I’m still fairly new to modeling, and I have a question regarding airbrushing: I’m currently building a Star Wars X-Wing fighter, and I’m airbrushing it flat white. The problem is I’m already on my third bottle of flat white, and I’m not even half way through the model!!! I’m using Model Master enamels paints.
As well, I’m airbrushing in stages, meaning I’ll airbrush the wings, then work on the parts that go on the wings, then airbrush the fuselage, etc.
Is this common??? If not, am I not thinning the paint enough??
How much paint do you commonly go through when airbrushing a model?
That seems like an awful lot of paint. I find it best to do light even coats until you get full coverage. You’ll end up with a better finish and use less paint. Of course you’ll end up using more white to get coverage than you would other, darker colors.
Prime first! Put down a good coat of enamel or acrylic flat gray as a primer then apply the white - coverage will be much better and you will use less than one bottle. Same applys for using yellow, both these colors can be a real paint in the butt with out a primer. As far as white goes, try using model railroad reffer white - it gives outstanding coverage.
I thin Model Master around 2:1 and spray at about 15-20 psi.
What pressure are you spraying at?
One bottle of Model Master flat white should cover that model easily.
That’s the first time I’ve ever heard B-17s referred to as fragile…
But that’s the subject of another topic!
Beautiful Liberator, Swanny!
Irherman, that does sound like a lot of paint. You don’t mention what kind of coverage you’re getting…do you mean you’ve blown on 3 bottles of flat white, and it’s not white yet? That X-Wing is not a large kit…you should be able to cover the whole thing with probably less than half a bottle.
Maybe you’re being a little too thorough? Can you see any detail left on the model?
Just kiddin’ ya!
Tell us a bit more about the kind of coverage you’re getting, and maybe we can offer more specific advice.
Hi, Mike!
Again, sorry to go off topic, but it is my understanding that the B-17 Flying Fortress is universally considered to be one of the toughest, most resilient aircraft ever built, while the B-24, although having greater range and load-carrying ability, had nowhere near the ability to take a punch like the B-17.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love both aircraft, and am by no means bashing the great Liberator, but to call the B-17 “fragile,” particularly in comparison with the B-24, does a disservice to that great aircraft, in my opinion.
I’m certainly no expert, so maybe we should post this as a new topic over at the AC forum and see what folks have to say?
By the way, irherman, how goes it with the X-Wing?
I am no expert on bombers but my understanding is that the B-24’s did the low altitude bombing because they could take a hit and the B-17’s did more high altitude bombing. I could be wrong though. My wife’s uncle told me that his dad was a B-24 co-pilot and he once met another guy who flew B-17’s at a gathering. When the other guy told him he flew B-17’s my wife’s uncle’s dad said, “Oh you flew those gliders.” [:D]
I don’t know if that was just a poke at the high altitude missions they flew or not, but I had assumed he said it because they were not as big and tough as the B-24’s. [?]
Ai’ll ask this in the ‘Aircraft’ forum as you said and see what we find out. [;)]
Cool, Mike!
I wasn’t contesting your statement so much as I was questioning my own understanding of the subject.
Let’s see what the experts have to say!
Thanks for all your responses. I think what my problem has been is that I’m putting too much paint on the X Wing. I worked on it for 3 hours on Saturday, and tried doing light coats, and it’s working much better.