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Born-Again Newbie (15 year Pause) - Help Painting Cockpits


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Hello all - I'm back into the hobby after a 14+ year pause, and I started a 1/32 F-16 kit to "dust the rust off" my skills. I don't normally build 1/32, so I got a bit impatient and shelved it....now I've started a 1/48 Hasegawa F-14. (I've built a few previously, the last kit I completed (late summer 2006) was a "B" model.)


Anyways, I've decided to go with Mr. Color lacquer paints, but have found some MM enamels at my local Hobby Lobby. I started with the cockpit and landing gear bays. The cockpit was airbrushed the standard dark gull grey with Mr. Color, then I started painting the instrument panels and side consoles an "interior black" color (mix of flat black & gunship grey), using the MM enamels. I was using a small chisel (flat) brush, and suspect that I may need a smaller one.

I had a lot of slight over-strokes, getting the black onto the grey, which I was able to touch-up later. But I found the black was a bit on the thick side, and decided to dip my brush in thinner and wipe most out on a cloth, but some remained. (See pics for my example...a "before" and "ongoing".)

Does anyone have suggestions on a better way to paint the panels in a more cleanly manner? Any feedback is appreciated.


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Frankly, I think you did a great job in keeping the black on the raised parts of the panels. It it were me, I’d get the Eduard color photoetch or the new Quinta 3D ‘decals’ so I wouldn’t have to paint those panels.

 

But that’s not what you asked.  I would consider masking off the raised parts of the panels and spraying them.  Granted, it would be difficult to mask in certain areas, for instance, where there is almost no space between the raised parts. But you could cut your own thin masking strips from masking tape, or, alternately, there are now some masking tapes that come in millimeter increments of width. As you know, if you gently spray those panels once masked, you should not see any black getting under the edges of the masking tape, thus solving your problem. 

 

Welcome back to the hobby, and best of luck!  Hope this helps. 

Edited by Curt B
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4 hours ago, Curt B said:

Frankly, I think you did a great job in keeping the black on the raised parts of the panels. It it were me, I’d get the Eduard color photoetch or the new Quinta 3D ‘decals’ so I wouldn’t have to paint those panels.

 

But that’s not what you asked.  I would consider masking off the raised parts of the panels and spraying them.  Granted, it would be difficult to mask in certain areas, for instance, where there is almost no space between the raised parts. But you could cut your own thin masking strips from masking tape, or, alternately, there are now some masking tapes that come in millimeter increments of width. As you know, if you gently spray those panels once masked, you should not see any black getting under the edges of the masking tape, thus solving your problem. 

 

Welcome back to the hobby, and best if luck!  Hope this helps. 

 

Thank you, Curt B.

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