Fujimi 1/24 scale 1970 Gulf Wyer Porsche 917K

[Joel_W]

I thinned out the Tamiya LP-9 Clear Gloss 1:1 with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner #400. I do measure the amount of each. In this case I always use a full bottle of the LP-9 into a Iwata Paint bottle with sealing cap, then fill the empty bottle with the same amount of thinner and add that to LP-9. This way I've always got it ready to go. I do the same for my primers as well.

joel

[tatocorvette]

What a gorgeous body! Absolutely beautiful!

[Joel_W]

Ismael,
Thanks so much my friend for those most positive words. Coming from a master like you, it really means quite a lot to me.
joel

[arcticwolf]

I have 2 of those 917's on my to-do list, but they're the Heller kits. I know, I must be into S&M or something.

That blue Gulf car looks beautiful my friend.

[Joel_W]

Paul,
Thanks for the thumbs up. It's always greatly appreciated. I don't envy you. Not 1 but 2 Heller kits is a huge undertaking, but judging from your builds of late, you're more then up for the challenge. You can bet that I'll be right there on the sides following your builds from day 1 till you cross the finish line for each of them.

joel

[Ben_B]

Looking great, Joel! I've been impressed with the Tamiya LP paints. The clear gloss seems to come out shinier than what I was able to get with decanted TS-13. I'm going to steal your idea about mixing the clear and thinner right in the bottle. Genius!

Ben

[Joel_W]

Ben,
Thanks for stopping by, as we build basically the same, I use you as my build scale.

I've never decanted any rattle can out of fear of it going every where if I screw it up. And then all that degassing.

You'll love the Tamiya LP-9 Clear Gloss as well as the whole line. They're the equal to the Gunze Mr. Color for sure.

I don't mix the Clear and the LC in Tamiya bottle, but rather bottles I got from Sprue Brothers that will easily hold a full bottle of Clear, an equal amount of #400 LC measured in the empty Tamiya bottle and some times I double up the amount as I do use a lot of the Gloss. Never had an issues with storage between uses.

joel

[Ben_B]

Joel,

Thanks for the clarification on the thinning! I've found the LP paints don't require as much thinning as the Mr Color paints. A lot of those come out of the bottle a little thick. I thin the LP paints 50/50 like you do, while the Mr Color paints are usually closer to 75% thinner/25% paint.

I gave up on decanting. Too risky and just a pain in the neck! There are already a couple of paint spots on the 2-year-old carpet under my desk from decanting paint.    Fortunately, my wife hasn't noticed them! 

Ben

[Joel_W]

Ben,
The more I think about it, your 75% thinning ratio seems like a better solution for a really wet flowing paint job using Gunze paints. I usually spend way more time polishing out the paint then I do with Tamiya or Gravity paints which I basically just use 8000 and 12,000 or skip the 8,000 all together.

I've got you beat with paints stains on the carpet around my workbench. But my wife has seen all of them. I claimed that if she approved of one of those large acrylic chair mats, the carpet would still be like brand new. But she didn't buy that for one minute.

So what's up on your workbench right now?

joel

[Ben_B]

Hi Joel,

I’ve found that the Mr Color paints can be pretty thick. The last jar of clear gloss I opened had the consistency of honey. The stuff sure does spray well when thinned with ~75% thinner! Tamiya’s LP paints’ viscosity seems to be a lot more consistent.

On my bench? I took a side trip back into airplanes for a while, and just finished Hasegawa’s Ar 234B and P-40E and Airfix’s beautiful Hawker Hunter kit. For cars, I just need to put the finishing touches on a Tamiya 956. I used some of Indycals new fluorescent decals to see how they worked. Not bad, but complicated due to having multiple layers and Indycals not liking surfaces with compound curves. I’ll post a short review when I’m done. Next car will be Hasegawa’s newly reissued Porsche 944 Turbo Cup winner. I don’t have any green cars in my collection and the 944 is one of my favorite Porsches.

Ben

[Joel_W]

Ben, funny you should mention that the Mr. Color Clear Gloss was as thick as honey. I have 6 bottles of it as I tried to return them to Sprue Brothers but it was a no go. Just seems that they left out the #400 leveling thinner. So 60-75% ratio should do the trick. I'm just a little leery about using them since I found Tamiya's LP-9. I just love the stuff.

I haven't build a aircraft kit in more then 5 years as I'm totally into cars these days. Can't wait to see your Porsche 956 with those Indy Cal decals.

joel

[Ben_B]

I'm switching to the Tamiya LP clears as I use up my Mr Color clears because my local hobby shop carries them. I really like them and thin them ~50/50. The syrupy Mr Color clears work fine when thinned enough. I'd use a minimum of 75% thinner, though. Interestingly, the GX-100 Super Clear is thick, but nothing like the C46 clear.

Ben

[davethewalker]

I have decanted paint many times without an issue. I securely tape a straw to the nozzle and spray into a cup. I usually do that in spray booth and have never had any leakage or other problem. I do not shake the can before hand.

[Ben_B]

The decanting itself wasn’t a threat to the carpet as much as clumsy me flipping a drop of paint off of the straw as I carefully moved it to the trash can.    It’s just more trouble than it’s worth to me, given the availability of bottled paint in the colors I need. 

Ben

[tatocorvette]

I know we are getting off topic, but over 30 years ago, teenager me thought it was a good idea to drill a hole on the side of a hardware store spray can to decant...
To this day, I think there are still specs of blue paint in my parent's driveway...