya PS colours, but they’re often far more intense than you’d see on real cars.   

ETA - PC paints thinned down with X20A & airbrushed is something I can do indoors whereas I have to use the "synthetic lacquer" PS paints outdoors. No so good in the winter   

I really hope someone at Tamiya has the bright “idea” of re-releasing the PC line of paints, or at least the more sane coloured, lower number varieties. When you think about it, _not_ having a polycarbonate suitable, brushable/airbrushable paint is quite a hole in their lineup – that other manufacturers have tried to fill, if only briefly.

I used the pound store “Bloc” brand 5-minute epoxy to stick a couple of different size/type magnets on – the larger one was first & misbehaved, moving around a lot before curing. The smaller one was 2nd, behaved better, getting a much more realistic fillet thickness. 

TBH I’m getting much less tolerant of this stuff’s stink, long set time (15 mins before it starts to thicken up) and very watery nature, so I’ve ordered some Araldite Rapid instead. It’s great the first time, assuming it’s fresh, but the set time rapidly increases from the moment you break the seals. It does stink less, it less reactive with paints & is more sticky to start with though. 

Testing with other magnets (neodymium & otherwise) + various types of steel showed the strength of the bond between paint & shell was very good. I got it to fail eventually, but only by bending the Lexan to improbable angles.

Scratching with a thumbnail got though to bare plastic – but only on the 7th or 8th attempt. 

I’m not going to say it sticks as well as PS paint – but compared to the way I remember unthinned PC paints, brushed on, flaking off  back in the day, I’m happy.


 

I also did a bit more experimenting with colour, adding more blue & green to the existing mix. Initially, I thought I’d gone a bit too far towards PS-54 Cobalt Green, but a side by side comparison with that shows it’s worlds lighter, bluer and less intense.  

I still wanted to dial it back a little, so sticking with the same recipe – but mixing it all at once, rather than trying a bit, then adding more shading & repeating effectively means there’s more white in there. I’ve mixed around 40ml – emptying one of my jars of PC-1 white in the process , and the final result is a couple of shades lighter than that shown so far.

Think the blue green colour, but with only Baby Blue(r) intensity. Or maybe not, I’ve never been able to tell blue & green apart that well, so mixing very subtle differences of colours with both is a game of diminishing returns. Compared to the PS grey & blue options though, I like this much better.   


Paint recipes, for my future reference: 

50s Pale Baby Blue: 2ml PC-1 White, 2 drops PC-5 Black, 4 drops PC-4 Blue, 2ml X20A Thinner 

Baby Bluer: 2ml PC-1 White, 2 drops PC-5 Black, 8 drops PC-4 Blue, 2ml X20A Thinner 

Mid Turquoise Green: 2ml PC-1 White, 2 drops PC-5 Black, 16 drops PC-4 Blue, 12 drops PC-9 Green, 2ml X20A Thinner 

This was my previous NSU body - the Corsa Grey is quite a nice colour, I probably would have repeated it if airbrushing a PC based mix wasn't going to work






Which reminds me: number plates ...

This blue grey is nice to Jonny. Sale if I prefer airbrushing to because of the ability to spray indoor. I found some jars on the bay in belgium. They are cheaper than french dealers. But more and more hard to find. I don't know why they do that. 

I love the nsu to. Tam should make a Trabant. That could be fun

I cleaned up the edges of the shell, drilled the wing mirror holes & got some paint on. Inexplicable semi- fish eyes & drips occasioning runs abounded but after 5 coats, it looks ok from the outside.

It photographs more like the baby blue I'd initially envisioned, and no amount of tweaking the colour controls will make the pic look more accurate. It is somewhere between the Monaco Blue of the SRB Holiday Buggy & the Cobalt Green of the Karmann Ghia though

What I was aiming for was a paler version of RAL 6000 Patina Green, what I've ended up with is a slightly darker RAL Mint Turquoise. It's not unpleasant (in a 1970s bathroom suite kind of way ) but is not quite as "everyday" as I'd have liked.






 

I love this blue jonny. Congrats