Tamiya lacquer

Yeah laquer is funny that way. I think what works ( for me any way.) Make sure it is well shaken. When you think it is enough do it some more. Then i let the paint and parts sit outside in the sun for a bit. Seems to come out thinner and with a higher sheen. But that is my opinion and we all know about that.

It sounds like you may have sprayed from too far a distance resulting in the paint drying before it hits the surface, and you ended up with the orange peel.  Hold the can 10-12 inches away from the body.  You will have to, wet sand your paint with a MicroMesh or LMG polishing kit to remove the orange peel and regain the gloss.  Do any touch ups if you burn through the paint anywhere or add another coat of paint which should be a lot smoother.  Add a gloss clearcoat over your paint after it has dried for a few days.  If the gloss clear has any orange peel, wet sand and touch up or add another coat of clear.  

mrmike

It sounds like you may have sprayed from too far a distance resulting in the paint drying before it hits the surface, and you ended up with the orange peel.  Hold the can 10-12 inches away from the body.  You will have to, wet sand your paint with a MicroMesh or LMG polishing kit to remove the orange peel and regain the gloss.  Do any touch ups if you burn through the paint anywhere or add another coat of paint which should be a lot smoother.  Add a gloss clearcoat over your paint after it has dried for a few days.  If the gloss clear has any orange peel, wet sand and touch up or add another coat of clear.  

 

Thank you mrmike. I'll do polishing, decals and clear coat as the last step

Valentyn

Hello. I just finished painting a body of Lancia Delta with Tamya spray TS-26. After 3 wet layers, there is still some orange peel and not much gloss. Is it normal or I'm doing something wrong? Shall I just polish it, apply decals and clear coat?

Thanks,

Val

Yes. No lacquer paint has a shine out of the can. No matter the brand. If it's a solid color (no metallic), you can simply polish it to a shine. Metallic paints require clear coats. Personally, I clear over both.

If you plan to clear over your decals, brush a coat of Future floor polish over them first and allow it to dry for a day. Make sure to seal over the edges of them also. This will keep the clear from possibly attacking/wrinkling them.

If you don't have them already, I highly recommend getting the Tamiya polishing compounds. They make polishing a model so easy.

I polished the body with 3200 and 4000 grit sanding pads and then coarse, fine and finish Tamiya compounds (the result is on the photo below). The reason I didn't use 6000-12000 grit pads I was afraid to sand through the paint. Now the plan is apply Martini racing team factory decals and seal everything with gloss clear.

With effective use of all three Tamiya's polishing compounds, there is usually no reason go finer than 4000 (though I do sometimes go to 6000 if the paint can support it).

This model will look great with the graphics applied. Be sure to post a photo when it is done.

Will do. Hopefully I won't mess up decals. I'm still scared of this process because I never worked with big complex decals. 

Yup, big complex decals can be a serious pain, and they intimidate me too. It always seems like a big leap of faith to embark on the application of big decals.

Arm yourself with some good decal solvent. There are several brands, and some are stronger than others. If you can, test with scrap decals from the same sheet before comitting to your model, as some decals react badly to strong decal solvents. I have not had problems, but I have read of others who have.

The kit equipped with hasegawa factory decal, which seems to be pretty tough. I tested them tamiya mark fit strong solution and microscale set and sol. Does it make sense to cut big decals into multiple to avoid issues with fitting then to regular surface ?

Sounds like you are well equipped with decal solvents. As for technique to apply large decals, I am not the best one to provide advice. I have not done any 'large decal' builds since I was a kid. I was fearless with them when I was a kid and they usually went on very well. I am intimidated by them now for some reason. I have several kits in my stash with large decals, and I study them to see how I can cut the sheet apart and paint as much of the graphic as I can, and just apply the smaller cut pieces onto that.

Fortunately my interests are in old or vintage race cars with simpler graphics. Many modern race cars have such complex full bodied graphics that cutting the sheet apart and painting much of the graphic is not possible.

I realise this is not what you are asking about. Your suggestion of cutting the sheet apart to simplify applying over compound curves and body ridges/contours does seem to make sense, but the joint between the two pieces of decal may be hard to hide. The cuts would have to be accurate and well placed, which would seem difficult to do. Again, I am not a good one to give advice on this.

Added decals that are supposed to be under clear coat. It wasn't an easy task and I had to touch up with acrylic paint here and there and even airbrush some red, hopefully, it is not very noticeable. Also, I have two options for clear coat - high luster gloss from Rustoleum and 2K from Zero paints. Which one would least risky in terms of damaging decals and application?

I would find a acrylic clear. Usually it will go over anything without issue.

Looks good.

I've only used Tamiya TS-13 over decals. I definitely would not use the Rustoleum over them.

That is much helpful. I'm gonna get TS-13

TS-13 is good stuff, and I usually have some on hand. Haven't used Testors Clear Gloss or Ultra Clear for awhile now even though I have got good results with them also.

Your decal work looks great

Thank you! There are some flaws though, but I'm sort of proud - it's my best decal work so far

Dude, you SHOULD be proud. For a start you have great paint and did an awesome job on the decals. Besides no car is perfect, whatever minor flaws it has chalk that up to experience and try to avoid them on the next one. :)

Unfortunately clearcoating was totally messed up. I managed to ruin decal by apparently very thick coat after just two mist coats. My attempt to smooth up bubbled decal by polishing caused too much clear removed and finally, after I finished black trim and removed masking tape, some most exposed decals went off. Model soaked in IPA for few days and Tamiya Paintt Remover helped to get rid of paint in recessed areas - this stuff does magic!

Question. I have a scan of the decal I did before messing up things and using terrors decal paper I can replicate it or shall I search it from third-party vendors?

AFTER stripping the paintwork

Valentyn

Question. I have a scan of the decal I did before messing up things and using terrors decal paper I can replicate it or shall I search it from third-party vendors?

Man I have been there before ! If possable I would go with a replacement decal from somewhere....anywhere! You may be abel to get a replacement from the manufacturer. I have gotten replacements from Revell and AMT in the past.

Using your decal that you scanned is doable too. It's just a pain in the butt to trim the decal as close as possable to the image.

I have bad luck with homemade decals.... buts that is just my lack of skills. You got this !

I was able to get hold of Hasegawa's Lancia Delta 1989 San Remo edition without a body which I intend to build if my attempt to use custom decals fails. I just like the white martini livery more:)

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/694128-hasegawa-sl9-lancia-delta-hf-integrale-16v

That is a real shame about the decals, they were lookinh really good. Your best bet is to contact the model company, perhaps even send them a photo of the model with the ruined decals, and ask for a replacement. There may or may not be a charge for this, but it would be the best way to go.

I quite like the Martini livery also.