dromia

Does the plastic model industry not have a professional body for representation and help with clarity on this?

Aye stainless airgun BB's from a gun shop are the best around £5 for 500, far cheaper than the specifically packaged stuff.

Apologies if I am stating the obvious but I am going to share this regardless. I am a devoted enamel user due to their high quality all round performance, durability, ease of use and with the use of odourless thinners like naphtha or branded thinners like Colourcoats then the are pretty domestic friendly on the perfume front too. Their versatility means that you can almost thin them with nails so the day I tried something I have been meaning to do for a while, thin them with lacquer thinners. In this case I used Mr Levelling Thinner with Colourcoats Sky on my latest project a Falcon 1/48 Beaufighter Mk1f, I undercoated with Stynylrez black then mottled patterned with the Sky on the underside, the paint went on as beautifully as ever and by the time I'd finished the mottling the paint was dry for me to start building up the thin cover coats and bingo when finished 'twas ready to go. The Lacquer thinner speeds up the drying time to lacquer paint times, told you about stating the obvious, and the paint drys slightly more matt than with the naphtha thinner. Clean up with Xyzlene was the usual doddle So if you are a lacquer user and can live with the smell and want the colour veracity of the Colourcoats range then thin with cellulose thinner and away you go. So if I continue to use my Colourcoats paint with lacquer thinner does that mean I am no longer an enamel user but a lacquer afficianado and that Colourcoats are no longer enamel paints. No doubt some of our paint experts will enlighten us with chapter and verse on this and I for one am looking forward to it as I find the sloppy inexactitude of paint nomenclature is this hobby quiet frustrating.

Gosh! I thought interchangeability and standardisation was a feature of the H&S line. Good luck with the work arounds. I don't use such a preset feature on my Iwata's a lot be when it needed its good to have

Your compressor gives pressure the "MAC" valve adjust the volume of air going through the brush at whatever pressure the compressor is delivering. I like to spray small and close up, I can drop the pressure to around 8 psi as indicated on my compressor, real value unknown, and still get decent paint atomisation. With the "MAC" valve, I have mine mounted on the quick release end of my air hose so I can use it with all my airbrushes, I can reduce the volume and this will give me an even finer spray than the lowest working pressure can. When you get to the edge of the working volume for your airbrush you will then get the "splatter" effect which can have its uses. So the two can seem to be doing the same thing but they are different, as to whether that is of any help to your style of airbrushing then only you can answer that.

I'm a Brora man born and bred with my family having lived on our "croft" since the 1600s and when I walk through the village nowadays I am a stranger in my own home. Lossiemouth was great source of entertainment of me as a bairn in the 60s watching all the daily "airshows" and the spectacular night time NATO exercises, when working out the hill you would be looking down into the Buccaneers cockpits as well as the odd Shackleton. The of course there were the happy weekends there with the ATC. Nowadays you can still hear the current crop of RAF aircraft thundering up and down presumably still the Tain ranges but 'tis now damn hard to spot them which I presume is due to the efficacy of the paint schemes.

Paint fragility and lift is one of the many reasons why I regard these "acrylics" as a failed paint and will not use them. However just a thought as to the surface finish perhaps it has been made just too smooth, as these "acrylics" just seem to form a sheath over the surface rather than biting into or adhering too like proper paint does then perhaps it needs something to key into and hold onto. Maybe an experiment with a slightly rougher surface may be in order, personally I rarely go beyond 800 grit in my surface preparation. Not the micro mesh grit numbering as it is meaningless as a comparator being just a marketing con they just made up their grit numbers to make their stuff seem finer than it actually is,

Just an update after using a few of this companies insignia and camouflage masks. I find the masks themselves to be excellent, the Oramask film is good with the right tackiness for me, the register seems to be good to the eye although I have not measured any to certify that. They stick well with no bleed on a flat surface and come off easily enough. What I would say if you are going to order some is get it from Hannants or some other stockists as Top Notch them selves seem to have some serious posting issues, the dispatch is slow but considering the covid situation and a small business I have sympathy with that however with my last order they sent a wrong mask set, it took me a while to get a response but when they did they were most apologetic and said that the correct mask would be sent out. After a few weeks there was no sign of the replacement mask so again I contacted them and again they were very apologetic and offered me the choice of an extra mask set as way of compensation along with the replacement for the original mis-order. All good I thought and sat down to wait, after a few weeks one of the two single replacement masks arrived but there has been no sign of the other replacement mask and the replacement mask and the compensation mask. As my order had eventually been fulfilled I only emailed them to say that they were obviously having postal problems most likely at their end as I was geting all my other stuff delivered fine to which there was no reply. So I can heartily recommend the mask but be wary from whence you order, if you want bespoke masks then you would need to go direct so in that case I would recommend looking for alternatives first.

If you are happy with the noise of your compressor then just add a moisture trap regulator and away you go, no need for another one. Regarding airbrushes you really need to handle a few as the choice is completely personal, I have had H&S airbrushes in my stable and they went the journey in fact they are the only airbrushes I got rid off and I m currently running Efbe, Iwata Aztek Badger and My hobby airbrushes all with complete satisfaction for their chosen jobs and I thoroughly enjoy using each and every one. Not so with H&S brushes however just didn't cut it, the feel, look and use was all wanting, they sprayed paint as it said on the can but they held no relish for me. Nothing wrong with them per se they just didn't suit me. I'm not saying don't get H&S just try some out afore you spend just in case what you get doesn't suit you, if your tools make the job a chore then it has no place in what is supposed to be a relaxed and fun dalliance

In my experience there is no difference 'tween transfers on a matt surface and a transfer on a gloss surface. I have often seen people misunderstanding the shine of the transfer against the matt of the paint as silvering which it is not and goes away with whatever you final clearcoat is. My experience says that a smooth surface is not necessary but a consistent surface is be it rough or smooth. People should do whatever makes them feel good, I just can't be bothered with the gratuitous "gloss for transfers" step especially when it gives no material benefit but if it helps you then go for it.

There is no need to gloss or satin or anything for transfers, what you do need is a consistent surface finish be it matt, satin, gloss or whatever. I use matt and semi matt paints in the main and the transfers have just gone down fine on the bare paints for the past four decades or so I've been at it on and off. No need for that extra clear coat in my experience.

Glad that the flurry has passed, just hope that the remains melt away soon as well.

Definitely no to anything santa time, especially anything distractingly moving. My whole dislike of santa time decorations is that they are universally tacky and tasteless. See current header example. Off/on option would be fine for those that think such things are what is needed.

Enamels all the way for me, the easiest to use, most consistent, reliable, flexible and with odourless thinners such as Sovereign's user friendly paint around. Drying times with this thinner is hours not weeks. I am no fan of "acrylics", whatever that means, but the water based versions I have found to be a fiddle too far and fragile beyond belief. I do use the occasional lacquer MRP is good and ready to go but that is its down side as it is thinned already it looses flexibility as to getting the consistency you want, Gunze is far better in that respect coming in a decent thickness so that getting the right consistency is easy. Then of course there is the smell to contend with if that is an issue. My go to enamels are Sovereign, Precision, Xtracolour and Humbrol. I haven't bought any Humbrol in a long time as I still have good stocks of Authentic Colour from back in the day, a paint that has never been matched in my book. I have read that Humbrol may have had some quality issues a few years ago but from the lack of comment that may have been resolved. I use a fine 0.18mm needle airbrush and enamels go through it with aplomb

I am a dedicated Custom Micron CM-B (v2) user and it was a step change in my airbrushing, my style being to work close up, small and at low pressure. It handles my preferred enamel paints with aplomb as well as the odd lacquer such as Gunze Sanyo and Mr Paint although I find Mr Paint to be a bit too thin for unversal use. When looking for a fine spraying airbrush (See my thread here: Iwata Custom Micron CM-B (V2)) I considered the PS-771 and the only reason I didn't get it was its size and the MAC valve on the front of the brush. I was looking for a small and handy brush, I have a MAC valve on my Iwata Hi-Line HP-CH and find it clumsy, I have a MAC valve on my airline so can have that benefit with all my airbrushes. The Custom micron will not dissapoint works extremely well, easy to use and clean, oozes quality and is a pleasure to own and use and is my go to airbrush rarely using my others especially since buying a PS 290 for hosing on paint. I have no direct experience with the PS 771 but from my research it is supposed to be as good a performer as the Custom Microns, I have used a 270 and found it to be a fine brush and I am a very happy PS 290 owner. Personally I would say feel flush and go for PS-771 as the small spray airbrush really opens up the capabilities of airbrushing.

You could also try heating the transfer up with a hair dryer and manipulating it. Again test the technique first.

I have used an Optivisor, brand name not the copies, for around 10 years and find it excellent. The only issue these things have is the higher the magnification the shallower the depth of field and the closer to your face the work needs to be held, for most work I use a 2 1/2 x magnification, DA5 I think is the Optivisor code. The Optivisor uses glass lenses of high quality and durability. I use it the whole time when working over my prescription glasses, it also fits well over my mask straps when spraying and sanding. Seeing what you do is the foundation of doing good work.

I have the same, well almost my half mask is a 7502. Use the same 6051 vapour & particulate filters. Got it 10Years ago for my lead casting but has worked well at the spray booth too, seals particularly well and I have a beard, with it on you will smell nothing which is a good sign. Well made except for the strap clip which is really fiddly and awkward to use and invariably tufts of hair come away when putting the damned thing on and off. Seems to be a modern thing but "quality" products always seem to be spoilt for the ha'porth 'o' tar. Suppose it is the global volume sales context where shaving off a fraction of a penny is meaningful in profit terms when dealing in high volume sales, bloody merchants of greed, accountants.

Depending on the canopy I either use the thin strip out line and back fill with liquid mask my preferred mask being Copydex or Parafilm which needs not back filling. For me using Copydex invariably needs a tape out line to keep the shape but that is as much my shaky hands with an applicator, I have use it successfully on flat landing lights where there has been a good moulding edge for me to fill into. Personally I don't find any masking easy, my greatest asset in this technique is my Optivisor and a steady hands free mount for the canopy.

Just to update, when I checked this morning the satin galleria sprayed as described above was dry to touch and had as nice and even satin finish as one should expect. This stuff has good self levelling properties from my experience and definitely doesn't need thinning for any application I might be using it for.

Thank you for the explanation. What is it with these computer people and their unintelligible hieroglyphs, how on earth does three dots mean edit?!?!?!?! To me three dots means the letter "S". After being an early internet adopter it is no wonder I am on a trajectory to reduce my use to nothing, the whole internet and the digital world has gone to hell on a hurley.

To clarify it is the Galleria that I normally spray at around 25psi through a Creos PS-290 with a .5mm needle as I am usually covering large areas. Sorry for the extra post but the edit button has disappeared, must be an up grade casualty.

Just as a test I have just put some satin, it was the first to hand through my Iwata Custom Micron-B (.18mm needle) at 9psi, air volume valve just open. Which is my normal setting for that air brush for enamels. The Galleria went through the brush just fine, good atomisation, leaving a nice even wet coat. So that would indicate that perhaps thinning is not as necessary as might be postulated. Normally I spray at around 25psi through a Creos PS-290 with a .5mm needle as I am usually covering large areas. It behaves almost like a clear Stynylrez in my experience so I have just applied the advised Stynylrez method.

The W&N instructions say nothing about thinning, just apply in thin coats. Clean equipment with water.

I find the "P" cutter fine if you want to scribe a WW1 trench system, the Tamiya looks suspiciously like the Olfa, however if it uses thinner blades it should be fine. As has been said razor saws for the convex curves again I find the RB ones to me excellent and prefer them over the JLC for use, range flexibility and price.