Forum menu
Oops.
Gloss on ready for decals.
Which brings me to a question... What do you use to clean your airbrush after applying lacquer type clear coats?
I have an acrylic cleaner for paint and Alclad 2 ALC307 for the lacquers. However, this is difficult to get hold of, so I need an alternative.
Cellulose thinners. You can buy it by the litre or gallon. <br /><br />Be aware that it melts any residue from the acrylic paints out too and can cause clogging issues if you’re constantly swapping back and forth between acrylics and lacquer without a full deep clean in between. <br /><br />
Also not very environmentally friendly - its got that proper high VO2 niff to it that tells you you’re using unhealthy but effective stuff.
Ta. Been reading up on it. Some use White Spirit too.
I only use lacquer for the top coats. Everything else is Tamiya acrylic with a flush of cleaner between colours, so the brush is pretty clean (on the inside) and has never clogged. Will have a look at cellulose thinners.
Getting Alclad 2 is a right faff. Apparently they fell out with their UK distributor. So, rather ridiculously, I'm getting some of their Klear Kote Matte sent over from the USA.
Some use White Spirit too.
I've had some success cleaning lacquers and enamels from my airbrush using some stuff called Clean Spirit (B&Q or Screwfix), which is perhaps not as effective as white spirit or cellulose thinners but is lot less fumy and is less environmentally unfriendly so I'm happier disposing of the residue.
I use Tamiya X22 gloss , and XF86 flat. It's acrylic like all their other paints, so a quick flush through with Tamiya acrylic thinners will clean it all out. I've tried lots of other clear coats for glossing before decals and pin washes and the like, and it's the only one I've found that'll give you a really good hard gloss on one coat and will dry pretty fast, and will (obviously) play nicely with other acrylic paints - which is not always the case when you start using lacquers or enamels.
I’ve never managed a good result with Tamiya Clear. Brushed on it re-wets the paint and sprayed it looks terrible the way I do it.
How much do you thin it down and at what pressure do you spray?
Would like to move away from Alclad 2 because of the supply issues, but haven’t found anything that will beat it.
I treat it the same way I paint with all acrylics, about 70-30 thinner to paint. and spray at about 15psi with a .3 needle.
Ta. Will give it a go on my "test pig".
https://ibb.co/sw0z6MM
I was recently given this - instructions are a single sheet! Kits have certainly come a long way
"BUILD THE DREAM"?
If a Folland Gnat was your "DREAM" then you need to go and look at a few aviation museums.
Folland didn't help themselves calling it the "Gnat" though did they?
R J Mitchell's preferred name for the Spitfire was the Shrew. That would have Goering shaking in his loafers.
I always thought it was a clever play on the Midge that it was developed from; both irritating little buzzy things.
But not intimidating to the opposition, no. It's no Hunter.
But not intimidating to the opposition, no. It’s no Hunter.
I think the IAF flown single seat Gnat was pretty successful against ****stani F86 to the extent that it was nicknamed the "Sabre Slayer"
Getting there...
Have wound the pressure down in the airbrush and have got a better finish on the matte.
Apparently the Draken's successor, the Viggen, has two meanings in Swedish. One is the lightning from Thor's hammer, and the other is a type of tufted duck.
If it had been a British design they would have called it the Gerbil.
I've held off building the dream for now.
Masking removed from the Spit - only a few touch ups required
I masked up using "No Nonsense" masking tape from Screwfix - It is water resistant and is very similar to Tamiya tape, Screwfix website states that it is Japanese "Washi" paper tape. I had some leftover from masking off 1:1 scale bathroom bits.
Draken!
Can't believe that Draken is done so quickly!
Meanwhile I'm still bumbling through these two in 1:48.
The Hunter is an experiment with mig's masking putty as I struggled getting good camo lines with tape (the odd gap is for the black and yellow stripe decals of the Tangmere exhibit aircraft, which is this kit).
The bf109 messy overlap on the leading edge is for the wobbly line camo in the scheme as the tops are just a plain grey base coat at the moment and there's colour to come down and overlap from the top of the fuselage at the same time then I need to do the splodge overlay.
I'm not very good at this but it's a nice way to spend some time.
The 1:72 Revell Lancaster I bought early on in lockdown is however back on hold. The fiddle factor is off the scale and it's stopped being fun. I've realised I like the simpler builds that look nice from 6 feet away.
Just grabbed this from The Stash.
2 colour paint job. Digital camo is all decals. Hopefully another quick build. Got bogged down with the Rafale to the point the it bored me.
The Hunter is an experiment with mig’s masking putty as I struggled getting good camo lines with tape
I know what you mean. I did the Draken with latex liquid mask.
I’m not very good at this
Bollocks.
Airfix starter kits in Aldi this Thursday, £6.99................
Harry_the_Spider Full Member
Which brings me to a question… What do you use to clean your airbrush after applying lacquer type clear coats?I have an acrylic cleaner for paint and Alclad 2 ALC307 for the lacquers. However, this is difficult to get hold of, so I need an alternative.
IIRC there were two companies making Alclad, one in the US and one in the UK. They had a falling out and the UK one lost the rights to the name, and then either gave up on the product or lost the rights to it too. They're currently called HR Hobbies I think.
Alclad is now available from AMMO, under the A-Stand brand. They are a bit more expensive than they used to be.
https://www.migjimenez.com/en/548-a-stand-laquer-paints
At least I think they're the successors to Alclad.
I’m not very good at this
Bollocks.
Thanks - on the assumption that means they're better than my naturally self-critical mindset has allowed me to believe. I look at the amazing black basing and shading some people have done and am astounded by the level of realism. Always dangerous to judge yourself against people with a lot more hours in the tank.
For anyone thinking of using it the mig putty is great but it slouches /droops if you leave it a week between coats 🫣 so it needs gently nudging back in place unless you want a faded camo line.
@HtS - Saab Draken, one of my all-time favourite fighter jets, such a beautiful aircraft, with that unique planform. I found out very recently that the manoeuvre that Russian pilots did with the Sukhoi fighters with the variable jet exhaust, the ‘Cobra Manoeuvre’, Swedish Draken pilots were doing with the first Drakens, using just the wings as an airbrake; that’s something I’d love to have seen.
Edit: just found the relevant bit in the article;
During testing, pilots discovered it could perform a technically demanding maneuver that required them to pull the nose up and flatten the plane's belly against the airstream. This acted like an air brake, slowing it down immediately and briefly causing it to stall. The pilot then leveled out the plane, reengaged the engines, and continued on course.
The maneuver had no name until Soviet test pilot Viktor Pugachev performed it publically for the first time while flying a Sukhoi Su-27 at the Paris Le Bourget air show in 1989. After that, it became known as the Cobra Maneuver (or Pugachev's Cobra). And yes, it's the stunt Maverick pulls off in "Top Gun: Maverick."
Read More: https://www.slashgear.com/1448508/saab-j35-draken-guide/
I'm psyching myself up to do a Viggen in Splinter Camo. 
Have put a lot of thought into it. Will print out the above at the same size as the model and cut out each panel. Will then use that as a mask onto the tape. Will go brown, black, light green to minimise the amount of masking.
Sounds good when I type it out, but it may be different in reality.
I would go light to dark. so Base coat of light green, then mask the light green areas and spray dark green, then same again, mask those, do the brown, mask those and last spray it black.
But yeah print out those guides, rescale and use them as templates for the Tamiya tape 👍
There isn't a lot of black and brown, so it will be easier to mask it rather than leave it as a "hole".
I've got no concerns about the green covering the black.
The other option is spend £13 on a set of masks, but where is the fun in that?
The other, other option is to do it grey/silver. However, see previous fun themed comment.
Some of the display Viggen schemes were a lot of fun as well.
There's nothing much cooler than a Viggen. Downright awesomeness. I'm adding one to my Christmas list.
Even better is that Viggen translates as either a bolt of lightening, or a species of tufted duck...They both work. 😁
This thread has made me all sorts of childhood nostalgic.
PSA Airfix starter kits in Lidl on Thursday £6.99 https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/airfix-model-kit-starter-set/p10009522?pageId=10033870&tabCode=Next_Sales_Week
Airbrushists - any thoughts on the Worx Makerx cordless airbrush that's just popped up on HUKD at (allegedly) a big discount?
needs the hub & battery but you can also get that discounted with a Dremel-style tool in a case, so £70 for that (which might actually be ok on it's own anyway?) & airbrush.
never owned or used an airbrush before, but it's something I'm keen on getting into, do a lot of 3d printing so kits/models not a problem and keep trying to find the time to get into model railways!!
Otherwise what sort of beginner airbrush would be recommended? I have a reasonable 25L compressor in the garage which is pretty quiet, unless some kind of super-filtered-air compressor is required instead?
Anyone seen the Airfix 1:48 scale Fairey Gannet? Beautifully detailed kit, but a bit of a monster…
https://uk.airfix.com/products/fairey-gannet-14-a11007
I’ve had some success with the Lidls Lego kits.
The spitfire and Messerschmitt were great fun.
But I notice the Jeremy Renner snowplough has the odd missing piece or two.
I think the planet could do with some Lego ‘concept stores’.
Even just for spares.
Anyone seen the Airfix 1:48 scale Fairey Gannet? Beautifully detailed kit, but a bit of a monster…
Gannets are cool. Sadly I've not got room for the Airfix 1/48, but I like the fact that they are making kits of the more "weird". The world doesn't need another Spitfire!
I've done the 1/72 Revell, and made a bit of a mess of it. Got a Sword AEW one in the stash.
Harry, how many of the Airfix Spitfires for cubs/scouts did you get given they ran out so quickly?
Didn't get any. It was aimed at the 8-11 age group, my lot are 11-14. Don't know if the cub section applied.
We are part of the Warhammer deal though, they send us a big box of stuff every three years. Figures (30+ IIRC), paint, tools brushes the lot. It's a gateway drug! A couple of our kids a into it now.
We are part of the Warhammer deal though, they send us a big box of stuff every three years. Figures (30+ IIRC), paint, tools brushes the lot. It’s a gateway drug! A couple of our kids a into it now.
True. Sons' school has a Warhammer club one night straight from class a week. We have now purchased a not insignificant number of orks, marines and Tyranids plus associated paints and brushes since gd the younger started year 7. 🫣
Greg on YouTube has just done the Gannet. I'm tempted and at £50 ish its not too bad i guess. With wings folded it wouldn't take up too much space. The colour schemes don't look especially challenging though, i like testing myself when it comes to painting time!
Re the airbrush question above, dont get that one, get this instead:
I've been using the same compressor for the past four years and its still going strong. The brushes it comes with are okay, I still have mine and use them for varnishing etc now. A better brush will just feel nicer and are generally much easier to strip and clean but it wont necessarily spray any better.
I got a compressor and airbrush set much like the above a few years back.
Brushes were OKish and I've since upgraded to an Iwata Neo which is an order of magnitude better. Compressor is still going strong despite being tripped over numerous times!