Amen, but I’ll go out on a limb and recommend a pair of GodHand SPN-120 sprue cutters. Early in my re-birth as a model builder, I was ready to buy a $20 sprue cutter that seemed better than the first, $10 one I had bought a month earlier. The hobby store clerk suggested the GodHand cutter instead. “They are very expensive,” she said. “$99, but I think you will appreciate them.”*
In talking with her on previous visits, I’d learned that she is a modeller herself, and very knowledgeable, so I decided to take her advice, and I’m glad I did – that cutter is the finest hand tool I’ve ever owned. It removes parts from sprues so easily that the parts seem to fall off voluntarily. And the cutter leaves virtually no scars like “blunt force” cutters do; the cheap ones actually seem to tear rather than cut, and often leave hard-to-repair scars. Clint Eastwood might like to keep his gun in his cold, dead hands, but I’d prefer my GodHand sprue cutter!
I do have some cutters i have used for electrical work and other things before. I will give them a shot. Still waiting on my paint to ship from scalehobbyist, hopefully shipping out today. My model will be here tomorrow and Im going to start doing some little things. Like drilling out the windows. May also run to the the local hobby shop to look for a few small things.
I have been following one guy on youtube that has done some incredible model ships. He uses a similiar deck paint that i bought, and once it dries uses a brown wash to bring out the details. This made a huge difference in the decking and is what i want to do accomplish.
So my next question is, I have seen people make their own washes with things like alcohol and other things. Then I see that you can buy washes too. Do you guys make your own washes, or buy them?
I can’t respond to your question about washes — I’m still trying to figure those out for myself! I did think of one thing to add about the GodHand sprue cutters: They are designed to remove parts from sprues, NOT to actually cut the thicker parts of the sprue, just as a surgeon uses a scalpel to make an incision, but would choose a bone saw for an amputation. What I especially like about the GodHand sprue cutter is that it so small that it easily fits into tight spaces on the sprue.
Well, back in the Dark Ages when Tanker an I were “young,” there were no pre-packaged washes. I remember when model-specific water-base acrylics first started showing up in LHS. (And, that was largely PolyS for the railroaders, to start.)
You have to alternate paint chemistries, and/or use artis oils thinned with turps or odorless spirits.
Oils were very much like modle paint, much higher thinner to paint volumes.
We did things now considered obsqure and odd. Like use actylics to paint a model, then heavily-thinned enamels to wash details in. Or vice versa.
You did not want to use the same thinner for your wash as for the model paint, lest if lift both.
It’s now canon to used clear coats between finish paint and washes, not so much back then. Which probably reflected the quality/thin-thickness of clear coats “back then.”
So, really, there’s no “formula” per se, so much as there’s just practicing. Which is what cheap kits are for.
Yes, diffrent types of paints react diffrently to each other. Acrylics, enamels, laqures,acrylic laquers on and on each may or may not react to the other. If you paint enamel, then brush a lacqure over it, the enamel will disolve but not visa versa. I will SPRAY a laquer clear coat over a completed paint job prior to a wash. The wash won’t adhear to the surface as well thus leaving the wash in the cracks when you wipe it off. Without a clear coat (gloss) the wash will bite into the paint, especially flats, and it is almost impossable to remove, leaving you paint job smeared. On ships, I paint, clear coat, weather the hull and first application to the deck. then spray another clear coat to protect them during the rest of the build. The build is sprayed with a flat or simi gloss after.
I’ve heard India Ink works well but I have never tried it. I just oils, almost exclusivly for weathering and details, but that’s me.
Not to hi-jack your thread but just for an example. Both kits are still in progress.
I went to the link and I do believe that on that one You would need to use White till it was almost a light creme colour. Then just one drop of black in 2 ounces of paint. Mix well and lighten accordingly
When you lighten do so with The original tan, one drop in at a time
Are you insuating that we are ancient? Just because I used Diluted india ink for washes don’t mean I was raised in a cave. Oh! wait a minute! That’s right I blew a mouthful of soot and water at my hand in that cave didn’t I ? LOL.LOL.
Yes, I used diluted india ink back then. My neighbor was a high School art teacher and she showed me that this mix over testors paint ( The only choice then) wasn’t affected by the alchohol used to thin the ink. The ink was the same used by Architects back then!
Believe it or not, Hobby Lobby has a very nice pair of flush cutters in their Jewelry section. They aren’t expensive, but as long as you keep the cuts to the joins between the sprue and the part they are great. I modified the tips of mine, by grinding them quite thin from the top so that I could get in tight spaces. Now that means doing it carefully and DON’T let the Cutters get hot!
Yeah, I had Fine and Extra Fine India ink in Black, Blue-Black, and even Sepia (which Bill may remember, as sepia diazio used to be common in architecture).
Finding a clear coat that didn’t dissolve the alcohol thinning the india ink was an issue.
Back in the day, most “clear” coats were lacquer-based, so they either used alcohol as a solvent or as a carrier.
Well, back i nthe 80s building 1/700 Rodney in pre-war guise, I used Humbrol Unbleached linen as the base. Then, applied the washes to get the color where I wanted it, and the grain detail just to obvious. There was some blending of the ocher and umber–on purpose. That then sat a week to fully cure (deck was not assembled to hull).
It got a coat of clear flat lacquer to seal it all in. Which also made it easier to pick out the details on deck, as uh-ohs wiped up while still wet.
Now, it was a bit of a pain to have to use CA glue to get the superstructure to stick to the deck, but, I installed it as a whole sub-assembly, painted up during assembly.
Had photo-etch exisited back then, I probably would have used that, too.
So i have probably done around 6 hours of work to the QE over the last 3 days. She is coming along. And I find myself making small little errors, but overall pretty happy with how she is turning out thus far. Man this kit is detailed! Or maybe it’s not? I dont know… But the only comparison I have to it is the Lindberg Hood I did a couple weeks ago. This thing has been fun to build so far.
Here is a picture of the chains going to the acnhors. I have since added a black wash to these and finished painting all of the details surrounding the area. I will take more pics and upload soon.
You need to invest in some emory board/nail files to clean up your joints before gluing.
Looking at the picture of the bow. There is a big old honkin’ seam running down the bow. Use your emory boards to clean up the join pieces so that when glue is applied the seam blends and disappears. Easier to do it right the first time than to try to fix it later with some putty. Two problems with the deck seam; first the deck isn’t flush with the hull and second the big gap at the bow. Test fit the deck first. Does it stand too proud? Sand the underside of the deck to correct the height. Fill the gap with some shim plastic or stretched sprue. Sand to achieve correct fit. Test fit before gluing.
Your superstructure piece picture. Big gap again. Is there a piece of sprue injection stub in the way causing the poor fit? Clean up your joints. There are a pair of miters which when glued should make a tight 90 degree corner.
Overall the deck paint & wash looks cloudy & muddy. Flat paint is made by adding flattening agent inclusions. These work to make the surface rough, thus difracting the light. The trouble is that washes gather among the inclusions making the cloudy appearance. Before adding a wash you really need to apply a gloss coat. This fills in around the inclusions so the puddling and cloudiness is minimized. Ideally your wash should settle into the area between the deck boards to highlight their individual nature.
Thank you for the tips. This is my first actual model ship i have done. Like mentioned I noticed that I have made some mistakes along the way. i have been sanding down the left over sprue on pieces after removing them. i noticed the gap in the superstructure and I tried to correct it and the paint had dried. From the pictures, this piece will be covered by other parts on the model. Not that it makes it better, but being my first time I will learn from my mistakes.
And i dont understand the gap in the bow. When i test fit the deck to the hull, it fit flush. But when putting everything together (I put the rear deck on first) the gap appeared. What material should I use to fill that in?
As far as the painting and washing of the deck itself… Well it was my first time ever using a wash. I was going to just leave the tan alone and leave it like that. But I didnt like the look, so i decided to try a wash. I like how it looks overall, but I agree it does kind of look muddy.
This model is my first go at painting, washing, and pretty much everything. My next one (hopefully the King George V) i will strive to correct the problems I created in this one.
