I built a Hasegawa 1/32 Bf 109 in, er, about 1978. Very nearly 40 years ago!
This thread has got my interest going in kit building again and I’m now building the 1/32 Roden Sopwith Triplane. Unfortunately I’ve also needed to buy paints and a variety of other bits so it’s a bit spendy so far.
I bought myself an airbrush a while back and had a crack. What started out as a couple of 1/48 Airfix Spitfires got a little out of hand and now there’s approx thirty models under the bed.
IME, Tamiya and Hasegawa kits in this scale are excellent – if expensive. It’s well worth considering Eduard Weekend kits – they’re extremely well detailed and the Weekend line comes in pretty reasonably at £12 – £20 per kit (often undercutting the perennial Airfix favorites and they’re better detailed too).
I bought myself an airbrush a while back and had a crack. What started out as a couple of 1/48 Airfix Spitfires got a little out of hand and now there’s approx thirty models under the bed.
Oooh thanks for posting that HtS … I’ll look forward to watching it.
I’ve always had an interest in EE Lightnings as my uncle flew them in the ’70s (56 & 226 OCU Squadrons) before he joined the ‘Battle of Britain Flight’ (now the BBMF)
I hope it wasn’t the refuelling probe (you have to watch it to get the reference).
I watched another one about TSR2, which is an altogether more depressing affair.
The best bit is when TSR2 went to re-heat on one engine and dropped the Lightning chase plane that had them both on. The footage is from the Lightning’s on-board camera.
Just watched that 262 video again, amazing attention to detail, some bits make me twitchy just watching, like drilling out the bolt-holes in those open wing access panels!
Donor seats and crew have arrived for my Sea Vixen. It is a shame not to build the Hawk that they came off, but having looked at the decals the printing is about 3mm off from the base, so it would have looked crap.
If anyone has messed up a 1:72 Hawk and needs some spares I’m your man!
Question for the STW airbrusherists – is there any particular brand of paint you prefer for spraying natural metal effect finishes and any tips and techniques I should try?
I’ve tried the Humbrol metalcote stuff, sprayed on top of a gloss undercoat, but I can never get the gloss undercoat right without the paint drying too thick – if I thin it down, the resulting undercoat becomes mottled matt. Also, I struggle to get a proper shiny metal finish without chucking multiple coats of varnish on top and if I try to use a Humbrol dark wash, I end up stripping the metallic paint away.
All of my metal finishes have ended up looking quite cack.
I haven’t experimented too much with metal finishes.
Alclad have a good reputation but I’ve had reasonable success (on the likes of EE lightning (picture posted a few pages ago) & Spitfires etc) with Humbrol’s metallic range.
Key points seem to be making sure the airbrush is super clean; thinning the paint and keeping the air pressure as low as possible – ideally <15psi (i try and do metallics at about 9psi – any lower and I splutter)
To get a shiny finish I just use a varnish (on top of the metallic paint) – either acrylic clear or GlossCote. (if using an enamel wash, then this has to go on an acrylic varnish and vica-versa – alternatively make sure your paints & varnish are fully dry (i.e. weeks+) before using a wash to avoid stripping the existing paint layers away.
Alclad seems to be the preference for getting the best finish Alclad website
I’ve been impressed with Vallejo Metal Color (bloody merican spelling! 😥 ) lately, not tried spraying it yet though S n M Stuff website
The trick is to get an ultra smooth basecoat, usually a gloss black, and then spay as Digby said. Another option is to use car spray paint, Halfords own brand isn’t bad.
Has anyone tried a 4B pencil then wiping off the excess to do panel lines? Quick Build Video Bloke (see Lightning thing above) mentions it in one of his videos.
He also glues the canopies down with PVA to avoid fogging. How strong is this? All the models that I have built have been “admired” by a 9 year old, which means they get handled a fair bit. Anything that falls off will be trodden on almost immediately.
lso glues the canopies down with PVA to avoid fogging
As far as I know, the likes of Humbrol ClearFix and Formula ‘560’ Canopy Glue are pretty much PVA.
And I’ve been using pencils more and more recently. Both a 0.5 HB GraphGear pencil for marking details & panel lines etc and Derwent’s Metallic pencils for weathering/detailing etc
Aside; if you order from S n M Stuff, don’t get it delivered to your work. I had a double humiliation, first from people who thought it was bondage gear, then secondly when I had to tell them it was a Games Workshop board game. Next time I’ll just say yes, it’s a gimp suit
Has anyone tried a 4B pencil then wiping off the excess to do panel lines?
It’s a very good idea that, although we don’t have anything softer than an HB in the house. I have tried that weathering powder stuff and it’s quite good at drawing out small detail without stripping your paint away.
The other major discovery of note is that Johnson’s floor polish makes for an excellent airbrushable varnish and you can safely coat with enamel paints if that’s your thing. You can mix the stuff with acrylic paint to produce a very acceptable window tint (if you look at military aircraft, you’ll see that the canopies and front windscreens are often subtly tinted. Likewise, gunsights and HUDs can be tinted a subtle green colour too.
Tamiya do some clear acrylic colours useful for aircraft & cars. “smoke”, clear green, red, orange, yellow, blue. Green is good for gunsights and also helicopter overhead transparency bits. Red & orange for car taillights & indicators, yellow for turning “chrome” to “gold”.
I haven’t figured out what might be clear blue though
Yes and no. The old formula Klear is fantastic stuff, but the newer one is slightly different and some people have had problems with it. Have a look at this link, the bottle on the left is the old stuff, the newer one has ‘Pledge multi-wax’ on the label (avoid)…
I’ve got a bottle of the old stuff from the early 90’s and it’s nearly empty, this floor shine from Lakeland is supposed to be nearer the old klear formula and has had some decent reviews, this is what I’m getting to replace the old one…
Thought I’d put up a couple of photos of a Panzer 3 close-support tank that a mate has built.
He scratch-built the tray on the back carrying several jerrycans, the ‘strap’ holding them in place is actually silver sheet! He’s a goldsmith, and he says that silver is much easier to work than brass, and isn’t much difference in price to copper…
I particularly like the rusty appearance of the exhaust, and the dirt on the tracks.
The cream tank on the left is a Skoda ‘Hetzer’, built up as one of the team tanks from the animé ‘Girls Und Panzers’,
terrific little tank, adopted by the German army as a light tank killer, probably my favourite tank.
don’t know when I started this but I guess it was some time around February.
next car is a Tamiya 1:24 Ferrari La Ferrari with lots of add-ons.
But before that I have a 1:6 Cylon Centurion, a 1:35 M113 APC and a 1:72 BK117 helicopter. Need to do something easy…
I’ve got a Severn Class Lifeboat to do at some point. I got very close to the real thing today and took a camera with me to get some shots of dirt and weathering patterns. There weren’t any, it was immaculate.
As with most Tamiya kits*, it’s a great build OOB. Spray painting with rattle cans is just too much, airbrush at 10-15psi allows manny thin coats without drips forming at the bottom of each wheel arch.
Wow! Not a modeller myself beyond half a dozen poorly built and painted planes hanging from my boyhood bedroom ceiling, but love seeing the awesome work you guys do. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks chaps.
For cars & bikes I like to do them in “showroom” condition so I don’t have to worry about all that pesky weathering 😉
Nothing added to this kit that wasn’t in the box, other than the paint (Revell Aquacolours 99 Aluminium and clear gloss for the body shell) and some Bare Metal Foil for the chrome trim around the windows. Tamiya do make some great kits
Bit late to the party here, but I’ve finally got my Xmas one finished. Number 5 since I restarted after 20+ years, and the first one painted with an airbrush. They’re all a bit squeaky clean at the mo. After taking about 6 months for each one I don’t have the balls yet to start trying weathering them in case I cock it up!
..and with some of its contemporaries…
To be honest – I’m surprised how much the camera has flattered my stuff. Up close there’s no end of bits of fluff stuck in the paint, and a whole load of other minor, but annoying paint flaws. Fortunately the only way I could get decent images was to use my 18-200 SLR lens zoomed all the way in at min focus distance and min aperture, so no real close ups!
Pre cut canopy masks are also an awesome invention/cheat. 🙂 Haireals instead of stretched sprue on the 2 Me’s look a lot more in scale too!
So… where do you lot store and/or display all of your completed models?
My lad is going to run out of space soon in his room thanks to our prolific output over the last few months. This isn’t helped by us eyeing up a Revell 1:144 Saturn V that is 77 cm tall.
Very nice work indeed JonEdwards! So were the Paul D, Spit and Hurricane all brush painted?
Was this a return to airbrushing as well or was the Bf110 your first foray into airbrushing? If so that’s very impressive indeed. What paints are you using?
Battered Airfix 1:72 Mitsubishi A6M Zero work in progress.
Did the paint chips by painting it aluminium, dabbing with Copydex the overpainting with the top colour. Once it had dried I rubbed it with Blutac to remove the Copydex and expose the aluminium. Quite pleased with the effect.