darkside_floyd1

I'm looking to paint my LMH 117 helicopter. I need to paint a plastic cowl and plywood body. I've used Dope before for woods and LustreKote for plastic cows. This time I'm looking to make a more intricate design. I'm thinking I would like to spray on plastic model paint as a base coat (The Testors stuff you get at Wal-Mart for 97 cents) or some other paint that comes in lots of colors and is not the big $ for Dope and other fuel proof paints. Then I would like to go back and clear coat with a fuel proof spray paint like clear LustreKote. My fears are with the computability of paints and the clarity of my clear coat. I'm hoping that someone has tried something like this or can tell me some tricks they have used to get great results.

Thank You!

mcarleno

LustreKote is pretty agressive on other painted surfaces; however, I have had good luck with it over enamal paints such as Testors. I have never used it over the spray Testors but the small bottles of model paints I have had no problems on. The enamals also airbrush really good. Though it is not a great setup, Testors has a small single action airbrush set that they sell at Walmart for about $32.

http://www.testors.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=1196

http://www.testors.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=2207

darkside_floyd1

Mcarleno,

Thanks for your help. I plan to do some research to find a decent quality airbrush... When you clear coated did you airbrush or use aerosol?

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

The Paasche VL is a great airbrush for a good price.

mcarleno

I airbrushed my entire Yak-3. It was airbrushed with Acrylic (which is mainly flat). The clear coat for fuel proffing was Minwax Polyurethan Satin. I work really well on this aircraft but it will "yellow" a little so don't use it as a "true" clear.

Nelso Hobbies makes a great fuel proof clear coat that is water based and fuel proof to I think 15%. It is fuel proof to 40% if you add there cross linker. If you are going to detail with an airbrush, then you can use an airesol to just spray over everything. Despite what you may read about Rustoleum paints, most are pretty fuel proof WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CLEAR. So don't use it, don't ask why I know, because if I tell you the story I will have to cry and I am having such a good day.