With any luck my long awaited airbrush will arrive next week, I would appreciate some advice form some of you more experienced painters;
I have decided to go with Acrylic paint, I seem to have three brands easily available, Tamiya, Humbrol & Revell. The Revell range seems non-existent, Humbrol seem to have the largest range available, although Tamiya seem to get the best reports from users. I am thinking of going Tamiya, but any comments would be welcome?
I notice that most of you seem to paint flat colours & then coat with whatever (Dull, Matt, Gloss…) to get the desired finish - is this the norm (back when I used brush, matt was matt & gloss was gloss)?
I also notice that Tamiya do “Colour for aircraft” - does anyone kmow if this is Acrylic or enamel?
Well, you didn’t mention them but I love Model Master Acryl. Easy to find, and I like how they airbrush. Don’t like Tamya 'cause they have a wierd oder. [yuck]. Just my [2c]. Hope it helped!
I use the Tamiya acrylics almost exclusively, since Gunze colors are next to impossible to get anymore. I usually thin them with Tamiya thinner, which contains a retarder to help the colors smooth out to a more glossy sheen. They are still pretty flat though, so I usually use Future before decals. Just my [2c]…
I use both enamels and acrylics, I don’t limit myself to one type or one brand of paint. I use Tamiya, Humbrol, Testors, Model Masters and Floquil paints. One brand may have a better color for the subject that I’m painting at the time. When you are just starting out buy just a couple of bottles of paint of each brand to find which one works best for you. Buy some black and white and practice painting on soda pop bottles, milk cartons and cans. Mix the black and white to make different shades of gray, the gray scale is very important in modelling. I’ve been airbrushing for 13 years and I still practice all the time. The airbrush is easy to learn, but takes a lifetime to master.
First paint your model with a flat basecoat. Then when dry lay on a gloss coat and apply your decals. If you apply the decals on a flat finish they will silver. After the decals dry lay on another gloss coat to seal them. Weather your model and seal it with dullcote.
I have never used Revell or Colour for aircraft, so I can’t help you with that.
Future will leave a glossy finish. When you do your final topcoat, you can use a flat or semigloss topcoat. Testors makes a flat and a semigloss topcoat. I use Krylon matt and satin sprays, I don’t know if you can get these brands in the U.K. You may have to find an acrylic topcoat.
I have decided to go with Tamiya acrylic, as it seems to be the easiest to get hold of. I have noticed more than a few of you complain regards the price of the X20-A thinner. Are larger than 46ml bottles available from Tamiya, or can I go with something else (I think the X20-A has a retarder as well?)?
Can water be used for wash down with Tamiya acrylics?
My first A/C to paint will be a 1/72 XB-70, which is quite a large model - I have no conception of how much paint I will need to finish this?
Re. painting the XB-70, I am figuring the best course would be grey primer, silver undercoat, white matt colour coat, future, decals & possibly a gloss or mid gloss coat - does this sound about correct?
I thin my Tamiya paint with 90% Isopropyl Alcohol, you can find it at a chemist or drug store. You also need some acrylic retarder, you can find it at a craft store or artist shop. I use Golden Acrylic Retarder. Put paint into your brush, put in 1 or 2 drops of retarder in and stir it up. This slows down the drying time and allows the paint to flow. You can use Tamiya thinner if you want to, but this way is cheaper.
Yes you can clean up with warm water, but I have found that Windex Glass Cleaner works alot better.
I would get 2 bottles of white and 2 bottles of flat black to start with. These are two of the most used colors, so you will use them at a later date. You will be using them to mix shades of gray also.
I see no reason to do a silver undercoat, just primer, basecoat, future till smooth, decals, future to seal, weather, then topcoat.
Its the H&S Infinity 2in1 kit, along with a Revell master class compressor;
I have been after an Infinity for about a year now (trying to justify the price to myself) after reading nothing but good reviews on it, & opted for a Revell (re-branded Sparmax?) compressor as it was on a 20% off deal.
I have never airbrushed before, but I am back into the hobby for the long haul, so I didn’t see the point in going for cheap stuff as I would imagine that its a surefire way of getting frustrated & would eventually be replaced with decent stuff anyway.
Im quite excited about all this, although I dont have a clue what I am doing (like you couldn’t tell from my questions).
Congratulations! You are going to have a first class airbrush system. That Infinity airbrush is beautiful. It should last you a lifetime. I have heard that they are great airbrushes. You made a good choice.
I have a Badger 100LG for fine detail and a Iwata Revolution CR for everything else. Back in 1995 when I got back into the hobby, I bought a Badger 175. I thought that airbrushes where like spray cans, just pull back on the trigger and blast that paint on. The first model I painted was a 1/32th Fokker Dr1. I must have sprayed two ounces of paint on that thing.[:D] As my skill improved so did my control. Yesterday I preshaded the panel lines of a 1/48th ME-109 with 3 drops of paint and 3 drops of thinner with my Badger 100LG. The best part of owning a airbrush is that you never stop learning, there is always something new to try.
Tamiya X-20A acrylic thinner can be had in 250ml jugs. Here in Australia, they run to about $9.00-$10.00, compared with 25x 10ml jars @ $3.00 = $75.00.
As an alternative to Tamiya’s thinner, I usually use methylated spirits, which, here in Australia is about 90%-95% ethyl alcohol. This works with flat colours, but less so with the gloss colours as it seems to knock the sheen off, sometimes giving a semi-gloss finish. For gloss colours I use Tamiya thinners.
I also use metho for cleaning, saving the Tamiya thinner for painiting only.
You have chosen perhaps one of the most difficult colours to airbrush (from any manufacturer) for your first project. As already suggested, practice on an old kit or something unimportant before tackling your main project. Get a feel for how your airbrush lays down the paint.
When airbrushig white especially, watch out for “hard” edges moulded on your model. White paint often has a tendency to “pull” back from edges and into ridges and recesses. Apply in multiple thin coats, allowing to dry in between. Applying heavy coats only seems to accentuate the “pulling” problem.
Phil-H - I appreciate the comment regarding the difficulty of using white paint, but the only other model I have at a ready to paint stage is a 1/72 B-58. Something tells me that the white, while being difficult will be easier than the multishaded NMF finish of the B-58?
Of the two, the white would certainly be the easier to start with.
I do urge you to get a feel for it “off model” before you tackle the real deal. You do need to get a sense of how the paint behaves when it hits the surface, and as I mentioned previously, how it behaves around moulded details.
Good Luck, and may your first airbrushing project be a success. [:)]
I do plan to do a fair bit (lots) of scrap testing before I start using the airbrush for real. While the XB-70 may not be an ideal start due to its colour, it is reasonably flat surfaced & bare of detail, so if needs be, it will be pretty easy to strip.
I haven’t found a suitable substitute for Future either. I did post up a reply in your thread asking about it here: /forums/1020929/ShowPost.aspx I’ve only had marginal results with the supermarket alternatives.
Keep in mind that although a lot of people swear by it, Future is merely an inexpensive alternative to “hobby” branded clear coats. In the absence of a cheap alternative, when I need to use a gloss coat, I just use Tamiya clear acrylic (X-22).
I personally use Future (mainly) for clear parts…dipping them in Future then wicking off the excess and allowing to air dry overnight produces a seemingly crystal clear part that looks MUCH thinner than it really is. AWESOME for cockpits, making lenses etc for instrument panels, car windshields, and stuff like that. I sometimes apply it in isolated areas for decals, but that depends.
Of course, you have to decide for yourself if it’s worth it. I would suggest getting some to experiment with the clear parts, as the price isn’t very high, and will last for quite some time.
Sorry to beat on about paint brands again, I thought that I was 100% decided on Tamiya acrylic, but have noticed several not-so-clever comments on the range of colours available?
I will be making post war military aircraft, mostly western & imagine most will be 60s>80s US & UK subjects. I will not be seeking colour mach perfection & dont really want to get involved mixing to match - will the Tamiya acrylic range give me something that will do the job reasonably without having to start mixing?
I have re-posted this in the hope someone can advise (please).
