Re: the dreaded "orange peel"?

Orange peel is more of a texture problem. If you have holes, as in spots where paint didn't adhere, that's usually caused by oils on the under surface. Sometimes you can sand the area and repaint, sometimes it doesn't work and a strip is in order. Wash you stuff thoroughly with a detergent before painting. Do not use dishsoaps that have lanolin of other skin softeners. I have had Tamiya spray bubble in tight recesses.

Give it a few dusting coats, hitting all sharp edges and features at the beginning and again at the end. Paint wil pull away from these parts if you don't.

No clear answer. Everyone has their own methods that they have gotten to work for them. Some contest winning cars are done with spray paint. Many long time airbrushers have taken to Tamiya spray out of the can. Its a bit tricky and the stuff if hard to remove if you blow it! I put on a bit less than I think I need and it smooths out. If its a bit heavy in raingutters and such it usually turns out just fine when its all done.

Bare metal foil to thr rescue! Takes some practice. I lightly burnish it down with a Q top, lightly trim with a shape Xacto knife, then burnish down good.

I always try and get the best paint job I can. I can always polish if I don't get it but that introduces more opportunity for error with rub throughs and such. My best paint jobs have been done without polishing.

Fujimi enthusiast kits are awesome!

Tom

While the difference between orange peel and fisheyes has been pretty well covered here, I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned sanding the color coats, especially the top one. I've been able to *improve* my spray techniques over the years (rattle cans and airbrushes, both), but the flat out best way to get that super glossy finish is to make sure you have a fairly thick top color coat and then *sand* and

*polish* it. By this I don't mean messing around with 2000 grit papers. I *start* with 2400 or 3000 grit and work my way through the various grades of a Micro Mesh polishing kit to the 12,000 grit cloth (all *wet* sanding). When I finally finish with that, I can easily see myself in the finish. I may hit it with a soft wet cloth and some talc (as fine an abrasive as you'll find) as well. *Then*, when it's finished, I can put some wax on it.

A couple of years ago, I was working on a resin '61 DeSoto that had a spot on a fin on the left front door that I just *couldn't* cover. I thought it was an 'edge bleed' I'd touch up after I'd painted the second color, but it wouldn't take paint. It was a tiny little solvent-caused fisheye. I finally stripped a *spot* (so as not to mess up the custom-blended roof color I'd already done) and masked off the door panel above the chrome to repaint the thing. Then, I still had to polish it out as above. Today, no one can tell ...

Because of my subjects, I rarely clearcoat any more, nor should you on the Porsches you're building. They didn't have clearcoat paint on them originally so you should simply paint and polish them. Oh; and Bare Metal Foil is hard to beat. I used to paint the chrome and I'm even pretty good, but once you've compared a hand-painted strip to Bare Metal in sharpness and shine, you'll never go back. As an added bonus, mistakes are much easier and neater to fix. I've even gone back and foiled over 'chrome' I'd painted years ago.

-- C.R. Krieger (Been there; done that)