I’m trying to paint a 1/24 gemini astronaut. So far I airbrushed the enire figure white, then I tried to paint on the black straps of the parachute harness and I ended up brush marks on the white uniform. How do I paint the straps without getting brusmarks on the uniform? Do I use a wash, drybrush, mask, a combination of all three?
Im no expert but to me the way to go would be to do the harness first and mask them and then do the white paint after.Another way would be to paint white and then use future over the top of the figure around the harnes and whipe off the black smudges before they dry on the future.
tsteenbergen,
Not to seem callous, but carefully. That is the best advice I can give you. Its like painting road wheels on armor. You can paint the straps very carefully by hand and patiently work right up to the edge. Any over brushing can be overpainted with the white and clean up the edge. Ant color variation will be attributed to shadow from the straps.
Another way would be to paint the straps and very carefully, right along the edge use a black wash. It will crisp the edge as capillary action will carry the thin paint along the edge. The upper edge of the strap can be dry brushed and will add an illustative quality to the edge of the strap and define it.
If you find you begin this and start making mistakes, because you are rushing it, or your hand or fingers are becoming fatigued because of the grip that people usually get when they try doing fine work, set it aside and come back to it. Plenty of time to do it right the first time than to have to go back and do a bunch of clean up.
When its finished I’m sure it would be a pleasure to see some pics of your endeavor.
Mike
Jim, Ren, Thanks for your help. I see that there are many ways to paint this figure. I’m a novice modeler trying to get professional results without the practice. I think I will just take the time and mask the straps with blue tac and continue that way. I do have one question about future? Can you spray future through your airbrush? Will it hurt the air brush?
Thanks again for your suggestions.