What will happen if I mix normal thinner with my gaia color and then apply to the gundam?

technically you are diluting the normal thinner with hobby thinner, but I have totally no idea what will happen, nor do I want to risk it
but you can experiment on empty runners

i believe it will melt your plastic. hobby thinner is not THAT expensive. don't stinge on it. please.

okay2 thanks for ur advice

what best tool to use for applying putty?

I use a flat plastic ice cream spoon and wet fingers.

which type of putty were you using?
I used platic spoon on Tamiya white putty and the spoon is like partially melted ._.

wet finger? isnt that dangerous?
i try that with my hand

and it hurts my finger like plastic cement

for epoxy putty using hands is fine i think

oh yeah, I'm using basic putty
i heard you need glove for mixing epoxy putty

Ah yeah i should note i use epoxy putty never try the basic ones. The instruction do tell to use glove when mixing but after that u can use wet finger to apply, personally i don't have problem when mixing without gloves but i keep my fingers wet while doing it because you certainly don't want the putty stick to the fingers.

i just use toothpick only. then again, only use basic putty to fill small holes and scratches. for adding texture, i sue my finger. then just wash it off afterwards

besides water, can also try using powder. especially when mixing it. makes it less sticky on your hands, and smells loads better too!

Hi, I am new here and i would like to know a few things:

1. What is the different between the effect of top coat & compound? I heard that compound will polish the parts, but will the effect wear off?

2. Can top coat or compound remove nub/nip marks after sanding?

3. How to restore transparency of clear parts after sanding or how to remove nub/nip marks on metallic parts?

4. Anyone got pictures of applying top coat of flat, semi - gloss & gloss on gunpla?

thanks in advanced

Firstly, you need to know that topcoat & compound are totally 2 different things.
topcoat is clear colourless paint to cover and protect anything beneath it.
compound is for polishing, basically an extremely fine sandpaper, to make the surface you are polishing to be very shiny.

topcoat can't remove nub marks, since it's only a layer of clear paint over it, you still can see it.
as for compound, you need to use file, then fine sandpaper, lastly only compound, in this order, then you will get a smooth finish.

I never sanded clear parts before so I can't be sure, but I do think that with compound polishing it's possible
for metallic parts, you clean the nub marks as usual, but NO sanding. Then you touch up using metallic colour markers or paints.

You can sample photos in this thread
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/488910

As to restore clear parts transparency you can refer here:
http://www.kenzbuilds.com/intermediate.php...ed_clear_parts#

For the metallic parts one the ways i know is remove the nubs with a sharp hobby knife, paint the nubs area with silver and then use clear color over it that the same color as the part. Like if the part was red, use a clear red paint over the silver.

This post has been edited by Khai62: Dec 15 2012, 04:41 PM

i got a question about paint. Why all you guys talk about painting using air brush...
the air brush is expensive, if we buy the spray type paint to do the spraying, we can't get the same effect??

here are some advantages of airbrush over spraycans:
- in the long term, airbrush is cheaper, because only the airbrush & compressor are expensive, but you only buy once.
- bottled paints are cheaper and can last longer than spraycans, because you are mixing with thinner and other paints
- spraycans only come in fixed colours, while with airbrush, using bottled paints allows you to mix colours to your choice.
- with airbrush, you have more control over the spray diameter, hence can control how you spray the parts, and way less of paint wastage, saving you paint, that's killing 2 birds with 1 stone
- with airbrush you can apply shading technique, one that is impossible to do with spraycans

But flat top coat can cover the scratches right?
for example this : http://www.hobbyhovel.com/2010/08/tips-and...ted-models.html


Wow, such a work.. thx

yes flat topcoat can, but only fine scratches like the example shown, but not deep scratches of course

For painting, I would like to straight spray paints on the runners since I am very bad with hand painting and cannot afford a airbrush + compressor. But only if I painted the runners 1st, after i remove the parts, will sure git nip/nub marks left over... I cant sand it either because it will spoil the painting before... So anyone got any ideas?

And how efficient is it to paint with markers

thanks