Mike C

It's been a little while since I frequent this forum, ever since I went back into hiatus a few years ago. It's nice to see that "do you pre-shade" question still comes up, which still generates the same debate. I tried pre-shading a couple of times, but didn't like it, so I stopped and went post-shading route instead.

I love Tamiya X-22 clear gloss. I thin it using Tamiya's X-20A thinner, or methylated spirit (denature alcohol) @ 1:1 ratio before airbrushing. I always use this clear gloss for my pre-decal gloss coat.

I wouldn't use nail polish remover to thin Tamiya acrylic paints. Tried that, didn't work that well. Personally, I used methylated spirit (a.k.a. denatured alcohol), or Tamiya's own X-20A thinner. These also work perfectly to thin Gunze Aqueous Hobby range.

Hey Todd, what did you use to paint the burner can? Especially the petals. They have that carbon-fibre look like the real thing. Fantastic!

Stunning. Beautiful. I'm curious though... Why wouldn't you use the stores that came with the Academy set rather than from Hasegawa's weapons set? I personally prefer the weapons that came with the Academy kit itself. EDIT: Unless you meant the Maverick came from Hase, while others OOB?

Whoa! Nice! Before I went into hiatus, I had wanted to build something like this, but was always discouraged by the masking challenge. How did you do yours?

OMG! Your model is FILTHY!! LOVE IT! Yes, this hobby can be very expensive, especially if you use aftermarket parts. Hence the reason why I normally build OOB.

I have one of this compressors that I bought off eBay: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-6HP-Air-Compressor-with-3L-Tank-Pressure-Regulator-for-Spray-Gun-Air-Brush/142294432796?hash=item212168bc1c:g:jtcAAOSwax5Ys7jq Works well. Cheap/disposable.

I normally used oil paint for panel wash, highly thinned with mineral turpentine. When cleaned with cotton buds dampened with turps can create oil streak effect.

I was going to give you the links to my threads but then I noticed I needed to fix the pics since I rearranged my Photobucket albums. Mine are 1/72 though. Here are the finished threads: 1st: 2nd:

Woo hoo! Another VF-102 50th anniversary build! Love this scheme. Built 2 of these schemes myself several years ago.

I reckon if you're used to Tamiya acrylic, stick to them. I'm in hiatus right now (have been for a 3-4 years), but when I was still building, I only ever used acrylics, mostly Tamiya and Gunze/GSI Aqueous Hobby, and some LifeColor occasionally. Between Tamiya and Aqueous Hobby, I actually prefer the latter, especially their semi-gloss range.

All Tamiya acrylic needs to be thinned before airbrushing. I personally have not used Tamiya Lacquer Thinner to thin their acrylic paint. I always used either Tamiya acrylic thinner (X-20A) or methylated spirit (a.k.a. denatured alcohol). As far as clear flat for final coat, I'd use Tamiya's X-22 gloss clear mixed up with a bit of their X-21 flat base, thinned with acrylic thinner/methylated spirit then airbrush on. You need some trial-and-error to get the right amouint of X-21 flat base with X-22 - use some spare parts to test on first, obviously. Alternative to this, if you can

It's been a few years since I built anything, but.... I used to use the following: Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous - either use Tamiya X-20A thinner (acrylic thinner), or methylated spirit LifeColor - mix your own distilled water mixed with Windex @50:50 ratio. I've tried LifeColor's "proprietary" thinner, which did not work anywhere near as well as my own mixture Vallejo - I only had very limited experience with Vallejo, but I used the same thinner mixture as LifeColor, which worked reasonably well

OK. I think it's user error! I was looking under manage followed content, and couldn't see anything. I should've gone to "Profile". All good.