Hello everyone! This is a new venture for me. I’m 60 years old and my last model was built when I was 12. Now that all the kids are grown and gone and I’m around home a lot more, I thought I would get back into a hobby I didn’t think I’d ever touch again.
When I was a kid I never did any detailing or cared much for that matter what the paint looked like. I was just having fun building. Now however, I see all the work being done by others and I want to be able to reach that level as well so I have started my first model in 48 years. A Revell 1965 stepside Chevy truck. I’ve never painted with anything but brushes and testers enamel paint so I decided I’m going to switch to acrylics and airbrushing. Both new to me so I’m hoping I can get a lot of good advice from people on this forum to help me develop. I’ll include pictures in future posts of the progress and I’m just hoping to live up to what I’ve seen so far from this absolutely great community.
From advice I primered everything ahead of time and I’ll be starting with the body color and chassis this weekend after the primer is cured enough to take masking.
Welcome to the FSM Forums and the restarting your model buiding. Having all the new equiptment, brands of -everything, and “styles of modeling”, etc. now available can be a bit overwhelming at first. Just go at your own pace and build each new model to your satifaction, while trying new stuff as you feel like it.
Welcome back to the hobby. Good choice on the first kit back. I’ve always liked the step side look no matter the brand or vintage. Looking forward to your progress.
Welcome to the forums Michael_Jenson! You will find this community very knowledgeable and very willing to provide assistance. Great choice for your first build back in the hobby. Can’t wit to see your progress!
Welcome!
Many of us are returning hobbyists after a long hiatus. Myself included.
Lots of friendly people here willing to lend a hand with any questions.
Have fun exploring the ever expanding world of model making!
Welcome back to the hobby and to the FSM forum Michael! Like you and so many others on this forum, we’re reliving a hobby from our childhood. There are some excellent modelers here to offer tips & advice so don’t be afraid to reach out for assistance when you need it. Good luck with your Chevy step-side.
Motor basics assembled - now need to wire distributer and coil and find a fuel pump somewhere for plumbing because engine mold doesn’t include it and its not on the parts trees either.
Didn’t like the kit fan blade so made my own 13" flex fan with PE
I’ve learned a few lessons about airbrushing light colors like yellow on colored primer. Even on light ghost grey it still affected the overall brightness of the color but then again that may be my inexperience at airbrushing in general. I basically watched a bunch of YouTube videos, bought an Iwata Eclipse HPC, and hit the ground running with no practical experience but a desire to learn on-the-fly.
This brings me to the pickup box. I want to get the wood grain that’s molded in the floor slats of the box to stand out and don’t really know how to do that. The box bed (and the entire model for that point is in acrylic and no varnish yet. The bed color is going to be brown ochre to represent a similarity to honey oak. Any advice on this would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Welcome to the forum, Mike! Nice progress on your pickup!
For the wooden bed slats, a technique to replicate grain is to apply the main color of the wood, then to use a slightly darker color for the grain. Some use an oil paint for the grain, but if you use acrylics, you can use a little bit of unthinned paint. I use craft store acrylics for this kind of work, and raw or burnt umber work well for graining.
Lay down the base color and let it dry. Then take a stiff brush-a brush you’d use for dry-brushing is good for this-pick up a little of the grain color, and drag it over the base color. This will leave streaks of the grain color. You can move the brush edge as necessary to vary the grain pattern. Practice on a piece of scrap before painting the actual piece.
Hope that helps, and I look forward to seeing your progress on this one!
I’m not sure that is what I’m looking to do. The grain pattern is already molded into the plastic pick-up bed. I just need to make it stand out. I’ve read that this might be a “wash” method but I’m not really sure and wouldn’t know how to do it regardless
