Hi all,

After a long stint with figures, just for a change of scenery, I have commenced building the Revell TPz 1 Fuchs 1:35 kit and for a challenge, wish to paint it in the white UN livery. Can anyone point me in the direction please of any artilcles etc on painting modern armour in this colour?
Many Thanks in advance
Clinton

I built the little Scimitar in the UN colors. I had never done a white vehicle before and thought it would be fun. I just used the Testors white primer as my paint. Goes on great and sticks well to the model.

Sorry, meant to put there are a few more shots of this kit in my gallery.

Clinton
First off use a light or medium gray primer After that dries for a few days then spray on the white It's best to spray white in a few light coats

I have sprayed white paint on aircraft when I was in the Air Force I was tought that it's best to spray white in at least two thin coats

For some reason white is the hardest paint to spray on

Multiple LIGHT coats over whatever basecoat is normal (usually OD) Looking at UN vehicle pics I have seen road wheel no painted and worn areas showing original colors underneath.

Cheers guys. I was wondering too about doing some preshading but I guess with using a darkish primer (grey), and varying the amount of white - concentrating on panel centres, would that do the same effect?
Regards
Clinton

That is one excellent way to go another would be to drybush the highlights a dark color as well as having a dark flow into the seams and then weather it

Time to bring an old thread back to life.

Any other hints about GLOSS white? I'm in the middle of a mess here. My first attempt was to airbrush Testors MM gloss white over gray primer. May not have sprayed it on thin enough, and got a lot of orange peel and generally terribly looking paint. Sanded it all down and then tried Testor's gloss white in the rattle can. It looked great until until I noticed I missed a couple of spots.....

When I tried to shoot the missed spots, the nozzle failed and I had globs of white paint everywhere. I've got the orange peel sanded out, everything is quite smooth now. And I'm nearly ready to paint again.

Any suggestions, including nozzle maintenance hints? Should I re-primer or just shoot over what I have?

A great tip they other day about gloss white. Paint matt white, and coat with Future (Klear) to create a gloos finish.

Cheers
Henk

Gloos?

Please read 'Gloss'

Gloos!

I guess you've seen my work.

If you want to prime with white, Tamiya laquer spray primer is by a loooooooooooooooooong shot the best white in a spray, and dries in about 4-10 minutes. Ditto for the grey primer. Nothing else is even close for primers. They have a slightly off-white spray called Insignia White (AS-20 I believe)that is white slightly altered for 1/48 aircraft scale effect. Again, dries in minutes. Super high coverage, small pigment, and dries quick.

Airbrushing flat white is tough. I always use enamel as its less prone to clog, and never gloss. Next time I will use FS light grey(for some reason flows much easier and dries evenly) over the original color base coat with white highlights only.

Is this gloss white for a car in high-gloss finish or for use in military modeling?

Gloss white for military application. Notably for USN gray over gloss white from 60 -70's.

Well for anything other then a shiny new car, you probably would be better painting it matt white and then glossing it later.

I would DEFINITELY recommend using a light grey primer or a light grey paint (preferably dull or satin). Then using matt white or properly thinned down gloss white in 3-4 maybe 5 layers, of which the first two must be "clouding" the model from a little distance. I really love Gunze Sangyo's White, by the way.

In my experiments, I found out to my horror that white does not set like the other colors. Especially gloss white tends to be heterogenous and if you "insist" on a particular area, chances are it will start flowing. As a result, unless I'm looking for trouble, I really stay away from gloss white (without any primer, on a rather smooth surface).

However,if you are rather impatient or in a hurry:

A friend of mine gave me some advice on appyling Tamiya's Gloss White rather easily (but you will be risking a bottle if you are willing to try). First you apply a little primer, or a rather light coating of matt white on your model. Then, you open a "brand new" bottle of Tamiya gloss white without stirring it, put as much cellulosic thinner as it would take and then close the lid and shake it well. After that, without diluting the stuff further, you put it in your airbrush and spray it on, again in light coats. It will enable you to work rather fast as the stuff dries super quick and does not clog at all. ATTENTION: you definitely SHOULD NOT try that on other Tamiya paints, it will most possibly wreck them. Plus, your "thinned down" white will get spoilt rather easily in time.

I tried it and it works. Do I recommend? Well all I can say that TRY IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. (All you are risking is a bottle of Tamiya White by the way :-) )

If you are looking for the safe route, recommend you stick to a white with quality and be really really patient.