The Little World

Why peas and carrots? Because they are vegetables that always look better in the images on the cans than they do on your plate – and they are always greener or more orange in someone else’s dinner. My experiments are designed to improve their colour and flavour on mine.

The colour paint coats that went onto the paint mules were chosen to represent the three main types in use here in the Little Workshop: matt alcohol-based acrylic, gloss alcohol-based acrylic, and solvent-based acrylic lacquer. I have large amounts of the two first categories but will be tending toward the lacquer in the future.

The matte and gloss decision is proving to be largely academic now that the use of a final coat can adjust surface reflectance. I do choose specifically in some colours where I know one or the other will spray better – Yellows and reds can be tricky.  I no longer differentiate between the alcohol-based acrylics, choosing Mr. Hobby and Tamiya based solely on the hue. This may carry over to the lacquers when I gather more experience with them.

The colours chosen were ones I have a lot of – a matte Mr Hobby blue, a gloss Tamiya green, and a gloss Mr. Color orange. They went onto the chips easily and cured off nicely in the sun. And I made sure that I labelled them on the back so that I knew what combo was on the front. Never neglect this as you can become easily confused and lose all value in the testing.

I must also say here that the colour coats were sprayed with the new Mr. Hobby Procom WA gun and this is ideal as the variable air pressure can be set to push out mattes as well as thin lacquers with equal ease – it covers magically well. The older trigger 0.5 gun is reserved for clear coats as I think it can move a thicker solution and is faster to fire. I never want it to do thin lines or pre-shading so it can carry on cheerfully in the clear role.

I am proud of myself – none of the colour coats was spotty or ran. This may have been the effect of that new gun, or perhaps I am finally learning to keep my correct distance from the workpiece.

Next, the first clear sealants…