Here is my latest armor project. It is the Panzer IV E kit from Dragon, kit 6264. I used the new AK Real Colors for the first time and they are fantastic. I used Mr. Color Leveling thinner as well and it worked fine also as others have attested to on this site. (I have accumulated about 30 new colors over the past month. I still have about 100 Tamiya paints which I will use til they’re finished; I hate wasting stuff.)
After putting the decals on a few days ago, I wanted to spray the model with a flat coat. My favorite is Humbrol which I usually spray through an airbrush but haven’t been able to get any at the two hobby shops I usually go to. I finally found it in a rattle can. I sprayed it on the decal area by the right side vision port on the hull and it took off almost all the color. The black undercoat is showing through. I also sprayed the bottom of the tank with it after that, but should have tried it out first on the bottom. I then used Vallejo’s Matt varnish number 250 with a paint brush and it dulled the decal areas nicely. Not sure what happened. I did use the commercial brand of thinner on the top coat ; but Mr. Color leveling thinner on the initial black coat that I did. Maybe it reacted with it ?? Ive used Humbrol dull coat on Tamiya paints without any problems but never the rattle can stuff til now. Here are some pics of the vehicle and the products I used. Comments welcome.
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Richard,
I’ve thought about this long and hard (smell the smoke?) and I honestly can’t come up with a solution to that occurrence. An enamel should have no reaction at all over a lacquer base. Why the Humbrol dissolved the AK RC is a total mystery to me. The only variable here is that you thinned one layer of RC with the Kleen Strip. Maybe that was it. That’s all I can think of. But that really shouldn’t have mattered. I’ve never heard of an enamel dissolving a lacquer before.
Unless the thinner in the Humbrol spray is something really hot.
Yeah Matt I was very surprised by it too. I was a little heavy handed with the first spray that I tried on the side of the model but it did the same thing when I tried it on the bottom of the tank where I was much lighter with it. I will not be using the Humbrol dull coat anymore in the rattle can . The stuff I usually use through my airbrush is excellent so I’ll just wait to get some more , or just use the Vallejo’s Matt varnish which seemed to work fine.
The Kleen strip worked beautifully btw, ( I remember your recommendation from a while back) , it actually didn’t have as strong a smell as the Mr. Leveling thinner. I’ll probably just use that from now on as I went through 3/4 of the bottle of Mr. Leveling thinner in this one painting session.
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If you look closely you can see the palm tree decal almost looks melted. I plan on touching that area up with the base color tonight.
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Sorry to say this but NICE JOB!
I know this is not what you wanted,
but it is the effect i used to do with Humbrol enamal and Polly S water Paints
Your kit looks great
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Thank you for the kind words! It’s funny you mention the effects you used. I didn’t say anything in my previous posts but right after I did this to the model I actually sat back for a minute and admired the unintentional result of my mistake - and I do like it ! I will probably touch up the area by the vision port with some base color but I will leave the lower hull area as is . It looks good and worn the more that I look at it.
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I gotta’ agree with @FancyPantz here.
It looks damn good to me, even if you didn’t get the results you wanted. The decal ones over the compound surface of the turret and all the rest look okay fine on this screen.
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Thanks Al. Just gotta touch up a bit and start the weathering on the lower hull and running gear.
