Maybe I should have double checked my paint chemistry or something before working on this and I wouldn’t have run into this problem. But what’s done is done; I was gonna topcoat the Kshatriya a few days ago until I noticed the black paint on the trims are cracking. I wonder if this is due to the type of paint in the Gundam paint marker mixing on acrylic (the white paint)? Now I need to come up with a solution where I can fix this without starting over or ruining the look too much. The parts look like shit now. blah.
So the steps I took were..
Tamiya white primer > Tamiya acrylic white spray paint > Black Gundam marker paint (easiest and safest way to apply) > Topcoat
Gundam paint marker for the lose… orz. Now I’ll see what I can do to fix it without redoing everything or messing it up again. Maybe brush painting the cracks with acrylic black? Anyway… it’s pretty demotivating.
So guess for the time being, I’ll work on a MG for a little change of pace…
ガンプラ命 
What most likely happened was that the coat of black paint shrunk as it dried. Was the Tamiya white spray pain gloss or semi-gloss? If so, that’s definitely what happened. Especially with how it looks like it only happened on the fairly larger areas. Another coat of black paint should fix everything up nice and easy.
What I would do to apply by hand (with a brush) to fairly large areas would be to mix a bit of paint with thinner (I dip my brush in thinner and then in paint), and then brush onto the part. I find this really helps in limiting any brush strokes from showing through, and in your case would help the paint fill in the cracks. But even if they do show through, matte topcoat will keep it lookin’ natural. =p
eh.. I think it might be due to the black and white paints reacting. first, tamiya spray paints are lacquers, not acrylics (confirmed from tamiya’s website). second, gundam markers are lacquers too. you can prove it by using gundam marker eraser on lacquer paint, it would ruin the paint job. maybe you either applied the gundam marker paint too early (the spray paint hasn’t cured yet), or too thick (so it reacts with the white paint).
that’s what I guessed.
correct me if i’m wrong, but i think :
– gundam markers are acrylics and the gundam markers eraser are lacquer (because lacquers can also removes enamel and acrylic based paint)
– tamiya spray with TS and AS code are enamel
– tamiya spray with PS code is lacquer.
and I think the safest (but not the easiest) way to save these parts are by cleaning it up again using lacquer thinner, and just redo the whole thing.
– wrong. gundam markers are lacquers, as far as I know. they could mess up a lacquer paint job (tamiya TS)
– tamiya TS and AS are lacquers, I have done both acrylic and enamel paint wash, and neither reacted with the paint.
– correct. all tamiya spray paints are lacquers.
about redoing the whole thing, using lacquer thinner might be a good idea, as long as you don’t use it excessively, since it will break the parts. (I’ve experienced that)
Haha then I am a loser for thinking it was acrylic this whole time then (figured since my tamiya bottle paint are all acrylic so yea…). Both of you guys’ theory sound plausible. I used TS-26 Pure White (which is gloss)… but I also did drown the area with black paint from the paint marker; I just let the paint flow out without pressure to cover the area and around the edges of the trim. So yea… made two silly fetal mistakes xD. Guess my way out is to use the acrylic black bottle that I have sitting around…
Thanks you two!
ahaha, yes, tamiya bottle paints are either acrylic or enamel (the enamel ones are smaller, and with japanese text all over them without english text at all).
your best bet would be enamel or acrylic wash (these 2 wouldn’t disturb the TS-26 layer at all, as long as you let it cure for at least 12-24 hours). you can even thin the black with acrylic thinner to make it easier to run into the small areas around the trims. even if you mess up, just clean the excess with acrylic thinner (I think that’s the basic about doing paint wash, be it enamel or acrylic).
try do reverse wash… primer > lacquer white > enamel black.. clean the trim part with cotton bud soak with enamel thinner
Don’t think I have the fine touch to clean out the trim perfectly ^^; Not to mention I don’t have any enamel black sitting around… orz.
you can do it similarly to how you used black gundam marker, just let the thinned paint flow along the edges. as long as there’s no mess, no need to clean the trim. just make sure the paint is thinned enough, so they run smooth.
if you don’t have enamel black, use acrylic black with acrylic thinner.. =)
Reverse wash is the technique requiring the least precision imho :P but anyway as for your problem I never encountered it, but you may want to refer to the following for more info http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/30 .
Ouch that looks awful, I’m guessing you’re most likely going to paint over it? I’ve been looking forward to your review~
hey i was wondering, how do you do the posing of your gunpla models, i notice in a lot of your shots you have the legs hyperextended in one direction or another which gives the impression of them flying, but when i try to do that with my models it seems like the legs just seem to droop back down. any tips on doing this?
Holding the legs up? so you have loose joints probably. drop a thin layer of school glue and let it dry on the joints, then pop it back in.
Hello there, I was reading on my gunpla forums about this reverse wash method… I think it might be an answer to your problems. Have a read here and see what you think:
http://majorwilliams.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/gundam-building-101-reverse-wash-and.html
;)
Hope this helps.
Yea thanks for the link! Sadly, I don’t have any way of picking up enamel paint at the moment. I have already touched up the cracks and now just need to refinish it to smooth it out so hopefully it won’t be noticeable.
Had this happen with my VP Hi-Nu’s hands because I was a slacker and tried to cover them with black gundam marker over a flat coat. Lesson learned! Sucks to have it happen on something with trim like this though but at least you’ve managed to get it mostly fixed.
Z, given your love of swords and the Astray Red Frame, I’ve got a little something for you: http://lupes.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/mg-inferno-astray-main-body/
That is sweet! We can all leave it to you to come up with unique/radical color schemes like that.
Maybe you should try the same method as Sinanju’s emblem though, using enamel Black instead of marker color.
i always thought that all gundam markers were enamel, and all tamiya spray cans were lacquer
that’s what i remember from reading from everywhere. don’t take my word for it since nobody here seems to agree…
but if im right, then the white laquer should not have acted on the black enamel since it went on first and dried, while the black enamel can’t do anything to the laquer whites. that leaves the the topcoat (assuming is tamiya or mr. hobby spray can) being a lacquer killed the enamel black.
but you being Z, I would expect to have topcoated gundam markers before…
so it’s either me that is terribly wrong, or a lot of ppl here have been doing it wrong and gotten lucky thus far.
odds are against me lolololololol
Or you could consider it a weathering, perhaps