Hi, I’ve been round these boards a few times before and have always gotten great advice; really a great community!
But, onto my question. I’m really just a begining modeler by any means; I’ve built a few 1/700 waterline ships. I hand-painted these ships with acrylic, but they didn’t require any real camoflauge (they were japanese…). My question is, if I’m going to start building airplanes, should I break down and get an airbrush? Painting by hand is a lot of what I like in this hobby, and I’ll probably continue to do so with ships… But, I’d assume planes are really a different animal, given the detail aspect of the scales, plus their cameoflagueing renders itself to airbrushing, no?
Also, as long as I’ve got your attention— what’s better 1/72 scale or 1/48? Any threads you can point me to on this would be great too.
Thanks.
Handbrushing is always a viable option, and those that can do it well, swear by it. If you’ve had years of practice, and it’s something you love doing, don’t give up on it. However, some effects and camo schemes, particularily anything with a non-hard edge camo, is very difficult to do by hand. Were I you, I’d pick up a cheap aircraft kit to practice on, build to the best of your ability, before commiting to the purchase of an airbrush.
i used to hand paint everything. but since i got my airbrush ive fallen in love with it. i still hand paint small things like details, tires and such. like zokissima said pick up a cheapie kit to practice on.
Hello Eddie; thanks for stopping in…
In my work area, I have two airbrushes, raddle cans, bottles of paint, and cans of paint, in three mediums. I don’t restrict myself to one method or the other, but use whatever the occasion/project calls for.
Although I’ve seen some who can do very nice camo jobs with raddle cans and stencils, an airbrush is practically required for most of us to achieve a nice soft edge EVEN finish. A military VIP or Civilian type aircraft normally can be done with raddle cans and masking, or as zokissima said, an experienced brush painter.
As the others have said, get kits that aren’t expensive to practice on… most of it will come naturally, but read or ask questions about specific problems, such as psi settings, proper thinning, cleaning, etc etc. Also, visit the “Painting” area of this Forum’s index ever so often, where practically every question you could think of is addressed .
Good luck and happy modeling! [:)]
Take care,
Frank
Well, Frank pretty much got that covered!
Eddie,
I think you hit it on the head when you said “Painting by hand is a lot of what I like in this hobby”. Same here! I brush paint all my models with acrylics. I have a single action airbrush that I only use for painting white or natural metal aluminum over relatively large areas.
With the last few kits I have worked on a method for producing a fuzzy edge. I am almost done with a F6F-3 Hellcat in a tri-color scheme - I should have pics posted on or before the weekend if I’m lucky. It’s not an airbrushed finish - that’s for sure. But I think it’s pretty good if I do say so myself.
I have seen others use different methods for producing a fuzzy edge. One person mentioned using a makeup sponge to dab one color into the next. The results looked really good.
My method is as follows: paint the two colors with a hard edge between them. Mix a batch of the two colors in a 50/50 ratio and paint a line about 1/16" thick right over the hard edge. then I take the lighter of the two colors and very faintly try to soften the edge between the light color and the 50/50. It might sound a little laborious, but it’s not that bad. But if I wanted to take on one of those funky mottled luftwaffe camo schemes - I’d invest in an airbrush - or It’d drive me insane (a short trip for me).
1/72 vs 1/48 ? A question that has plauged modelers from the dawn of styrene - there’s no end in sight !
Have fun !
Chris
If you enjoy hand painting & don’t plan on winning the IPMS Nats, stay with it. But an airbrush will improve your aircraft models dramatically, especially if you opt for the larger scales such as 1/48 & up.
Regards, Rick
Go with what you like- that’s what the hobby is all about. But like Rick said- I plan on winning in the IPMS Nats, so i use an AB.
What, I’m abitious, OK?[:P]
Eddie,
This is the Hellcat I was talking about…
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=41885
There is some compromise when going to brush painting - I kinda like it !
Chris
Well, as far as the airbrush goes, I think its a good investment. Like the others have said, I brush paint the small parts. It also depends on how much you want to spend. You could get a ceap, single action AB, but some (or most) of the parts are plastic. I have the Iwata Eclipse BCS. It is a dual action bottom feed and it’s all metal (except any O-rings), but it wasn’t too cheap. I like it alot. I have used a single action, but I prefer the dual action. Same goes for the air compressor. I know a guy who has a compressor that’s probably not anything fancy, but oh is it loud. You have to yell over the noise![:(!] The one that I have is the Iwata Smart Jet. It shuts off after it compresses enough air and then starts comressing more air when the pressure drops below a certain point. Another thing I like about it is that it is so quiet (compared to the other one). You don’t have to yell.[:D] If you get an AB, you’ll enjoy it.[;)]
And for the scale, I like 1/48 because it’s bigger than 1/72 and therefor more areas to detail. I have a few 1/72 that I use mostly for practice and testing (one of which I completely hand painted; I wasn’t too thrilled with the results, but my skills have improved since then.) Scales bigger than that (in my opinion) would require alot of detail just to prevent them from looking plain. But when finished nicely, the big models look great.
Hope this helps somewhat.[:)]