Just started taking this up again....

[Jevhaddah]

As cmurphy625 says use acrylics, then clean out the air brush with water I use artists acrylics t £1.75 a pop, I sprayed a 6'x 4' wargaming table using one pot of paint. I also dilute my paint roughly 50:50 with water if a acrylic or thinners if enamel. I am currently spraying the 1:250 scale model of the Yamato using this method.

I now use a compressor and wish I had thought about using a car tyre [:D]

For small 1:72 scale aircraft models I use a brush, anything bigger and it's airbrush time.

Cheers

Jev

[Hertston]

Hey JD, how about one of these, m8 [:D] [X(]

Airfix Spit with a difference

[Jeffrey H.]

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

How the Badger works.



PS: Ammendment - my rusty brain just recalled that the twist valve at the rear actually also pushes a needle inside the airbrush forward and back from the nozzle aperture. This needle is the continuation of the rod protruding from the back that can be seen in the pic.

This needle (shaped like a dart head) has a finely honed point and it needs to be protected at all costs as the paint sprays along it through the front creating the desired diameter and accuracy of the paint spread.

After each color spray session the rod is screwed out from the rear, pulled away and wiped clean with some thinner and a cloth as part of the cleaning process too.

I used to be able to get a nice 1/8" trail of paint with the Badger. The feathered edges that look so good for camo schemes come with a price and that's the realtive hassel of the air compressor and air brush.

[JudgeDredd]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

Hey JD, how about one of these, m8 [:D] [X(]

Airfix Spit with a difference

I think that's on tonight isn't it Hertston? I've got it set to record

[Hard Sarge]

Judge

for the airbrush, you got to remember, you use a lot less paint while painting, so you are not using that much, to be wasting it

[htuna]

I think Badger and Paasche both make good beginner brushes.. not too expensive.. I actually have two Paasche and love them both (if I was still building [&:] )..
Stay away from those Testor Aztek plastci POS.. they suck!

[Adam Parker]

I noticed the other day that I my paint collection was missing some crucial red and yellow needed for touching up some cockpit details and rather than taking a trip into the city, I ventured to my local suburban hobby store on the chance that as they sell plenty of miniatures, I might stumble across some hobby supplies too.

What a surprise I came across, in the form of the Games Workshop range of acrylic paints. These tubs are 12ml which is smaller than the regular-sized Tamiya jar of 23ml and slightly bigger than their 10ml but what blew me away is just how smoothly these colors spread with a brush.

Unlike the Tamiya range (or at least the range when it was first released) these are fully water soluable meaning no thinners required - just add water and away you go. The effect is just like using good ol' Humbrol enamels and turps!

I took a look at a Warhammer army in a display case painted with these beauties and I was sold! Whilst I've got a huge supply of Tamiya paints, I'm thinking of getting the airbrush out and testing these GW paints with just water thinning alone - something I've never done before. If indeed water is all that is needed to clean out the gun afterwards, then I'll be a full convert for sure.

The cost savings regardless of the convenience will be worth the experiment for one tub of Tamiya acrylic thinner would equate to 5 pots of GW paint! That's a crazy thing not to check out.

As for the Tamiya Me 262 I'm building it's turning out to be an interesting time. The detail in the cockpit is superb and though the 1:48 pilot figure had some seam marks, after filing these away I've been given one of the easiest and most detailed miniature figures I've ever had the pleasure to paint. I'm moving onto the aircraft body next and the build sequence becomes curious as the front landing gear strut needs to be fitted before closing the hull halves together. This seems to be necessary not just to secure the strut but because it in turn, mounts into a metal landing gear bay that also doubles as a weight to keep the aircraft standing on it's tripod on completion! An interesting design of a kit for sure.

Long way to go yet but I'm loving the re-found relaxation again!

[JudgeDredd]

My next project is a Tamiya - a P51D - my daughters favourite WWII aircraft, so she can have this one.

I agree with the detail on the pilot...also the kit looks detailed without being "fiddly"...not many parts in it, but enought o enjoy making it without making it an art in frustration

I'd put money on mine not looking like this

[Joshuatree]

Superbly looking eh?

[jackx]

GW paints are nice, but a bit inconsistent in quality. I've re-activated (with water, an old brush and patience) totally dried-up pots and got good results, I've had new pots that you could barely paint anything with because the paint simply wouldn't take... also, out of 5 cans of their white undercoat, I had two cans of white paint-repellant.

That aside, they're not bad, and they're readily available (though it might require going to the local nerd store) in most places, unlike other manufacturers, such as Vallejo.

If you're looking to airbrush, Vallejo has a "model air" range that's supposedly tailored for airbrush use (smaller pigments, so less clogging), never used that, though...

[Doggie]

A natural metal finish is not an ideal project for beginners. It's much harder to achieve than it looks. The surface has to be flawless as every scratch will pop out. A primer coat of flat black gives the silver some depth. A flat white primer is a prerequisite for anything yellow, and it's recommended for red as well.

There is a pen called a "sharpie" which ideal for drawing canopy frames. You just draw them on. This only works with metallic silver and flat black. The other colors are not nearly as opaque. There's a product called Pactra trim tape which comes in assorted sizes and colors which makes quick, neat work of complex canopy frames like those on your A6M-2 or SBD.


For accenting panels with different shades of metllic silver, low tack tape is a neccessity. ordinary masking tape will often pull up silver even after it cures for several days. Blue painters tape foound in hardware stores is ideal for masking delicate finishes.

For a beginner, naval aircraft with flat gull gray or dark blue finishes are the easiest to achieve. For camo, spray the lightest color first. Dark green goes over earth brown or ocean grey better than the other way round for your Spitfire.

Things under wings are best assembled before painting. Trying to cement an external tank or missile to a pylon after it's painted doesn't work so well as the glue sticks to the paint and not the structure. Super glue is great stuff, as long as you remember that it bonds instantly to anything you don't want it to stick to but takes a while to set any where you want it.

For a final touch, children's water soluable tempra paint is great for washes. Brush flat black or grey thinned with water and a little dishwashing liquid to reduce beading over a metallic or grey finish and it will settle into the panel lines and accent them. Let it dry thoroughly and then wipe it off with a tissue moistened with windex. This will take off the tempra paint without damaging the finish. Use silver or dingy grey on dark finishes. Experimenting with washes and light sanding on models with raised panel lines brings out details and makes things like the hull on your U-boat look more realistic. Something called Rust all does just what it says it does.

If you can find any, type writer correction tape can be placed over an intrument panel and rubbed to make the dials pop out in white. Liquid paper is a good substitute for filler putty, and easier to apply.

[invernomuto]

Outstanding model, thanks for sharing! [&o][&o][&o]

[Jeffrey H.]

I used to use this stuff that thinned out the decals after getting them set on the surface you put some of this thinner stuff over the deal and it just made the decal sink into the substrate. All the details from underneath the decal came through. Really neat look.
 
For weathering I often used artists pastels and ground them down a bit into dust with coarse sandpaper and then dry brushed them onto the surface. Worked great for rust and mud effect on vehicles and exhaust/gun plume effect on aircraft.
 

[planner 3]

[:)]Jeffery: Great for model railroad cars also, thanks for the memories.

[JudgeDredd]

Didn't see the point in starting a new thread so resurrected this one!

My latest model...P51 Mustang by Tamiya. Quality of the model was impressive. Easy to put together and everything "fitted". This is a 1:48 scale where my others were 1:72

[JudgeDredd]

And some more...

[rickier65]

Very Nice!
Rick

[JudgeDredd]

Last ones...

[JudgeDredd]

I'm trying real hard to support the company that sells models...the one last shop where I live...but it's proving difficult...he doesn't have a tremendous amount of stock in, very little in the way of Airfix models...I am hoping to get a Stuka done, but I haven't ever seen one in his store apart from the big buggers...1:24 scale or something...about £40!

I could always ask him if he can get one in...I'm sure he'd rather that than me just go online

[Joshuatree]

Nicely done Judge.
And I agree with you about supporting your local shop, I'd rather pay a few Euro's extra so you support a local shop where you can *talk* about the things you do for a hobby (whatever hobby that may be, be it modelling or fishing) than go online.