building WWI aircraft

hello, I like to build 1/72 scale WWI planes and they turn out mediocre. (nowhere near the quality like the models in the picture gallery) Are there any good guides/hints to help the planes look better?
thanks
Derek

Derek,

That’s a pretty broad question, but I’ll offer a few suggestions (note that I do not produce 1/72 aircraft (or any model) as well as I’d like, so the following advice might not be coming from the calibre of source that you’re hoping for):

  • keep your painted surface as clean and smooth as possible. Wash it with soap and water before applying any paint and keep dust/particles out of the paint if you can. Little irregularities show up more on smaller scale items.
  • keep your canopy and ‘glass’ clean. Dip it in future to give it a nice crystal clear appearance.
  • mask as much of the straight-edge paint as you can (ie. canapy frames) A little paint outside the lines in that scale will really show up.
  • learn how to do washes and drybrushing. They can really bring ‘life’ to something in that scale.
  • an airbrush can help get a nice ‘thin’ coat of paint on the subject. Sometimes brush paint or spray paint will go on a little too thick for this scale and hide some of the surface detail.
  • put a gloss coat on the model before you apply the decals (decals go on gloss surface MUCH better than on a matt/flat paint surface), then overcoat the applied decals with another gloss or matt coat before you do any weathering. This will seal the decals in and then you can weather/wash/drybrush overtop of them.

That’s a few to start off with. If you want more specifics on anything, post another question and I’m sure that everyone here will give you more answers and suggestions than you could possibly hope for.

M.

I dont have an airbrush, so i do all my paints by brush, so how would i go about putting a gloss coat on the plane in order for the decals to place better. Then how would i flat it? I suppose getting an airbrush would be the easy way to accomplish this, but since i’m leaving for college in june (West Point), i’m not sure i would be able to use it all that much. But if i do get one, what sort would be best, a single action? and what brand. Also i know that airbrushes need propellant, but what do you use for that? Do you buy cans of the stuff, or hook it up to a small air compressors. I guess ive just asked alot of questions lol.
Thanks for all the help
Derek

You are on fire my man!!

Somebody else help!! This guy is overloading me!!

(Just kidding…)

I’ll do my best:

I dont have an airbrush, so i do all my paints by brush, so how would i go about putting a gloss coat on the plane in order for the decals to place better.

  • use Future floor polish for a gloss coat. You can brush it on a 1/72 scale model and it will level out really well. There are also gloss clear coats available in spray cans, but you have to watch out that they don’t react with the underlying paint and/or decals.

Then how would i flat it?

  • Get some Gunze ‘flat base’ and mix it about 30/70 with Future. This will dull down the gloss of the future and make a ‘flat’ coat. This can then also be brushed on the model. Don’t put too much ‘flat base’ in the future or your model will go all ‘white’ and cloudy… (experience talking…). You can also buy flat clear coat in spray cans, but the same precaution also goes with these.

I suppose getting an airbrush would be the easy way to accomplish this, but since i’m leaving for college in june (West Point), i’m not sure i would be able to use it all that much.

  • airbrushes can be a godsend and a PITA. They have their own little nuances that people can either find simple or impossible. See some other posts in the forum re: airbrush use if you’re interested.

But if i do get one, what sort would be best, a single action?

  • the ‘best’ is a matter of preference. Technically a double action internal mix is more ‘professional’ and advanced, but it doesn’t always result in a better paint job. It also depends on the type of painting you will be doing. It’s hard to sum up the strengths/weaknesses of the different types, but there are some really good recent articles in FSM that cover this topic very well. Check the rest of this website to see if some of those articles are on-line…

and what brand.

  • generally, Paasche, Badger and Aztek are all fairly good quality airbrushes. There are others out there, but these are the main flavours.

Also i know that airbrushes need propellant, but what do you use for that? Do you buy cans of the stuff, or hook it up to a small air compressors.

  • this is a very important questions, because IMO it is the ultimate determining factor about how your airbrush will work. You can have the best airbrush in the world, but if you haven’t got a proper air source you’ll be hooped. I recommend staying away from cans if you can. They are very difficult to control the pressure and you’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll go through them. Invest in a good quality compressor that is capable of delivering at least 25 PSI. You may not always spray at that pressure, but thicker mediums usually need higher pressure. Make sure you have a regulator (with gauge) and a water trap. These basic items will open the doors to the advantages of using an airbrush.

I guess ive just asked alot of questions lol.

  • I think that’s the first sentence that wasn’t a question!!

Derek, keep asking questions because there’s likely a dozen other people out there who are curious about the same thing. I’m certainly not an expert, but I can pass on some things from my own personal experience and perspective.

Opinions/Answers to your questions will vary, but that’s what makes this whole hobby so interesting… The more you get into it, the more you develop your own rules and style of finishing a kit.

M.

For me the trickiest part of building 1/72 WWI planes is the rigging–attaching it to the model, getting it taut, not slopping superglue everywhere. I just don’t have the patience unless I really get inspired, but I see several methods in FSM and elsewhere which work if you can just bear to use them–from predrilling holes and using steel wire, to stretching sprue or using nylon thread, or using what the guys in the UK call “knitting-in elastic”, which seems to be a stretchy thread. I keep expecting to see the work of somebody with microscopic vision, where they’ve added the turnbuckles and everything.

As you know, Dark Prince, WWI aircraft were mostly wood and fabric. In order to keep the fabric from getting wet and therefore weighting the plane, the fabric was doped. This gave the plane a slightly satiny finish. This is best replicated with a single, or two at most, coats of Future. As mentionned earlier, Future can be applied with a brush and will not leave any brush marks. So unless there is metal, do not cover the whole plane in matt varnish at all. For instance, on the Fokker DVII, the fromt of the fuselage id metal and the paint finish there will look flater than the back 2/3 of the fuselage where is is fabric covered.

Unless you are building stuff like the Ilya Murometz, your models will be smallish ones and brush painting will still be OK for most paint jobs.

In terms of weathering, again, there will be a difference in the way the elements and time play havoc with the finish on fabric and metal…

Another tip for building better biplanes, is to paint, decal, varnish the top wing as a separate unit, then attach it to the bottom wing and struts, right before you do the rigging. If you do lozenge cammouflages, this will save you lots of time and years of life…!

the Ilya is a nightmare of work