Largest area you dare to hand paint?

[mtphotos]

Just want to know where other members stand on hand-painting. What size would you paint with a brush, and where is the airbrush borderline?

Myself, I used to paint only small parts with a brush, and recently I've invested in brand new Tamiya flathead brushes anywhere from $2.95 to $11.95 each, and yesterday painted the wings of my AN124..... Need 2 coats of grey, but turned out better that expected.... Also plan to do the bottom like that since airbrush is packed away for the winter, as I choose to paint on the balcony, and not to make my apartment a fume hood

Martin

[canadian_camo]

i'd paint just about anything before i got my airbrush but i still do lots of my work like cockpits and stuff.

[ElectroSoldier]

large or small...

hand painted them all in my time, from an Me-110 to an F-15E and up to a KC-135's and side steped to some B-52's

[hawkhornet]

cockpit!

nothing bigger

[volzj]

I hand paint only the tiniest details such as cockpit dials/switches, pitot tubes, seat cushions etc...

I airbrush everything else. Although, I could likely get away with more brush painting, as Polly Scale is so hand-brush friendly.

[Charlie Cheetah]

cockpit!

nothing bigger

Same here.

[Ivanho4]

<_< Mostly stuff like landing gear, cockpit seats, instrument panels, etc. I have hand painted some camo patterns with a very expensive flat brush...especially when it is bitter cold outside. (My compressor and airbrushes sit in my unheated garage.) It's either that or wait for a big thaw to come. Ivan :blink:

[Old Blind Dog]

The largest thing I've successfully hand-brush painted is the Hasegawa 1/32 ME 163 Komet. . .which is, granted, a pretty small bird, but that's still a fair amount of real estate relative to what most guys are willing to hand-brush. (There are a number of larger 1/32 a/c in the model gallery here that have been hand-brushed quite beautifully. . .alas, not by me!)

I regularly hand-brush everything; the trick to successful hand-brushing is eliminating visible brush strokes while producing a smooth, even finish; this is achieved by 1. making sure that the paint flows smoothly and evenly onto the surface (I've just ordered myself some Liquetex Flow-Aid Flow Enhancer to add to my Polly Scale paints, finally taking Barney Dunlevey's advice! I also just found out that using a few drops of Tamiya acrylic airbrush thinner makes the Tamiya paints much more hand-brush friendly!), 2. Always brushing in the same direction coat after coat, 3. making each stroke as long and even as possible (this is why slightly larger flat brushes are better for hand-brushing, they cover more area per stroke more evenly).

Those dinky little round (or is it semi-round?) white-handled brushes that Testors has sold for years are a complete joke for any type of serious hand-brushing over large areas. You need good quality red-sable FLATS; keep them clean and soft (soak in Palmolive dish detergent after every session). Keep the paint nice and warm when using it, and always use the recommended thinner (as water is the thinner of choice for Polly Scale, I also like to keep it as warm as possible).

Cheers

Old Blind Dog

Edited February 14, 2006 by Old Blind Dog

[Zmey Smirnoff]

c'pit (sometimes), ejection seat, LG struts, LG wells (if not too visible and /or heavily weathered), Wheels (always), inside the burner cans....

thats about it.

[toadwbg]

I paint about 95% airbrush/5% hand.

Usually its just the small fiddly bits that get a hand-job (eh? <_< )

I find airbrushing doesn't take much longer than handbrushing now I've got a good set-up in the basement.

[mlicari]

Prior to getting my airbrush, I did a 1/48 Ju-52, a 1/48 Catalina, and a 1/48 B-24 with a brush.

If I recall correctly, it weeks of painting sessions to do each. What a pain. <_<

[Bri2k]

I hand paint everything exclusively. The largest model I've hand painted so far is Academy's 1/144 B-36. I've got a 1/72 Boeing 247, Ju-86 and a Ju-88 I'm bashing into a Bloch 210 prototype. Those will all be hand painted. It might seem strange, but I find great satisfaction in painting by hand. I guess it's the frustrated fine-artist in me.

Bri2k

[virsago_mk2]

Cockpit & wheels.

[David Walker]

Pretty much just small detail work. I use an airbrush for everything else.

[Ollie T-Y]

See, i dont really care about my cockpits, seeing as mine all hang from the roof, so they dont get any special detail at all (either all black, or all black with a olive green chair), But, ive only used an airbrush on my latest model, and all the rest i hand painted (including a 1/48 Raptor)

[Julien (UK)]

I hand brush everything.

Biggest to date, 1/48 F-15 and 1/24 Hurricane.

Julien

[Stuart Porteous]

I airbrush the main colours but I wouldn't normally bother for smaller stuff, eg cockpits, undercarriage, anti-glare panels etc. The exception is white (always spray even if it's out of a rattle-can) and metallic colours.

Having said that, I've just brush-painted a Stranraer for the Matchbox GB, including the aluminium undersides !

Stuart.

[Stephen]

I hand brush everything (except natural metal),the largest kits I've done are two F/A-18E/F's an F-15E and a Buccaneer all in 1/48.

Stephen

[canadian_camo]

i just hand painted the dark green (british) wings,top of fuselage and elevators on my 1/72 B-17E just a little while ago

Edited February 15, 2006 by canadian_camo

[model_madness]

Personally i find that brush painting just doent give that even, smooth finished id like. Maybe its my technique ( or lack of! ), brushes,the fact that i dont thin, or that i'm using Tamiya acrylic paints.

Who knows

These days, im getting faster at setting up and cleaning my a.b so tend to do most jobs on it. Cockpit, wheels , pilots i still do by hand tho

[Bobski]

I've only just got my airbrush, so I use that for larger areas and brush paint the rest.

Examples: Cockpit, seats, undercarriage, most ordnance, intakes and exhausts are all brush painted (to get the extra detail). Wings and fuselages and some ordnance (e.g. drop tanks) are all airbrushed. This will probably change as I get more confident with the airbrush, but I'm happy with it this way at the moment.

[phantom]

Wheels and radomes, but only if the radome is solid flat black.

[Josh1971]

My biggest problem with my airbrush is that I just can't seem to mix the paint good enough all the time. So half the time I'm jamming my a.b. with paint that's too thick- so I'll over compensate and get it so it's very thin and runny.

I still hand-brush most of my 1/144 planes as they're so small it doesn't seem to matter much. I'll sometimes do all of a 1/72 plane by brush as well.

jb

[Old Blind Dog]

Subsequent to my first posting on this thread over a year ago I've purchased and learned how to use an airbrush. I'm still climbing the learning curve, but now mostly all my exteriors are airbrushed. I still hand-brush paint all my cockpits, wheel wells, wheels/tires etc.

For the near future I'm planning on doing a series of WWII RAF fighters in 1/72, most with two-tone topside camo schemes; for these I will probably airbrush the overall color and carefully hand-brush the secondary color. I've found that I can hand-brush Polly Scale thinned with distilled water and Liquitex FlowAid Flow Enhancer with excellent results that don't look inferior next to an airbrushed finish.

I've also recently discovered Citadel (from Games Workshop) acrylic metallics (Mithril Silver, Chainmail and Boltgun); when properly thinned these paints can be handbrushed quite beautifully (unlike just about any other acrylic metallic). And while I'm probably not going to try hand-brushing an entire NMF airplane any more, I'd have to say that it really is possible with this stuff!

Cheers

Old Blind Dog

[janman]

Whole 1/72 aircraft!