So after going through all the painstaking processes, I'm ready for my flat coat finish. A little bit of thinner, plenty of Tamiya flat base. This is the result I get. It's far from what I've seen from internet videos like testors work bench, or what I've heard from more experienced modellers. What went wrong?

Ola...and ouch....


judging from the photos and your story, i assumed your using tamiya flat base mix with thinner for the flat coat recipe.. am i right??

the flat coat is not design for that... the main purpose of the flat base is to 'flatten' the glossy paint..and intended for mixing with other paints to achieve a matt look...
just mix a small drop onto your paints..

using it alone with thinner is not the main design of the flat base.

I experience it also when i first started modelling...and i'm sorry that you have o repaint the whole jet.... but perhaps someone else could come out with other repair method....

Yup , I have made that mistake myself so you aren't alone in that matter .

Like what has been said Tamiya flat base is for mixing with gloss paints to get a matt colour . It is not a flat cote for sealing .

You will have to stripe the it all off and re-paint your kit all over again . Windex works very well just place the plane in a zip-lock bag and spray lots of windex in there and the close the bag , leave it for 24 hours and then using a soft tooth brush scrub the suface clean . You might have to do this more then once to get all the paint off .

For a flat coat when you get around to it next time. I've used vallejo flat.

I could have easily made the mistake you did. Thanks for sharing despite the bad outcome.

most of my paint stash is Tamiya brand and as much as I tried to make X-21 flat base work for flat clear coat it sucks , it looks like congealed corn starch,its ok with VERY small quanities added to tamiya gloss colors, so many other options for flat clear base that are less risky and less grainy.Model master is a good one

oh boy,not good :_ I feel your pain.

As I sat staring at the abomination I had created. Wishing there was a way I'd be able to fix it, but pretty much knowing I'd have to strip it down and start all over again. I don't know why but I scrathed the surface with my finger nail. White stuff came off like doughnut glaze. After close inspection I saw it didn't affect the paint job itself. The gloss coat doing it's job. I scratched some more off and looked like it was working. Then I got a bit ambitious, went ahead and got a damp handkercheif and ran it up and down the model. The white disappeared! After a few minutes though it would reappear, but mostly in the panel lines and againts prtrusions. I wiped these but would not go away. I got a pin and went back to scartching. Took most of the night, but I mitigated the problem some. Now it's mostly found on some pesky panel lines.

Thanks for posting this Gendrok. It a pain it's happened to you, but you have probably brought this to the attention of a lot of modelers. I have just bought a bottle of it myself [tamiya X-21] and I thought it was a flat coat to apply after painting.
Thanks for posting and I hope your Harrier cleans up.
All the best.
tim

For my second mdel, first with airbrush. It'll be ok enough I guess, now that I've been able to clean it up. Tim I'm very happy to at least have helped you out and other forum members. This is what on line communities are for.

as said by other, you used the flat base wrongly.

We all make mistakes so don't worry about it

the priority is now to get it off the model without ruining it completely.

Try a swap stick with some isopropanol and try to wash it of the surface. Normally isopropanol will not attack the paint (but still start with a small less visible spot first) but may be sufficient to remove the white flat base which is finally only a layer of white powder

Try a soft bristled toothbrush dipped in water.....be careful around any glued on details and the like. I always keep a new soft bristled toothbrush handy for cleaning nooks and crannies after sanding that running water doesn't always like to remove.
Sorry for incident but at least it wasn't a total loss from the sounds of it.

I may be a bit late coming into this, but if you've been able to remove as much as it seems you have, it should be a simple matter of applying a clear gloss coat to restore clarity to the subject.

If the white haze disappears with plain old water but reappears after the water dries, a coat of clear gloss will almost certainly fix the pronlem.

Tamiya does make a clear flat Acrylic finish to add to the general confusion. All acrylics can be removed with Iso Alcohol. Depending on how deep those panel lines are, the use of a Qtip soaked in Iso Alcohol should help. You need to be concerned with the gloss coat not being attacked and removed during this process. Hopefully it is not water based.

For clear coats I use Testors Model Master Dullcoat and Glosscoat. Both are lacquer based, both dried rock hard, and clear in a short time. I use Future/Pledge as a sealer during the weathering process when I need another choice of protective base depending on what the wash/filter is.

There is no need to ever use Tamiya's flat base. Gloss paints should only be used when you need a gloss finish.

Joel

wow,talk about reviving an old thread,this one was over two years ago.but a good one

Yeah, I've done that before.

It's like they all said, Flat Base isn't the same as Flat Coat.

I've found that if you hose some Future (basically acrylic gloss) onto that kind of paintjob, you might be able to salvage it. I've never had it come of by scraping, but good job if it does!

It happens sometimes also when your correct flat coat is to old or not properly mixed.
Try to remove the loose paint with a brush, rub it over with a soft cloth (like polishing) and then spray it over with future or glossy clear. Then you probably do not have to repaint the complete thing

Greetings from Shanghai