painting what parts when?

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Techniques
1

How much do you guys plan out your model painting? Do you have a system or do you do whats best for each model on an individual basis?

I’m building the Tamiya F15E just now. I just painted the front part of the plane, and now I’m wondering if I should have waited and done the whole plane at one time. Should I do the intakes now? etc. But doing the whole plane at once is a masking nightmare as I painted my landing gear and electronics bay etc etc in advance. Maybe I should have left that untill later.

Maybe my post isn’t very clear. I’m new (as an adult) to modeling and I’m at times uncertain on what to paint when, and how to best have the whole thing come together. Logistics.

Any tips or suggstions on how you plan everything out?

2


It is usually best to have parts cemented together first if:



1) they are going to be painted the same color



2) if there is a seam that is going to need to be filled and sanded.



As far a when to paint what, I usually will get all parts that are the same color, and do those at the same time. (ie. props and tires).This saves on clean up time, especially if you’re airbrushing.


3

In my opinion, you can’t really escape from masking. It is better to paint subassemblies along the build such as the wheel wells, landing gears and cockpit seperately and then paint the whole plane when all the putty and sanding is done. But you’ll have to mask the previously mentioned items. It’s not that long though. I tried to paint most of the parts on the sprue once and it was a nitghtmare to glue the parts together. Paint the subassemblies together and remove the paint where it is supposed to have glue prior to install.

4

I decide what gets painted when on a individual bases for each kit. However there are usualy trends for types of subjects such as armor.

Things are much easier when using a air brush as you do not have to take into account what will get in the way of the brush.

Weather your using and AB or hand brush, if you can not properly (or it’ll be a pain) a part when it’s attached you paint it beforhand and then attach it. Applying touch ups is usually very easy. This is the biggest thing to consider when deciding on what to paint when.

It is usually best to build as much as you can (noting above comment) befor you start painting.

To save time with masking things, if a single part (or series of parts) is to be painted a different color then what it is to be attached to then I paint it beforhand and then attach it.

After you have built and painted 2 or 3 models you will get a very good sense of how you like to paint. And rember paint can be reapplied.

5

Well, I all I can tell you is what I do. I will find all the landing gear parts, or at least try to, and paint all of them. its much easier to mix up a bunch of white and paint everything that needs to be white, than to do a little at a time IMHO. I will build it up to the point that its ready for paint, then (leave the seat out if possible) mask the canopy over with tape, and on open caviteys, wheel wells, gunbays, avionics bays, I stuff them with tissues and spray a bit of water on them to make them conform to the opening. Let those dry before you paint, otherwise the water on the model will make the paint look really bad… just take my word for it [:D] Leaving off the landing gear and the seat out makes it much easier to paint, and it keeps parts from getting damaged. I try to build as much of a subassembly as I can, before I paint it so I can use a plastic welding type glue, but if I can’t do that, I use superglue after its painted. You can always attatch the front, then fill your seams and repaint. It also helps to have the plane in one piece for your camo scheme. Its hard to get the colors to line up when you are painting 5 diffrent parts that aren’t attatched to each other. Good luck, and post some pics when you get done!

6

Hey Max, welcome to the wonderful world of modeling! :slight_smile:

You have received some very good advice. I’ll add my 2 cents if you don’t mind. LOL

It has been 30+ years since I’ve seen a plane kit on my bench, but I have a lot of experience painting many, many things. So maybe you can find something that I do or have done a bit useful? I’ve painted 1:1 auto’s (even some custom finishes) and I build 1:24 & 1:25 auto kits. So with that said, I’ll try to give general painting ideas. :wink:

How much do you guys plan out your model painting?
Do you have a system or do you do whats best for each model on an individual basis?
After all the kits that I have built, I have a system worked out that I follow for all my builds.

  • I start with the body work: fill seams, sand, check parts such as hood for proper fit, etc…

  • I then either primer the body and parts or spray the initial color coat. While that’s drying…

  • I paint the chassis/undercarriage including all detailing (painting and/or drilling holes for wiring).

  • Next the interior pieces get painted the base color while they are seperate.

  • I glue certain pieces together on the engine and paint that all one color.

  • I’ll paint some parts ahead of time that will be glued later to the engine.

  • The lettering on the tires get painted if so planned and then the rims.

  • I’ll glue together and paint suspension pieces together.

  • Back to the body for any custom paint work, such as two-tone or stripes.

  • Detail the interior: such as guages, handles, seat belts, etc…

  • Glue more parts onto the engine.

  • Start glueing all the assemblies together and touch-up any paint spots.
    Some things to keep in mind
    (I was reminded of these when I recently helped my son become active in modeling) :

  • If it’s easier to paint while apart than after it is assembled - paint it.

  • If you can easily paint it after it is glued together - glue it.

  • The less you handle a freshly painted item the better.

  • Let the glue dry before you wrestle with a part to paint it.

  • Let the paint dry before you wrestle with a part to glue it.

  • Dry test fit parts together and pay attention for glue joints - try to avoid painting them.

  • Masking is one of a painters best friends.

  • And the most important of all…

  • Take your time, relax, and enjoy!

There is really no special logical way of doing it written in stone so…
Just take bits of what was offered here and find what works best for you. :wink:

Happy Modeling!

7

Jim’s post pretty well covers it. But just because I can’t keep quiet, here are two illustrations:

  1. My last model was a 1/72-ish (actually 1/74) scale, twin-engined, biplane bomber. The Glencoe Martin MB-2. I painted the interior parts first, put them in the fuselage, and then glued the fuselage together. I assembled the wings, tail, and engines, but did not join anything to the fuselge yet.

The four major sub-assemblies (2 wings, fuselage, tail, and 2 engines) got puttied and sanded, and only then did I glue the lower wing to the fuselage. I had to putty and sand that joint.

Then I primed everything with Testors light grey matte spray enamel from a spray can. I like to prime my models with enamel because it’s fairly easy to sand if I need to do further work on a seam, and it provides a great surface for the acrylics I like to airbrush. Just be sure the enamel is fully cured before spraying acrylics on top. I usually wait a day or two.

Then the same sub-assemblies got painted in the final colors I wanted, got a coat of Future floor polish, and then decaled. The last step was a slight mistake for the wings. I should have put the wing decals on after rigging because I ended up drilling through the decals on the bottom wing, and then trying to touch them up with paint when I was done.

After the sub-assemblies were painted and decalled, I glued them together. The landing gear, struts, and other fiddly bits got the same treatment of a coat of primer followed by the regular paint. They got stuck onto the model after the sub-assemblies were joined.

  1. My current model is a 1/72 scale Yak-38 (the Soviet version of the Harrier). At this point, I’ve got the interior painted and ensconced in the fuselage. The fuselage is glued together and the seams are sanded. The wings and tail pieces are on.

I need to use a wee bit of putty, and glue on the intakes, and then I’m ready to prime the plane. I will paint the inside of the intakes before gluing them on. Then I’ll seal off the intakes and cockpit, and prime the whole thing.

Then I’ll paint the landing gear wells, mask them, and put the acrylic coat on the plane. Again, the small parts that get fitted on later (weapons, landing gear, wheels, gear doors, canopy) get the same treatment before I put them on the plane.

The only problem with this approach is that the Testors liquid cement that I like to use doesn’t stick painted parts together too well.

There are a bunch of solutions:
(1) scrape the paint off of the parts where they join before gluing them.
(2) Use super glue to join the parts – this works especially well with landing gear and gear doors, although I often scrape some of the paint off of locating pins anyway.
(3) I use white glue (like Elmers School Glue) to attach canopies.

I hope that helps.

Regards,