I don’t mean to start out being needy

[Crappy Builder]

Hey to everyone. I'm just getting back into model car building now that I'm retired so please be patient. I'm currently working on a 1968 AMT Camaro and all was going pretty well, until. I live in Tennessee and dawg it's humid here, as it always is this time of year. I don't have a paint booth and I haven't graduated to air brushing, so I'm using rattle cans to paint with for now. I like using Tamiya paints, and up until now have had great results using lacquer paint. Unfortunately I think I may have done something stupid and asking for advice as to maybe fix by issue without having to strip it. I painted it last week and as I have to paint outside due to wife's disliking of paint fumes. Well the paint WAS looking pretty good until I put on what I was hoping to be my last coat before clear coat. Well as many of you have already guessed, it's blushed on me. Can I maybe get some suggestions as to fix it? And if I get a paint booth, can I paint outside without the possibility of the same issue occurring? I've read that a paint booth will pull the fumes out of the house but dear wife isn't convinced, and also read that said paint booth will only effectively take fumes out with air brushing but not so much using rattle cans. I know that I'm asking a lot on my first post, but I truly want to be proud of my results considering the time and attention that I'm putting into my builds. Thank everyone in advance for your time, attention, and helpful input.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Oh my god. Some people are so needy. Sweet Jesus. I don't own a paint booth. But can I give you my two cents? I live in Arizona and I paint outside so unless there's a kick-ass thunderstorm I can always paint outside anytime as long as I can handle the heat. And have some retarder. Paint booths are meant to be used inside because they vent to the outside. If you're handy you can cut a hole in your wall and put a 4-in dryer vent in. You can also buy something that will go in your window and you can close it on it and it has a 4 inch vent in it. The object is to vent all the fumes to outside and I imagine if you have a strong enough fan and your spraying inside the booth it'll draw out the air from the paint cans. I could be wrong but as long as you're not spraying the can up in the air you should be fine. But to me if you're going to spray inside you might as well get a paint booth and if you're going to get a paint booth you might as well try some airbrushes. I was a dedicated spray can modeler. Airbrushes? Oh hell no. Let me tell you when you try an airbrush and you get a good one and you learn how to use it it is the absolute greatest thing and your models come out so good you'll be astounded

 

[BarleyBop]

Hey, you're bound to get some input; I recently started my first car model (non military) and went the same route - rattlecan for that gloss finish. second (what was a light coat) turned up some surface imperfections (I call it a rash) that folks on here identified as 'orange peel'. In my case, painting in a cool but humid basement, and with probably not enough time for the first coat to cure. So now I'm waiting at least a week before trying a light sanding.
I had recently installed a spray booth which vents directly outside through an old dryer vent, and I find it gets the fumes out pretty effectively. So the issue wasn't related to venting. Humidity and not waiting long enough between coats.
A pic of the issue will help folks understand the problem, and the fix.

 

[Crappy Builder]

Thank you for your timely response. I don't have a basement or garage, hence paining in the backyard and quickly bringing it in and putting them on the back of the toilet and turning on the fart fan to try to vent the fumes out I guess I'm going to need to concentrate more on doing interior, engine, and chassis and suspension work until the humidity calms down.

 

[Airborne01!]

I don't have that problem I'm pleased to say, but welcome mate!
Steve

 

[Crappy Builder]

I don't have that problem I'm pleased to say, but welcome mate!
Steve

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

 

[Crappy Builder]

Oh my god. Some people are so needy. Sweet Jesus. I don't own a paint booth. But can I give you my two cents? I live in Arizona and I paint outside so unless there's a kick-ass thunderstorm I can always paint outside anytime as long as I can handle the heat. And have some retarder. Paint booths are meant to be used inside because they vent to the outside. If you're handy you can cut a hole in your wall and put a 4-in dryer vent in. You can also buy something that will go in your window and you can close it on it and it has a 4 inch vent in it. The object is to vent all the fumes to outside and I imagine if you have a strong enough fan and your spraying inside the booth it'll draw out the air from the paint cans. I could be wrong but as long as you're not spraying the can up in the air you should be fine. But to me if you're going to spray inside you might as well get a paint booth and if you're going to get a paint booth you might as well try some airbrushes. I was a dedicated spray can modeler. Airbrushes? Oh hell no. Let me tell you when you try an airbrush and you get a good one and you learn how to use it it is the absolute greatest thing and your models come out so good you'll be astounded

 

[Crappy Builder]

I've read that air brush painting requires quite a bit of practice. I've been wanting to try to convert over to an air brush setup, however the thinner mixing, and trying to get the ratios right just scares the hell out of me! I've read that if I want to delve off into that I probably need to do a bit of practice on a junker body. Still the problem remains that my wife, bless her heart, is still dead set against it. LOL! I'm actually thinking about getting a small A/C unit to place in my junk shed outside and giving it a go out there. SHHHHH! Just don't tell my wife.

 

[Edbert]

I've read that air brush painting requires quite a bit of practice. I've been wanting to try to convert over to an air brush setup, however the thinner mixing, and trying to get the ratios right just scares the hell out of me! I've read that if I want to delve off into that I probably need to do a bit of practice on a junker body. Still the problem remains that my wife, bless her heart, is still dead set against it. LOL! I'm actually thinking about getting a small A/C unit to place in my junk shed outside and giving it a go out there. SHHHHH! Just don't tell my wife.

I have a man-cave / office where I build, but I spray in the garage. Live in Texas too so summer heat is a definite issue, so I try to do the spraying early in the morning or late at night. I have a portable AC that I use, compressor/evaporator type not one of those water-chillers, it exhausts into the attic. Wit the AC running I can get the inside temps into the 70s pretty easily.

Just saying there are options.

Biggest drawback to my method is transporting models and materials from the indoor bench to the garage. But leaving a window open or adding more vents and the hoses for an indoor spray-booth is an even bigger drawback to me. Just easier to sweat a little bit and wear a respirator.

I would encourage you to pick up an inexpensive airbrush/compressor. Make sure it is gravity-feed and two-stage, all the other stuff is esoteric. You can get a cheapo kit to use as a test mule, and strip the paint off with oven cleaner from time to time. But for starting out just use paper/wood/carboard whatever you have lying around that you would trash as practice. There are thousands of youtube vids out showing test patterns and such to use. And paint mixing is not as technical as many make it out to be. The difference of a few drips too thin or too thick is negligible, and over time (and practice) you will not even measure anymore, you'll eyeball it and adjust. I might be in the minority, but I consider the airbrush to be one of the top-5 "must have" tools.

 

[BarleyBop]

transporting models and materials from the indoor bench to the garage

... not to be taken lightly. Read through enough of these threads and the number of close encounters down basement stairs and onto garage floors is alarming.
My advice: Figure out a way to get your stuff from A to B, that you can securely carry with one hand, leaving the other free for banisters, doorknobs and clearing other obstacles.

 

[blar]

You could try lightly wet sanding and then respray, but in my experience you're likely to sand through the paint. If it were me I would probably just strip it all and start over.

Speaking of which, Tamiya AS and TS paints can be stripped with regular old 91% isopropyl alcohol from the store, so it's not too much of a pain to do.

When working with rattlecans outdoors on hot and humid days, I like to heat up the paint can under the faucet before spraying so that the paint temperature is similar to the outdoor temperature. It should help (in theory at least) to prevent moisture from getting trapped in the paint.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Don't be scared of trying an airbrush. I use mostly Tamia X and XF and LP paints. I use exclusively Mr color 400 leveling thinner. I thin everything one-to-one ratio. I like Mr color 400 because it has everything in it. Retarder. Leveling stuff. The stuff is great and it works for me. And if you do buy an airbrush get a good one. I told myself I'll get it cheapy to try it out see if I like it and I bought a Neo Echo or something like that. You know cheap Chinese stuff you can get off Amazon. It was okay for one model and then it was a piece of junk I thought. Then I bought a badger Patriot 105 and even though it's not one of those expensive really nice airbrushes it does a very good job for a hundred bucks

 

[BarleyBop]

nice airbrushes

I'm following what advice is given with interest.

Honestly, if I decide to get into cars, aircraft or ships, I'll be jumping on that bandwagon too.
For now, rattle can primer and/or base with finish by brush is working fine for my 1:35 military vehicles and figures.
Like musical instruments and tools, you usually get what you pay for; and if it will be used a lot, you don't want poor quality getting in the way of your improvement, learning, general satisfaction and fun!

 

[Littlemarten]

I also recommend a decent airbrush, not a cheap one. Also a good compressor. My favorite is GREX. Thinning ratios depend on the paint you use, and it isn't rocket science—there's a lot of references available. I do recommend you start with a single paint brand, learn it's behavior in your airbrush, then you can experiment with other brands. One thing to keep in mind: alcohol solvent paints generally perform best with a retarder in the mix.

Spraybooths are available from many sources, some specific to scale modeling. You can also build your own as long as you properly calculate air flow requirements. I recommend the former—the time and hassle you save will be worth it. Peace of mind for you and your wife are worth the expense—as is your health.

 

[Edbert]

Maybe some dollar values are needed to define cheap, intermediate, and expensive?

I would say anything under $100USD range is inexpensive, and anything between $100 and $250 (give or take) is intermediate.

If you get gravity-feed and double-action with a metal body that will generally rule out the $50 and below units, those I would stay away from.

My general purpose AB is an Iwata HP-CS, it is very versatile and I bought it at Hobby Lobby. But it cannot do mechanical-pencil-thin lines, more like a ballpoint pen.

My best one is the PS-771, like this one without Dru's spring. https://spraygunner.com/products/mr-airbrush-custom-0-18mm-ps-771-with-dru-blairs-spring

 

[Littlemarten]

For a compressor, I recommend California Air Tools. This is the one I have.

I recommend shopping around for the best deal on a good airbrush.

 

[Pantherman]

Hey to everyone. I'm just getting back into model car building now that I'm retired so please be patient. I'm currently working on a 1968 AMT Camaro and all was going pretty well, until. I live in Tennessee and dawg it's humid here, as it always is this time of year. I don't have a paint booth and I haven't graduated to air brushing, so I'm using rattle cans to paint with for now. I like using Tamiya paints, and up until now have had great results using lacquer paint. Unfortunately I think I may have done something stupid and asking for advice as to maybe fix by issue without having to strip it. I painted it last week and as I have to paint outside due to wife's disliking of paint fumes. Well the paint WAS looking pretty good until I put on what I was hoping to be my last coat before clear coat. Well as many of you have already guessed, it's blushed on me. Can I maybe get some suggestions as to fix it? And if I get a paint booth, can I paint outside without the possibility of the same issue occurring? I've read that a paint booth will pull the fumes out of the house but dear wife isn't convinced, and also read that said paint booth will only effectively take fumes out with air brushing but not so much using rattle cans. I know that I'm asking a lot on my first post, but I truly want to be proud of my results considering the time and attention that I'm putting into my builds. Thank everyone in advance for your time, attention, and helpful input.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Pantherman

 

[Edbert]

... not to be taken lightly. Read through enough of these threads and the number of close encounters down basement stairs and onto garage floors is alarming.

I'm one of them.

I have looked at it multiple times, but the scars are too new, even after months.

 

[Crappy Builder]

Oh my god. Some people are so needy. Sweet Jesus. I don't own a paint booth. But can I give you my two cents? I live in Arizona and I paint outside so unless there's a kick-ass thunderstorm I can always paint outside anytime as long as I can handle the heat. And have some retarder. Paint booths are meant to be used inside because they vent to the outside. If you're handy you can cut a hole in your wall and put a 4-in dryer vent in. You can also buy something that will go in your window and you can close it on it and it has a 4 inch vent in it. The object is to vent all the fumes to outside and I imagine if you have a strong enough fan and your spraying inside the booth it'll draw out the air from the paint cans. I could be wrong but as long as you're not spraying the can up in the air you should be fine. But to me if you're going to spray inside you might as well get a paint booth and if you're going to get a paint booth you might as well try some airbrushes. I was a dedicated spray can modeler. Airbrushes? Oh hell no. Let me tell you when you try an airbrush and you get a good one and you learn how to use it it is the absolute greatest thing and your models come out so good you'll be astounded

Hi Rob. Thanks for the advice. I've never been to Arizona, and along with Three Dog Night, Spain either. But I've always heard that Arizona is a dry heat state, however this time of year here where I live in Tennessee it's really humid. Usually by the time I go outside on most days, by the time I come back in from smoking a cigarette I'm already sweaty, I think I'm just going to have to check the humidity levels before I paint.

 

[Crappy Builder]

I have a man-cave / office where I build, but I spray in the garage. Live in Texas too so summer heat is a definite issue, so I try to do the spraying early in the morning or late at night. I have a portable AC that I use, compressor/evaporator type not one of those water-chillers, it exhausts into the attic. Wit the AC running I can get the inside temps into the 70s pretty easily.

Just saying there are options.

Biggest drawback to my method is transporting models and materials from the indoor bench to the garage. But leaving a window open or adding more vents and the hoses for an indoor spray-booth is an even bigger drawback to me. Just easier to sweat a little bit and wear a respirator.

I would encourage you to pick up an inexpensive airbrush/compressor. Make sure it is gravity-feed and two-stage, all the other stuff is esoteric. You can get a cheapo kit to use as a test mule, and strip the paint off with oven cleaner from time to time. But for starting out just use paper/wood/carboard whatever you have lying around that you would trash as practice. There are thousands of youtube vids out showing test patterns and such to use. And paint mixing is not as technical as many make it out to be. The difference of a few drips too thin or too thick is negligible, and over time (and practice) you will not even measure anymore, you'll eyeball it and adjust. I might be in the minority, but I consider the airbrush to be one of the top-5 "must have" tools.

Thanks Elbert. I've recently seen a couple of wallet friendly air brush set ups and giving some thought to the idea. I have a car body currently soaking in brake fluid, I used Dupi-color paint that didn't turn out well. I'm beginning to think body painting isn't my forte.

 

[Jantk14]

As for a spray booth maybe you guys have some insight. I got one from Amazon and it's seems pretty solid. My concern is there is a warning about a fire risk. I use mostly Tamiya acrylics and they are flammable. I am considering just using it without turning the fan on to control the overspray. I work by a window so I'm not as concerned about fumes. Any thoughts about the fire risk or just using it without the fan?

 

[urumomo]

risk is about zilch .
the air/fuel ratio will never be anything close to meeting combustion requirements

 

[Cameron38]

As urumomo said, nil risk.