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George, The decals look great! What gray paint did you use for the RCC panels and nose? Mike.

George, The RCC sections look excellent. The color and shading look exactly like they do on the real shuttle. Mike.

Manfred, Thanks for the update! I'm sure you will make the right decision and take your time getting the right advice. Please keep us updated and continue to feel better. Mike.

Excellent job on the masking!

Hi Manfred, Keep us updated on your shoulder. Hopefully you will be OK and not need an operation. I have an Iwata Eclipse Airbrush which has a .35 mm nozzle. I also bought a .5 mm needle/nozzle for it which works better with acrylic paints and lacquers. I had some problems spraying acrylics with the .35 mm nozzle. If you can get a .5 mm needle/nozzle it should help a bit with the clogging. I also found that the thinner to paint mixture is dependent on the weather and humidity. Some days the acrylics spray great and on humid days they clog the

George, I love your painting technique for the TPS. I can't wait to see it after it's painted. Mike.

Manfred, Just take care of yourself and take the time to heal. The model can wait. Mike.

George, Beautiful job on the TPS so far! I can't wait to see more progress pictures. Mike.

George, Awesome job! You painting always looks so real. Mike.

George, Awesome pair! Mike.

Manfred, I use the cotton swab as soon as the airbrush clogs. Depending on the weather it can be every time I start to spray. I find that acrylics clog the tip easily. Your Vallejo paints might need to be thinned a bit. I haven't used Vallejo paints yet but it seems like they might need a couple of drops of thinner. I have Testors and Tamiya acrylics that are several years old and are still good. Testors Acryl acrylics claim to be airbrush ready but I always add a couple of drops of thinner which helps. Tamiya acrylics need to be thinned for airbrushing

Very well said Bill! Then there's what the director/film maker intended the color to look like vs. the actual color of a studio model. Most studio models color doesn't look like what it looked like on screen. Mike.

Manfred, The IT Dummy looks fantastic in the color! The texture effect with the tape looks perfect. I can't wait to eventually try it myself. I agree the area that was slightly sanded looks more in scale. I'd go with the sanding. When paint is sprayed it usually looks different than a droplet or when it's brushed. Sprayed paint tends to look a bit lighter when airbrushed due to the texture. Acrylic paint often clogs the airbrush. One thing I do is keep a cotton swab on hand while I'm airbrushing and dip it in thinner and clean the airbrush tip regularl

Here's an AMT 18" Enterprise I built using a mix of Tamiya XF-12 JN Grey, XF-19 Sky Grey and XF-2 Flat White. I matched it to a sample Gary Kerr sent me and also a Walmart Concrete paint chip. It has a slight hint of green but not nearly as much as XF-12 with white added.

George, Excellent job on this one. This is one of my favorite shuttles you built. You can load pictures directly on this forum and not have to use Photobucket. It's easier. Mike.