Revell 1/48 p-39 Airacobra

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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Hi, I’m new to modeling and am working on the Airacobra as my 1st model. I am still early in the build and was planing on using brushes to paint the entire model. After doing some reading and looking through the forum I think that I want to airbrush instead. I am a total newbie! And have a lot of questions! I’ll start with a few here!

What primer should I use?

Should I use enamel or acrylic paints?

Can I hook an airbrush up to my standard shop compressor? And if so what would I need to accomplish this?

Thanks

Jeremy

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Hey Jeremy,

To be honest, I would do your first model with brushes, just so you won’t ‘get in over your head’.
You can learn a lot by just doing that, seeing what would need more attention.
If you use an airbrush you can and will see every small, stupid mistake you made.
I use my brushes and enamel paint to ‘repair’ mistakes that I’ve made or filling small gaps in my models.

As a primer, I use a spray can of white from Tamiya (you can use black too), Using enamel or Acrylic paint is up to you to decide, there is no ‘right’ or ‘better’ thing to do, It’s just your choice of whatever you like best.
I don’t know how big your standard shop compressor is, but normally this should be no problem,
Just make sure that you are able to paint at a low pressure (like 1-2 Bar) Only thing you should need to accomplish that is a tube that fits on your compressor and at the other end to your airbrush,
but if you have a tube with parts so you can switch your end this should be no problem.

So, that is my ‘humble’ advice because I’m not a pro at airbrushing myself, but if you have any simple beginner problems you can allways ask me.

But really, try brushes before moving to airbrush, it is a costly business + I still use brushes to do my entire interior and see no reason why I need to airbrush that part of the model.

With regards, Ninetalis.

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First off Jeremy, “welcome” to this fun hobby and you have a good starter kit to try out there.[snWcm]

There is no need to start with an airbrush and basic brush painting is a skil that must be mastered in this hobby. Even if you get an airbrush you will still need to hand brush small parts unless you want to spend hours of time masking off small areas. The two techniques compliment one another.

Primer is not a neccessity unless you are doing multi media kits (resin, plastic, and photo etch), or painting strictly with certain acrylics. I am of the schoolof thought that, ‘if you dont need to use an extra step, don’t’.

Enamels vs Acrylics, each have their pro’s and cons and supporters. I use both, but for ease of use in the beginning, and especially for handbrushing, I would advise to start with enamels. Again, unless you are doing a kit with resin and photo etch, enamels do not need that primer coat that many acrylics require.

I dont own a shop compressor, but I suppose you can hook up an airbrush using a fitting adapter and some sort of regulator to dial down the air pressure.

In a nutshell, start simple and have fun along the way. Dont expect to make a contest winner in the master catagory on your first builds. Experiment with techniques you hear about, stay with and develop what works for you and dont worry about discarding those you do not care for.

Like anything else you do crawl, walk, run. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience here- ask questions, have a little patience for the reply(ies), and use what you can. Post pics if you have a hard time describing problems encountered.

I look forward to seeing that Airacobra. I have built many of those in the past 40 years [;)]

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Thanks for the advice guys! I have just completed the cockpit. I will post some pictures later tonight. Please feel free to offer any advice! I need to learn a lot. Especially when it comes to paint!

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No problem, I suppose you know how to put pictures on here?
Don’t worry if you don’t, I’ll be happy to explain it to you!
Never be ashamed of what you made or screwed up, I screw up to and I’ve been building ‘for a while’ now.

Stikpusher, to be honest, I allways put down a primer,
I have discovered that the paint stays on better and smoothens out a lot better really…
If you don’t believe me, maybe you remember my wildcat I have finished some time ago.
At the same time I am building a finnish Hurricane which has a yellow nose and band around the fuse,
I had to put 3layers on it before it actually covered the thing well, and it still doesn’t look as half as good as the Wildcat, which I did with only one layer. AND I was using the same paint (I only mixed the paint once and I did all the painting with only that 1 jar)

I know that maybe you’ll disagree but I’m just sharing my experience on these things…
Darn, I wish that I’d made some pictures of them when I had just airbrushed the first layer.

With regards, Ninetalis.

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Ninetails, I do not doubt you when you mention yellow. Yellow is a beast of of a color to paint, especially with a brush. I don’t know why but every brand of yello paint I have ever used, enamel or acrylic, needed multiple coats, hand brushed and lots of passes air brushed. Now I don’t call it priming, but for yellow I often put down a basecoat that helps out immensely. As I tend to do most of my builds as operational combat type equipment I am not usually overly concerned about the smoothness of the paint that I normally get. And that varies by the paint type I use.

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Here are some photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87570382@N03/8017787214/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87570382@N03/8017787214/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87570382@N03/8017787214/in/photostream

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Looking good. You’re off to a good start. I built one of these with my father’s help when I was a young kid about 38 years ago.

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Looking good, Jeremy. Welcome aboard. I would agree with Stick about primer. You don’t have to prime generally, especially if you’re ain’t ing with enamels since they like to bite. However, as you advance and begin airbrushing more and doing a lot of masking I think it’s better safe than sorry since I’ve had some headaches with paint lifting, but surface prep is important too.

DISCLAIMER: if you find yourself using Model Master Acryl for painting large surfaces (not detail painting) PRIME PRIME…and PRIME. That stuff is finicky.

10

I got the fuselage together tonight and it seems to be a pretty good fit. I have one small gap on the bottom forward of the landing gear. What is the best way to go about filling this gap? I was also wondering what is the best method for getting excess glue off of the model? Would Goo Gone be fine?

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I like to use gel superglue to fill gaps. Once it dries it sands to shape and will not flake or chip like putty does.

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Excess model glue? Unfortunately that doesn’t come off. It will just melt the plastic. Let it dry and you can sand and repair the area.

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I’m late to the party, so my post consists of catching up:

Re airbrushing or hand-painting. I agree that you needn’t start off airbrushing on your first build, though sometime, you’ll want to take the plunge. I would, however, use rattlecans over hand-painting large areas, because it can be tough to get a finish free of brush strokes, depending on the paint that you use and how thick or thin you get it. Using spray cans will get you used to spraying and learning to build up thin layers of color, and you’ll get practice masking.

Re filling gaps, depending on the size of the gap, you could:

–use a piece of stretched sprue to fill the gap, and melt it in with liquid cement

–use a piece of styrene strip or sheet, also melted in, welded in, actually, with liquid cement

–use putty, to fill the seam and then sand it down

Also, you can help reduce seamage in the planning/dry-fitting stages, and if you use liquid cement, you can use the squeeze-and-bead technique to help eliminate seams along fuselage seams, etc. Hold the parts together, run the glue into the join and squeeze gently till a bead of melted styrene is raised. Let the join cure, and then you can remove the bead with a knife, sandpaper or file.

Hope that helps!

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Jeremy7768,

Hey there and welcome to the wild world of modeling.

First off and it’s important one: HAVE FUN AND ENJOY YOUSELF, then work at your own pace there are really no rules except for the first one. Also remember your going to be your own worst critic because you know where all your flaws are (don’t worry the more you do the better you’ll get) but almost everybody wont so dont worry and remember the first rule!

Second off: try to experiment with your skills build a model one way and the next with another technic, like I said before the only rule here is to HAVE FUN and also ask all the questions you can and there is a vast wealth of information on the forum so don’t be afraid to ask about anything.

Again welcome and ENJOY YOURSELF

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Here are a few more pictures of my progress.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87570382@N03/8023910074/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87570382@N03/8023911390/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87570382@N03/8023917085/in/photostream/

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Thanks Cuda! I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s a plus that there seem to be a bunch of good guys on this forum who are willing to help!

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Thanks for the info. I’m going to start painting soon. I have seen a lot about pre shading when guys are using airbrushes. Is this something I can do with a brush as well?

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Preshading with a brush is likely to leave you disappointed. If you were to spray the topcoat you would find that the lines you brush painted stand up on the plastic, so you’ll have uneven surfaces…raised where you painted. If your brushing the topcoat you will just cover up the shading in an attempt to get an even finish. I agree that you are better off starting with brushes and rattle cans. I would recommend focusing on the fundamentals of building, seam elimination, filling, etc before worrying about advanced painting techniques like shading, fading, streaking, etc. You really need an airbrush for these things.

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Thanks, ill stick to a basic brush paint job on this one. I dont want to get ahead of myself.

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Agreed as far as preshading. But very similar effects can be achieved, with a brush, after painting, either by regular drybrushing (which, admittedly, is most difficult for a beginner), or by brushing on finely-ground pastels or charcoal.

Both of the latter are easy to try and can be built up gradually, and are most likely to give satisfactory results for the beginner. They’re also fairly subtle, so you can start light and build up if you want something more dramatic. Best of all they’re pretty easy to remove with a damp cloth or cotton swab if you don’t like the effect, or find you’ve overdone it.

Charcoal is particularly good to accent panel lines on most camouflage schemes, and works great with schemes like WW2 USAAF olive drab/neutral gray, and Luftwaffe multi-grays patterns. It doesn’t color as quickly or intently as, say, black pastel would. You can brush it over a line, blow off the excess, and add more if you like. (An additional tip–charcoal also makes very authentic-looking exhaust and gun blast streaks.)