“Oh no, now I have.” You’ve just applied a lot of paint and have created huge sagging paint drips on your once-perfect model. That perfect contest-winning ending you were hoping for now is a disaster.
All is not lost, however. You can correct almost any paint mistake you’ve made on your contest model with just a little work. With careful paint sanding technique, you can create a perfect finish.
Using oven techniques; Standing painting, re-spraying, paint polishing and waxing can correct almost any mistake you make. I’ll show you how to use these techniques to fix your model and get it back to the contest level.
The paint support is the first technique we will use to correct an overspray or orange peel situation that you have created on your model. The orange peel is just additional paint that is applied thickly and ends up making the surface of your model look like the exterior of an orange. The easiest technique I have found to correct this type of situation is to simply use sandpaper to remove the extra paint. The hardest part of doing this is not dwelling on the details that stand out from the surface of your model.
There are many different grades or grits of sandpaper. Basically, I classify sandpaper into two types, rough and fine. Rough sandpaper comes in grain numbers from 100 to 1000. The lower the number, the rougher it will be. For heavy paint removal, I typically use 320 grit. Fine sandpaper ranges from 2000 grit to 12000 grit. This fine grit is a secret to achieving a perfect finish.
Sandpaper comes with different types of backing. I prefer the cloth backing over the cheaper paper backing because I generally only use a wet sanding technique. Wet sanding is where water is used to help lubricate the surface of the model and generally works best for my model paints.
Your first task is to let your paint bug dry completely. Then begin removing uneven paint with a coarse grit sanding being very careful not to sand on any plastic details on your model. I will cut the sandpaper into very small pieces and fasten or glue them to wooden “tools” to fit in small places. I’ll also use paint thinner to smooth out paint buildup around detailed areas, keeping in mind that you don’t want to ruin the plastic.
Once done, re-spray the paint on the damaged area.
Continue this process of sanding and respray until you are satisfied with the finish. At this stage, you are ready to finely sand the paint.
Fine sanding is really the real secret to a perfect paint finish. I work on the paint finish by sanding the paint with these grains in order.
2400
3200
4000
6000
8000
12000
The sandpaper that I like to use is sandwiched between the foam to make it more easily adapt to the surface of the model. Each step uses the wet sanding technique with water. Shift your sanding strokes in different directions and try not to apply too much pressure. At the end of this paint sanding sequence, the surface of your model should be very even and smooth. This will take us to the next step which is to polish the paint.
Paint polish is the next secret to that near-perfect paint finish for your contest-winning model. I prefer Novus plastic paint polish. I work the paint to a fine mirror finish using number 3, number 2, and then number 1 in sequence. This prepares you for the final step which is wax protection.
Protection against wax is the final step and the creation of your contest winning the finish of the model.
I use Meguiar’s Mirror Glaze Professional Hi-Tech Yellow Wax No. 26. You can find it at any auto parts store. I apply it with a soft cloth and buff the paint to a showroom finish.
Well, there you have it. It is a lot of work but it is worth the effort. In the end, you have fixed your pain problem and have obtained a model that has a full showroom and a contest winning finish.
