I recently got hold of a Tamiya 1/12 Lotus 49 kit. I have been building model kits for a while and have always used tamiya spray paints for the bodies/larger parts and brush for smaller parts, but have never used primer before. I bought a can of tamiya grey spray primer and was wanting some tips on using it. Will it make the paint look better and gloss properly? This model is the green/yellow livery, I recently did a lotus 79 in the gloss black livery, but the gloss on the body was not very shiny. Also do I spray all the parts in primer then paint, even the chrome parts? Not a big fan of those - too shiny haha.
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Priming will help the paint adhere better to the pastic , 2-3 light coats is better than one heavy coat reason being with heavy coats you can lose details and you risk runs - tamiya primer drys very quick ,
will it make the top coat more glossy - not really - to achieve this you need to polish the top coat when dry or be a master with spay cans , again 2-3 light coats are better than one heavy coat
with the lotus 79 don`t be to hard on yourself Black gloss is the hardest colour to get spot on .
Chrome , I hate the chrome plated bits you get in kits , I suggest stripping it in normal bleach it does not harm the plastic , takes minutes - stubborn bits a bit longer then give a good wash in warm water not hot water , once dry prime and paint as normal
Welcome to the forum
Richy -
your overall job will benefit from a nice smooth primer coat, after that a good base coat with A couple of mist coats and then one or two wet coats using good techniques you can minimise Orange peel. The top clear coat is done the same way but if you have your Room temp and humidity right and use good Technique you will minimise the Orange peel thus minimising the sanding and polishing needed afterwards to get a mirror finish.Comment
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The key is mist coats, I use Halfords grey primer and have never had any issues with it, but I do not do a full blast. Light passes-on-off, then leave for a few mins and then again another pass. Build it up in layers.Comment
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........... and the quality and shine of your topcoat will reflect any imperfections on the surface. So preparation is the key.Comment
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