Here are some pics of a 1/48 Hasegawa RF-4C Phantom II that I’m building for a customer. It is OOB, with the addition of True Details resin seats.
I painted the camo today, and it was a BLAST ! As you probably know, painting camo is one of my favorite parts of building aircraft. This one was a lot of fun, since there are three topside colors, and smooth demarcation lines.
The colors are Gunze acrylics, except the lighter green, which is Model Master enamel. I sprayed it freehand with my trusty old Badger 150 airbrush (which I love, and will never replace).
The metallic areas of the tail will be painted with Alcad once the airframe is glossed, decalled, washed, and dullcoted.
What air source did you use w/your Badger 150? And what air preasure did you have set. I have a Badger 150 and have never had as mush success as you have here…great job by the way!
Thank you Berny, Wulf, Colin, Leon, Shaun, Bwong, Brian, and mkhoot !
Leon - I always need to touchup freehand schemes. There are a couple lines I can accurize, but I’m pretty close for the most part. Here’s a pic of the aircraft I’m building:
Bwong - I have an inexpensive (under $90 ten years ago) diaphragm compressor. What works for one person may not work for another. The best advice I can give is to become familiar with the way your setup acts under different conditions. You need to be able to tell when you’re using too much or too little pressure. You need to recognize when your paint is too thick or too thin. The distance at which you spray and how fast you move the airbrush also make a difference. Load up your paint cup, and see what happens when you alter the pressure, paint/thinner ratio, distance, and angle. You need to know this so that you recognize what needs to be altered to get the results you want. I never get the results I desire when I begin to spray. I test it first on white cardboard and make alterations until I can spray the finest line I can without spattering or overspray. When I’m satisfied, I spray the model. The way to get tight demarcation lines is to angle the brush about 45 degrees, spraying into the center of that area of color. Pointing the brush at 90 degrees will always end in overspray. Here’s what works for me: I mix the paint at about 50:50, spray @ about 10 psi, between 1/4" and 1/2" from the surface. I use absolute minimum paint flow (I pull back the trigger only to the point where it just begins to spray). Experiment with your setup to find what settings & ratios give you the finest lines without overspray or spattering.
Great looking phantom!! Looks like you got the scheme that you were doing down pretty well! Can’t wait to see it finished. Camo is fun, but WWII german late war camo is the best to paint!
