I got more than enough Patlabor Cars no worries. The foundation and primer, do you use both? I mean what's foundation? I notice one of them when i spray i notice the lines i try to hide become more prevalent...

i just feel it's wasted if u are not doing something sure about them.. i spent some fortune to get one of them 

anyway.. back to the story.. 
the white primer basically worked like a primer. if u are using them, can skip base white.
use base white on grey surfacer if u don't have white surfacer.

The sanding, I'm not with the airbrush, somehow if i open the nozzle for over 5 seconds paint splurts starts showing, so I have to sand the splurt parts.
prevention is better than cure. i usually "start" the spray where it "quirts" the paint drops somewhere in the air, then move to the parts.
if u aim and spray, most likely the 1st spray with squirts will hit ur kit parts

Normally how many layers of base, paint & top coat do we apply? I notice even 2 layers of base gets scratched off pretty easy.
many layers does not warant your paint from scratching off.
although a bit thicker paint somehow offers better protection from scratching till the base.
thick paint doesnt appeal to me, i still make sure parts touch each other as little as possible after a spray job.
even ur 2 layer is probably "thicker" than my 4 layers.
ur experience will later tell how thick will be sufficient

How long does it take for water based paint to dry? And the mix is usually 50-50 water/paint?
around there. i go for 60-65 thinner%
it dries in 20-30 mins as i usually go for mist coat.
if i need to do something rough like sanding/polish/masking, i'll wait for a day or two.

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Added on March 16, 2009, 1:09 pmI have another problem with the patrol car, there's these 2 antennas made of rubber. I cut both of them out and seems I though i treat them like normal parts but now i cannot remove the cut edges. I tried cutting but they are too elastic (the edges are vertical) and i can't sand them off.
i heard somebody freeze the rubber parts in fridge b4 sanding.
for me, i usually trim with new blade.

Same goes for the tyres but they are not big problem.

Thanks for the responses, madmoz and erh_teo.

I'm not sure what exactly the plastic is called, but it is not soft. It is rather hard, possibly the same material used to make gundam parts. So I guess there is no need to worry about the gloss coat cracking.
I don't require extreme high shine. The stormtrooper isn't entirely flat right now, I only want a bit more shine. That's the reason why I'm still on the fence between choosing Gloss or Semi Gloss. I'm afraid that if I wrongly chose Gloss and it turned out too shiny, then I'm doomed.

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Added on March 16, 2009, 8:55 pmWell, pictures say a thousand words. Here's a picture of the trooper in question, next to a screen grab from the movie.

I'm still undecided between Gloss or Semi Gloss...
Advice? 

Wah! Then I'll have to buy 2 cans. 
My earlier suggestion won't work?
3 layers Semi Gloss = 1 layer Gloss? Cannot? Hehe

guise, for handpainting, do i really have to use those hobby paintbrushes? or i can use the normal paintbrushes? one more thing, for the bottle surfacer, can it be used for handpainting as well? or must it be aibrushed as well?

One problem with my double action top loaded airbrush. Normally splurts appear when you 1st open the nozzle and it evens out right?

My case if i open the nozzle for too long, maybe after 5 seconds splurts starts coming out. Not sure the problem is my airbrush or the paint?

hi, i don't dare to touch the hose, because it might affect the tightness & sealing of the hose which may result in air leaks. Also don't know what sizes of hose to get.

If can I would like to modify the hose to fit my Gunze Sangyo pro-spray mk-iii. What do you guys think about this brush compared to toploaded? I notice Toploaded paint can spray longer while bottom loaded finishes pretty quick.
diff people got diff preference. its more a matter of preference i would say.
but i do find bottom/side feed is a bit less friendly for "agile" movement if u are spraying esp camo pattern free hand.

My compressor has a tiny airtank for buffering, there's a moisture trap i can see moisture accumulated in the trap. So how do i remove the trap? Is it auto drain or I need to do something?
there is usually a valve at the bottom of the moisture trap. just push it will release air when the air tank is filled wt compressed air

you can touch up the nip part with metallic base sand and spray a glossy top coat. For other color just spray the same metallic base, sand and use semi transparent color & gloss top coat.

There are other Special Edition that doesn't come in metallic, like the MS-08 Team Camo versions, Transparent/Crystal versions etc. Some are event only like Metallic Zelgog etc they come in 1 color tone boxes.

Tha compressor has an air tank. But very small one just for 8 second buffer don't know if you can count it as airtank. The compressor has auto on/off function by monitoring pressure in the airtank.

The one i used that splurts is basic dual action top loaded. The Gunze Sangyo pro-spray mk-iii i posted is the one i plan to use but connectors don't fit. I don't remember having much splurt on the Gunze last time i used it, just require more paint and u need minimum level of paint for it to work efficiently, but no problem since you can just remove the container and store it away. Also you can change paint nozzle size easily and you can move the paint nozzle closer/further from the air nozzle.
actually i oso kinda confused now by ur post
well... it's much easir to see wat u have in actual rather than seeing photos.
i can only think of changing the connector on the gunze handpiece to the one of ur external mix handpiece.
if that is interchangeable.
(there is one connector on the handpiece, and another one on the hose. i'm assuming like this:
gunze handpiece + connector A + hose connector X
external mix handpiece + connector B + hose connector Y

so what u can do is try fixing the connector B  on the gunze handpiece and use the hose connector Y


Initially wanted to get the compressor with a 1L airtank but my friend ask me to try this out. Well really didn't expect the airtank to be so small. Was thinking of getting one of those capsule shape air tank but i don't know what kind of connection it takes the connection is really a problem. Any good recommendations? The connector adapter are not cheap.


alternatively, bring the whole set to a hardware shop that sells air compressor and see if the boss there can help u out with the their available connector and hose.

happened to me too. pisses me off everytime my nice panel lines get smudged when i topcoat.

i usually dab my cleaning cloth with some tamiya thinner and rub to get rid of the topcoat on the smudged part. after repanel-line then respray.
i think tamiya thinner still remove significant amount of ur painted surface.
try zippo, if it can remove the ink, then good
if can, u may wanna try enamel paint wash over acrylic/lacquer.


on a different note i believe tamiya thinner works on topcoat frosting too.

Wow, so there isnt any "easier" way to hide those stickers huh. Guess i have to live with that then. THanks for the tip there.

Do they sell decals for Patlabor? It comes with some dry transfer but like you said those warning stuff only comes in stickers.

Also what's the difference wet sand and normal sanding?

HHQ dont have rite
last time i been there cannot find it also