I hope I don’t bore you folks with some of my off the wall questions but transition from model railroading to model ship building isn’t as easy as I thought. I have the skills but not the expertise to find some much needed info such as where do you buy paint? There may be a lot I can bring to this forum at some time but I presently live where the best hobby shop is Walmart. I am building a Fletcher Class destroyer, Arizona, Lexington and soon the Vestal and Buchanan class Destroyer all in 1/350 so where do I get paint to match the era paint schemes and camo schemes? Website links much appreciated.
White Ensign’s Colourcoat line of paints are the most accurate naval paints made. They are enamels
Closest place to you probably is Snyder & Short in Sacremento, which does mail order… best prices in the US too.
http://www.shipcamouflage.com/
Lots of excellent camouflage information there as well.
Can anyone give me a recommended thinner to paint ratio for airbrushing this paint? 50/50, 40/60, 30/70, more, less? Is there a preferred brand of thinner or can I just use mineral spirits?
After spending the afternoon doing internet research I found an aritcle saying the author used 2 parts paint to 1 part thinner and used Model Master airbrush thinner which I have a can of.
tons of choices really, depending on whether you want to have your basecoat enamel or acrylic. Also depends how “close” you want your paint to the “real color”, a source of endless debate and threads all over.
I use the model master enamel series for ships, a/c and targets… have some white ensign models coulor coat tins.
Thinning ratios also depend on the paint and operator… I strive for that elusive “consistency of milk” ratio, somewhere between 50:50 and 75:30 (thinner:paint). Play around with what thinner to use, I use the manufacturer’s thinner (ModelMaster) when I handbrush pain details, but use generic odorless for AB. I stay away from lacquer thinner, a tad too 'hot" for me, but many in here use it without problems. I use lacquer thinner for cleaning everything (AB, brushes).
when I got my new AB I just played around with a couple hulls, just airbrushing primer at different ratios and pressures, etc, just see what works for me.
do a search in this forum, you will find a ton of threads… cheers!
I like the Polly Scale line of acrylics. They are easy to use and clean up easily with isopropyl alcohol. Their finish looks fine to me. I also like the WEM line recommended by EdGrune but I rarely use enamels in the home because of their odor. We each have our favorites. Good luck with it! And, welcome to the wonderful world of ship building!
Bill Morrison