Decoman

Q1: Are compressors with oil lubrication generally considered suitable for airbrushing plastic kits with high demand for a perfect finish? Q2: Will there ever be problems with oil getting into the airflow and would this perchance ruin the paintjob with those smaller plastic kits (generally)? Q3: Assuming one is working with airbrushing smaller plastic kits, is advanced ventilation really necessary or will a simple breathing mask do? I imagine one could open the windows to vent out the air from time to time if no dedicated ventilation exist. Q4: If using a mask and some kind of box to shield the environment from the direct spray from the airbrush, will an apartment room likely look ok after a while if I start using an airbrush for small kits? (not sure what to expect) From what I have learned, such "oil" compressors are the quiet ones, as opposed to "oil free" compressors. I also learned that having a tank is preferred.

Thanks! A sponge sander seem like a great idea. Will certainly try that. From what I remember after trying out some sanding, I found it difficult to see how well the surface ended up after sanding. *I don't use an airbrush currently btw* Is there any trick to better see how well sanded a surface is before starting painting? The only clue I know is that, if it looks bad, it probably really is bad, but with the oddly colored putty I find it difficult to evaluate the end result.

One of the aspects about modeling a plastic kit that seem difficult to me is about the perfect sanding of two halves of an airplane fuselage. I am wondering what kind of approach would be sensible for making a smooth seam that is not visible to any degree. Today I noticed a tip on a website where masking tape had been used to crate a nice strip of putty along the seam of an aircraft model and this seem like a good idea, but how can one make sure the putty is sanded down so smooth there is no seam or putty (unevenness) to be seen in the end? There are two things that I can think of as being a good idea: to use some kind of curved sanding equipment (sanding paper) and using various degrees of roughness with the sanding paper. How simple or difficult is this really, to get this perfect sanding where no unevenness is seen? Btw, I guess that by airbrushing a layer of primer one can best evaluate if the result is acceptable or not before putting on paint.

Piece of string A piece of string can be helpful in keeping two glued aircraft fuselages together, instead of clamps. Just make the string overlap itself at the start (to keep it from loosening) and then bind the string around and along the model, making some kind of simple knot at the end. Microfiber dust cloth (for dust) Instead of blowing the stuff around after sanding a model (like a ship's hull), just make a few swipes on the model and the table with a moist microfiber cloth to clean things up nicely. Numerous strips of masking tape across the model would work well if not better than the string I mentioned. Masking tape is also useful for placing putty more accurately without making a mess. A sense of humor, for when that little piece of plastic falls down onto the carpet beneath your chair. Used cup of pizza sauce with a plastic lid, for keeping all the smaller pieces fairly safe and dust free when building a model. Tooth picks, or the equivalent, for carefully scratching the paint off your painted canopy, to straigthen painted edges or clean up paint.

During the last year I realized that the boring looking hobby-train-shop nearby is also selling ALOT of plastic kits, and so, I once again started fiddling around with plastic kits once more after years of not caring. I was abit surprised to see that there are apparantly re-releases of old kits. The obvious one was a large Hasegawa kit of a WW2 ship and the declaration on the side of the box actually stated that one should be aware that some inaccuracies might be present in the modeling process due to the use of molds from early ninety sixties (iirc). So the cover art looked really nice and flashy, but the kit was an older one. I had not imagined this unless I read it on the side OR made sure to inspect a photo of a finished model on the side of the box, which looked abit so so. There was also this Airfix Vosper torpedo boat kit (1:72) that I dare say I can remember seeing 25 years ago. I can't be sure but I would not be surprised if the cover art on that one has stayed the same through the years. A big disappointment was some of the cheaper kits I found from Airfix. A couple of kits showing WW1 airplanes looked not so good when I opened the two boxes at home. I guess the quality of a kit can differ wildly because I did buy an Airfix Grumman Duck (1:72) and that kit looked much better. Btw don't glue the figures on regarding that Grumman Duck, one of the pilot figures is too tall for the canopy glass. By the looks of the sprues, it seem to me that these Airfix kits where designed along time ago, or so was my impression of them anyway. I have been used to buying Hasegawa kits, but I am happy to see other brands appear with cheaper pricing. I recently bought the DETOLF glass cabinet from IKEA and hope to build some ships in the future. If I place them diagonally inside the case, there is room for 45cm long models, otherwise the width is limited to about 38cm long models. My favourite kits recently has been 1:72 tanks from Trumpeter which have been fun to build. There is a 5mm opening around the glass door where the dust can come it, so I might have to apply some kind of thingy to cover the gaps around the door.

I guess with a larger roll of mask tape, one can try cutting out a multi angled shape and thus avoid having multiple strips of mask tape overlap themselves.

That Olfa cutter looks practical. I was worried that some varianto of a school compass would be the only option. Stamping out holes seem like a good idea too.

I am wondering how one might create perfectly round (circular) masks, for when painting wheels on a tank or an airplane. In a video, I saw some guy that used some kind of tool with a blade to create such rounded masks, but I suspect this kind of tool is not common and I wonder if anyone can tell me their tools used in such manner, or tell about some other way to crate those type of masks.