There seems to be a fountain of wisdom at my disposal here so I’m hoping that one of you can point me in the right direction with a query which you will all probably think is a little too basic.
SO, I bought my first model a few days ago (Tamiya P-51D 1/48) and am in the process of building up an array of tools and such for a project I really want to have a good crack at. Although the instruction sheet is in 3 different languages it’s slowly becoming more clear. One major query I do have is with regards to paints. An example of the references is as follows:
AS-12 Bare Metal Silver
X-1 Black
X-2 White
Etc, etc…
Looking through the Hannants catalogue there doesn’t seem to be any similar references but there does seem to be a helluva lot of paints…enamels, acrylics, aerosols etc, etc. Somebody please point me in the right direction on my first build. Any additonal beginners pointers would be most welcome (glue, cement, decent starter airbrush etc).
Welcome to the forum Lee! You sure did come to the right place. I have one tip for you on cement. Do not get anything that comes in a tube. Get a good liquid cement. I am stuck with a tube and I’m waiting to go to my LHS and get liquid cement. One of these guys(or gals) will tell you a good liquid cement!
Yes. Those are Tamiya paint numbers. But you might want to know that AS-12 is not the normal bottled paint but one of the “TAMIYA COLOR SPRAY FOR AIRCRAFT” line:
what a sweet model to start out with friend!! do you want to stick with the tamiya brand paints? if not, alclad II metalizers are the bomb as far as natural metal finishes go. however, NMF is a very challenging task anyway you go. every little defect will scream!! flash, seams, scratches in the surface, fingerprints, and dust particles will all show up exponentially with metal finishes. good luck, and keep the model clean friend. later.
HEY,
Try the model master liquid cement. Its pretty good glue and it has a needle applicator on it so you can get nto tight places with it. Antoher thing, get a subscription to FSM or some other model mag. Lots of good tips in them. Wow there are so many things that i wish i could telly ou but alot of it is hard to explain and is better learned through experience. I suggest taing a look at some of the threads on this forum. Just go through and check out the ones on painting and wet sandingand detailing planes and such. Youll learn alot here. Welcome to the forum.
[#welcome] to the forum! You’re starting off nicely on your modelling, with a fantastic model to boot. Anytime you think you need assistance from us, just holler. Good luck!
A note on the NMF. I use cotton gloves and latex gloves when working with NMF. Even after I have Futured it, I am very careful until I have a number of coats, weathering, etc. Welcome.