Finished 1/48 Academy with Pics on post#1

[tankfarms]

Hello All, first of all, I'm so excited to be here. Recently I picked up scale modeling after years (6, 7 years?) I left off. Ya know, financial and time constraints during school time. Anyway, I got my first airbrush and I've been using it for about a month. Here is the problem I found so far

1. I tend to make a mess when transfering paint to the airbrush feed cup. How do you normally do this? What kind of methods do you use to do this? I use a little plastic sucker but everytime I finish I need to clean it up.

2. I use Testors enamel paints. Still couldn't find a good paint/thinner ratio. My airbrush got plugged couple times. I believe it was due to the think paint (which I thought it wad diluted enough). Any hints on this?

3. I need some BASIC BASIC guidance applying putty. I don't even know the difference of putties offered in the market (Tamiya has a few kinds). All I have right now are all testors stuff. I have the basic testor's putty, and man, it's a pain to do the sanding afterwards. I sometimes got a "bumpy" surface left or I could actually chipped off the dried putty filled for gaps.

4. It's unfortunate that I don't get any Hobby Shop for a town I just moved in. HobbyLobby is decent here, but yet it's very limited. I've been randomly looking for kits, tools, etc. on internet (ebay and such), any good recommendations for good hobby source?

5. Don't know about you guys, but man, this ARC is the best so far I found (after nights after nights of looking)

Thanks all.

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===================This is TankFarms giving you guys some updates on this kits I finished building yeterday!===================

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Just a few pictures to share with you this F-16. I just sent an article to Steve; but pretty much I did this OOB; I say to myself a good job considering not building for almost 7 years; I believe I'll get better as I keep practicing. Your suggestions, hints, HTH notes and even critics ARE VERY WELCOMED!!!!!!!

Edited June 17, 2008 by tankfarms

[spike7451]

Hello All, first of all, I'm so excited to be here. Recently I picked up scale modeling after years (6, 7 years?) I left off. Ya know, financial and time constraints during school time. Anyway, I got my first airbrush and I've been using it for about a month. Here is the problem I found so far

1. I tend to make a mess when transfering paint to the airbrush feed cup. How do you normally do this? What kind of methods do you use to do this? I use a little plastic sucker but everytime I finish I need to clean it up.

2. I use Testors enamel paints. Still couldn't find a good paint/thinner ratio. My airbrush got plugged couple times. I believe it was due to the think paint (which I thought it wad diluted enough). Any hints on this?

3. I need some BASIC BASIC guidance applying putty. I don't even know the difference of putties offered in the market (Tamiya has a few kinds). All I have right now are all testors stuff. I have the basic testor's putty, and man, it's a pain to do the sanding afterwards. I sometimes got a "bumpy" surface left or I could actually chipped off the dried putty filled for gaps.

4. It's unfortunate that I don't get any Hobby Shop for a town I just moved in. HobbyLobby is decent here, but yet it's very limited. I've been randomly looking for kits, tools, etc. on internet (ebay and such), any good recommendations for good hobby source?

5. Don't know about you guys, but man, this ARC is the best so far I found (after nights after nights of looking)

Thanks all.

Get yer arrse over to Britmodeller.com!

[ThatJeffGuy]

Number 1 is an easy one.

Use a tooth-pick. Put the tip insde the airbrush paint cup and then pour the paint from the jar along the tooth pick. It will

run along just fine and not make a mess. Make sure you wipe down the rim of the paint bottle afterwards so that your

caps don't stick

[derek burton]

I agree with Spike !

Dek.

[Matt Roberts]

#4 I think an almost uniform response will be Sprue Brothers internet shop. Look on the front page on the left side it'll be there, or here's the link

http://www.spruebrothers.com/

He has good prices and his shipping is second to none. I personally have not used alot of mail order as I have some very good local shops but as the prices go up on new kits mail order is looking much more desireable. Another good one, I have used, is Lucky Model out of Hong Kong. It has great prices on the Chinese produced kits and usually will get here within 10 days. Just a hint on mail ordering, watch the shipping as in a few cases the shipping can bump a cost to higher than a local shop could do, but since you mention not having a local shop that may not be a problem.

http://www.luckymodel.com/?ad=ARC

For alot of your other questions concerning puttys and air brushing go and look up at the 'Tools and Tips' forum around here. Search is your friend and you should be able to find your answers there, if not post a question, we don't bite around here.

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showforum=12

Hope this helps (that's what HTH means) and welcome back to the herd

matt

Edited June 13, 2008 by Matt Roberts

[Grey Ghost 531]

#1 - I just pour it from the jar, nothing special, execept for stuff like Alclad II for which I use an eye dropper as it will really make a mess if you pour it. Like Jeff said, clean the threads of the jar and the cap too if you get that gunky. If you do find you can't open a jar without a hammer, turn it upside down and use an eye dropper to put some solvent into the edge of the cap. I use laquer thinner or acetone as they work faster, but plain old paint thinner will work too. After a minute or three the cap will come right off and then you can take advantage of the paint residue being softened and wipe it off.

#2 - It depends on the original viscosity of the paint, what air pressure you're using and what you're doing: overall coverage or fine lines and German mottle. Generally, thin it to about the consitancy of skim milk. Maybe 1 part thinner to two parts paint, it just takes some trial and error and practice.

#3 - I use 3M Acryl Blue automotive glazing putty. It's a solvent based, fine grained, fast drying putty that dries a pretty pale blue so it can be covered with paint easily. I got it at a store that specializes in automotive paints and painting supplies. It is about 15 bucks for a pound and a half tube. I've been using the same tube for about 20 years and have about 60 more years worth in it.

How I use it:

- I squeeze out a little blob of putty onto a palette, I usually stick some wide masking tape on the table and use that. This keeps the tube from drying out.

- If you're filling a seam you can use masking tape on either side of it to protect the detail.

- Use a toothpick to pick up a dab of putty and smear it on.

- After it dries, only an hour or so if it's a thin application, wet sand with 400 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper

After that, check for flaws and repeat as necessary.

When that's all pretty, get some Gunze Sangyo Mr. Surfacer. I use 500 usual; it also comes in 1000 and 1200. It is like a very thick primer or very thin putty. It will fill all the sanding scratches left by the 400 grit and also seal the pourosity of the putty so the texture variation between it and the bare plastic doesn't show under the paint. I usually lightly sand it with the 400 again and then finish it off with 600 grit. If you're going to be using a non bare metal finish that's enough. For bare metal you'll want to go to 1200 grit and then some polishing compound. Don't worry about it until you have some models under your belt.

#4 I use Squadron Shop and Roll Models. They're both good, Squadron is faster, Roll Models is less expensive (in general) Just check out any of the advertisers on the home page, if it's on ARC, they're reliable.

#5 Couldn't be more true!

[PeepingBear]

Hi, welcome back to modelling!

Q.1: The toothpick is a good disposable variant, but your plastic sucker (a pipette?) is good as well, because after spraying, you 'll have to clean the paint reservoir of your airbrush, a pipette is quite handy for that. I use a glass pipette from my lab, storing it immersed in a small bottle with thinner / cleaner during an airbrush session (after pumping a few times to loosen the paint left inside). A pipette or a disposable syringe (with wide bore needle, tip ground flat) also helps when mixing paint.

Q.2: An airbrush will clog from dried paint on the needle tipas well as from thick (or hard) lumps inside the paint. I recommend straining the paint through a nylon pantyhose (ask a woman for an old torn one, you only need the toe tip-part) or trough a very (!!) fine metal sieve. (e.g. a tea-sieve).

Q.3: First there is acrylic putty, it dries quickly, doesn't stick super-hard to the plastic (clean the surface before application for best contact).

Then there is the "classic" lacquer-thinner-based putty, e.g from Revell, or, AFAIK, Squadron Green / Red / White Stuff (colour denotes particle size, IIRC). This type takes a bit more time to dry, it can soften surrounding plastic, esp. if applied in thicker layers but sticks well to plastic.

For bigger filling-jobs, 2-part-epoxy-putty is the stuff to use, e.g. Milliput (available in different grades of particle size, thus finesse of surface). This stuff must be kneaded from 2 equally-sized parts and is useable for approx. 20 to 30 min. I recommend using thin nitrile gloves when handling it, the uncured epoxy-putty is allergenic. Water is helpful when shaping this stuff, epoxy-putty can be used in thick layers or for free-shaped parts, when cured, it sands, files and polishes well.

For small gaps, cyanoacrylate-glue is the most handy tool: It cures quickly, so you can continue your work, directliy after curing, it sands quite well (but not later!)and you can apply it precisely with the aft end of a sewing needle in a chuck.

To clean up after puttying, nail-polish remover (a mix of acetone and water) is usually strong ernough to soften the putty but not aggressive enogh to hurt the neighbouring plastic. Try this on a test-bed-kit! When using sanding-paper, you don't need the rougher sizes, a good quality medium to fine grade will remove material quite well withot leaving a rough surface. Wet-sanding is better thn dry-sanding.

Q.4: Hobby sources -- Hang around and keep an eye peeled, it all depends on what you want to buy. A wide range of products can be found at Hannants (of England), Squadron Mail Order (of Texas), but this is definitely an incomplete list.

HTH

Greetings from Germany!

Jan

[tankfarms]

Wow, so many detailed replies in such short time. Thank you all! for the welcome and HTH tips. I would actually need to try out some different techniques on the suggestions you guys give; i realize one thing about modeling is trials of trials of trying and messing around. Anyway. I want to post some pictures of the models I built in the past month and some old models I built back home but it gives me this: "Please ask the administrator to ensure the uploads directory is available" does that mean that I'm not here 'long' enough to post any pictures?

I noticed I called a pipette a 'sucker' , he ha, well, bear with my non-native english speaking; but here's the hint, as a scale modeling lover, I'm proud of my home-made trumpeter kits. now you know where I'm from.

(too bad that they're freaking expensive in the U.S.)

[ThatJeffGuy]

Direct uploading has been disabled due to hacking. You have to 'link' the picture i.e. upload it to a hosting site (e.g. PhotoBucket

or ImageShack) and then put a link to the other site in your post here. The tags you would use are visible if you just hit

reply to any post here that has an image in it. You will see the image URL enclosed by IMG tags. I can't show you an

example because the forum software would just show the picture when displaying this post.

Edited June 13, 2008 by ThatJeffGuy

[PeepingBear]

Well, TankFarm, if you're from the land that hosts the 2008 Olympic Games, you might want to check Luckymodel as a web-order store.

For further modelling hints, just read and ask a lot around here, I've found ARC and it's members always very helpful.

And Trumpeter, yes, they offer cool kits. I'm just building a Sea Hawk Mk.101 (see on http://www.flugzeugforum.de/forum/showthread.php?t=47330, alas in German language) and their Wyvern is in my stack. Chinese model-kits are definitely making an impact on the scene. F-105D from Hobby Boss, anybody interested?

Regards

Jan

[skyhawk55]

tankfarms,

First of all welcome aboard. The more the merrier.

Tip #1, Don't use Testor's contour putty to fill gaps or seams. The stuff will shrink and possible fall out later. If you need to rescribe a detail or panel line over it, this putty is way too soft (even after weeks of curing).

Tip #2, I've found (from this forum) that CA glue and Mr. Surfacer 500 works very, very well for gaps and seams. This is my preferred method now.

Tip #3, be patient, check this forum often, ask questions and learn from this forum. There are a lot of good people and fantastic modelers on this site who are not afraid to help us newbies out.

Have fun and go build a model.

B. Hunter

[tankfarms]

tankfarms,

First of all welcome aboard. The more the merrier.

Tip #1, Don't use Testor's contour putty to fill gaps or seams. The stuff will shrink and possible fall out later. If you need to rescribe a detail or panel line over it, this putty is way too soft (even after weeks of curing).

Tip #2, I've found (from this forum) that CA glue and Mr. Surfacer 500 works very, very well for gaps and seams. This is my preferred method now.

Tip #3, be patient, check this forum often, ask questions and learn from this forum. There are a lot of good people and fantastic modelers on this site who are not afraid to help us newbies out.

Have fun and go build a model.

B. Hunter

So did you say that I could simply use the CA glue to fill the gaps? it's interesting that I never thought about glue could be functioned as putty. does it come really dry then? what about sanding process? thanks.

[Dave Williams]

For number 1, I use a disposable jumbo drinking straw. You can buy a pack of them at the grocery store. You don’t suck on them with your mouth; instead just dip one end in the paint and cover the hole on the other end with your finger and keep it there. When you pull the straw out, some paint will be trapped inside by the vacuum. Move the paint end over the airbrush paint cup, remove your finger from the hole and the paint in the straw will drop down into the cup. For a different color, just cut off the bottom of the straw above where the previous paint was. You can get a number of uses from one straw before it gets cut down too short to use. Then just get another straw and start over. Once I found out this trick, I've never gone back to any other method for transfering paint

For number 2, a general rule of thumb is to thin the paint to the consistency of milk

HTH.

Edited June 13, 2008 by Dave Williams

[ThatJeffGuy]

So did you say that I could simply use the CA glue to fill the gaps? it's interesting that I never thought about glue could be functioned as putty. does it come really dry then? what about sanding process? thanks.

put the glue in the gap, hit it with CA accelerator (also known as 'kicker') and it will harden instantly. You _have_ to sand it

right away though. If you leave it too long it wil be rock-hard and un-sandable.

Edited June 13, 2008 by ThatJeffGuy

[tankfarms]

Direct uploading has been disabled due to hacking. You have to 'link' the picture i.e. upload it to a hosting site (e.g. PhotoBucket

or ImageShack) and then put a link to the other site in your post here. The tags you would use are visible if you just hit

reply to any post here that has an image in it. You will see the image URL enclosed by IMG tags. I can't show you an

example because the forum software would just show the picture when displaying this post.

trying it with the method you suggested. if uploaded succesfully, what you guys see here are two models I built recently. a Revell 1/48 F-117, and Italeri 1/24 fire truck (fire truck is the only non-military related theme I build, and I do enjoy building large-scale)

[ThatJeffGuy]

You coded the tags properly but I get red-X's here....but I'm behind the work firewall. If I cut and paste one of your

URL's into my browser I get 'Access Denied'.

Edited June 13, 2008 by ThatJeffGuy

[tankfarms]

You coded the tages properly but I get red-X's here....but I'm behind the work firewall. If I cut and paste one of your

URL's into my browser I get 'Access Denied'.

I see those two pics come up real good. I think it's probably at your work place. Another Friday afternoon huh???

[ThatJeffGuy]

I see those two pics come up real good. I think it's probably at your work place. Another Friday afternoon huh???

I also get "403 - Forbidden" from my CrackBerry so it's not a problem with the firewall at work. Of course you can see

them, they are your files

[tankfarms]

I also get "403 - Forbidden" from my CrackBerry so it's not a problem with the firewall at work. Of course you can see

them, they are your files

you know what, now I don't see them anymore. that is really wired. unless the link I provided failed or something.

[Netz]

And don't misuse the "Quote" button, as when post #9 is "quoting" post #8.

As for paint transfer, I do as Dave does but on a smaller scale, I use the plastic coffee straws, I bought a box of 100, 6" straws then cut them in half, if your in a pinch you can grab a hand full at your local AM-PM.

I have an Iwata Eclipse with the small cup on top, so I'm not mixing my paint in jars, my mix ratio is 50/50 or greater depending on the paint.

Putty, if you can find the Tamiya Grey Basic Type, discontinued in the US. that's about the best.

On how to apply it, what ever tool you use the best application is to be smeared or drag with moderate pressure, that will alleviate any bubbles or rough texture, never fill large gaps with filler, fill large gaps with plastic, use emory paper (black wet/dry) 320 (very aggressive) 600, 400, steel wool,and files, rifler files (the curved ones).

Curt

[Netz]

I just right clicked the red X copied the URL in Properties and added them to the browser search, I also got sent to the URL Denied which had the URL posted again, clicked on it, and your pictures now appear...

Curt

[thegoodsgt]

Build one model at a time. Finish that one model before proceeding to the next one.

[David Walker]

Looks like most of your questions have been answered so I'll just say welcome to ARC!

[tankfarms]

working late on this academy 1/48 F-16. You guys are absolutely right about the Testors putty. I used some of them yesterday to fill the gaps between the wings and the fuselage, man today the putty got not only very dry but also VERY hard to sand. I ended up removing the whole putty and not worrying about it for now. I need to look for one of this CA thing you guys mentioned.

[John Wolstenholme]

[quote name='tankfarms' date='Jun 13 2008, 12:07 PM' post='1420949'

1. I tend to make a mess when transfering paint to the airbrush feed cup. How do you normally do this? What kind of methods do you use to do this? I use a little plastic sucker but everytime I finish I need to clean it up.

I use medicine (eye) droppers for transfer and paint mixing - easy to clean out.

2. I use Testors enamel paints. Still couldn't find a good paint/thinner ratio. My airbrush got plugged couple times. I believe it was due to the think paint (which I thought it wad diluted enough). Any hints on this?

Consistency of milk. Full cream, semi-skimmed, ... I eventually dragged the answer out of a paint sprayer. Spray on a test piece first and if it does not go on wet (matt paints included) you need to add more thinners. Clearly, you do not want to over thin, otherwise you will have other problems.

HTH

John

Edited June 15, 2008 by John Wolstenholme