Nice progress on the old Alan kit there Brian. As for painting indoors, you may want to invest in a spray booth or at least rig up an extractor fume fan of some type. Lots of stuff we use in this hobby can be hazardous to your health without the proper ventilation! At the very least you should work with a breather mask as a precaution. [;)]
I totally second what Bill said—invest in a spray booth–it’s a lot cheaper than chemotherapy. You do not want to be breathing in lacquer fumes or paint fumes in a closed space like a cellar. Honestly, it’s well worth the investment.
Yeah - I’ve let it be known a spray booth would be a nice Christmas gift. In the meantime, I’m using Vallejo Air paints as much as possible - no fumes and easy to clean up
It’s been a while! I burnt myself out and by the time I was ready to come back it was late spring and I didn’t feel like being in the basement. The weather is starting to turn and the nights are darker, so it’s time to pick up where I left off.
Went to Battleship Cove in MA in the spring and stayed overnight on the USS Massachusettes with the boy. Ended up buying a Trumpeter 1/700 version that got me going again. Not sure where to begin, I did a little work on it, my Olympia, and a 1/48 Kingfisher (for paint practice) before deciding to settle down with the Flakpanzer. So last night…
Added a few more details. Wasn’t sure what should be what color, but did a little reasearch online and decided certain things could be painted in place, and others were not the colors I thought they would be.
The little handles at the top of the gun well are fun to place given their tiny size.
Again, added a few more details to the gun after deciding I can paint them by hand as
First screw-up of the evening: Didn’t double-check the placement of the metal part before using CA to lock it in place, and then found that the tool that is supposed to go in it won’t fit because it is too far back. Oops. Now what?
Went round and round on whether to order aftermarket tracks, but finally reminded myself that this $11 Alan kit was only supposed to be a test bed for weathering, which I’ve never attempted before. So I bit the bullet and began working with the flashy, soft tracks that came with the kit. Not so bad to clean up and assemble in a line, but I’m a little apprehensive about making them look good around the wheels. It occurs to me that I’ve never built a tank model before, and so the whole track thing is new to me.
Pretty solid work so far. I’ve heard these kits can be bears.