Chrissy_J

Having spent some frustrating hours looking for the reference that suggested Light Sea Grey I must concede to defeat. Every reference I find says Neutral Grey. I'd absolutely do a comparison test, painting each colour before committing myself.

Looking at my notes, I did my D-Day C-47 underside in Tamiya XF-25 Light Sea Grey mixed 2:1 with XF-2 Flat White, and I'm very pleased with it. It has a faint bluish tinge, I'm not a rivet counter and I think it's just right. I'm not sure how I came to that decision though, but I would definitely have found that suggestion online.

You did well there. It's a good kit too. When I attempted this kit I knew the decals were beyond my skills at the time so my version is a plain black 'test bike' with just a few sponsor logos.

You can get some of these as pdf downloads from mxdoc.com, among others sources, but their legality is in dispute as they have been uploaded by private individuals without copyright permission.

I'm not enamoured with those colours on the real thing, but you've reproduced them really well. You've had a really good result all round, especially given the tribulations it caused you.

I think I'd be concerned with what 70% IPA is diluted =with= ... it might not be very nice for your paint or kit. If you're just using it for cleaning then I don't suppose the purity matters, but my supplier does 99.9% cheaper than 70%, so that's what I buy. For airbrush cleaning I prefer a 5% by volume solution of ammonia in distilled water, it's loads cheaper than IPA.

I am aware of motorcycles being carried as cargo for the use of AFV crewmen and I think there's enough contemporary evidence in photographs and memoirs to provide reference for a model. US forces were particularly noted for repurposing German vehicles. Yes, motorbikes are heavy, but the benefits of having it, especially if it's 'buckshee', probably outweigh the effort of lifting it onto the vehicle.

My first thought was of an armoured driver training vehicle, like a turretless Chieftain. Then I looked into something a bit earlier, like a training vehicle used by the German Panzerarmee - a fahrschulwanne. A different approach is a civilian driving school car, or truck if I can get one cheap. But I haven't decided and I'm a bit lacking in motivation at the moment so I'm not making any firm choice right now. I'll put something together though, don't want to let the side down... 🙂

I guess I'm in the small minority in that I don't really know what I'm going to build... not an aircraft, though, unless I'm completely out of ideas.

I built this kit about a year ago, nothing fancy just OOB. Good fun, and the first time I used modern metallic paint - AK Extreme Metal's Aluminium, I think. The simplicity of the kit and the two coloured plastics were a flashback...

You did well to score that for fifteen quid! If I'd known about it I'd have been in competition with you... As for me, I've just bought another Lotus Super 7, the Tamiya 1/24 kit, from eBay. Sadly, not as cheap (at £26) as the last one I bought, but I had to have it.

Vallejo Acrylic Metal Color is what you're thinking of. I have this, and the AK Extreme Metal.

I must remember this for my own use... 🙂

That's a damn fine idea, and one I can easily try - I just bought a set of punches for work. Thanks!

It's not recommended to spray =anything= when the air temperature is as low as you have, except maybe de-icer... You need a warm space to work in, even if it's a clean cardboard box. The lightbulb method suggested above is good, and you could try a small fan heater pointed into the cavity to warm the area, removing it when you work. It would do no harm to gently warm the model, either.

Some interesting designs there, worth considering. I don't mind them being clear, I can paint them as required. I'm not starting down the path of making my own parts though, so far it's been a lot of effort for very little reward; I can't achieve the finish I want. I've done this before in 1/35 scale but I haven't yet found the right size for 1/24. Good idea, though, but I'm looking for light bars as well. This is another one of those moments when I wish I had a mini lathe (along with needing air intake trumpets, cone filters and rolled exhaust ends). But it's worth trying.

Quick question, folks: anyone got a source for amber warning lights (bars or domes), as seen on UK highway maintenance vehicles? Google is not being helpful, unless I'm asking the question wrongly...

Coming late to the party, but ... good work there, Pete! Skewers for fork tubes? That's pretty inspired. Are they difficult to cut to size?

Some good work there, well done. You should be pleased with your efforts, I know I would.

I'd use a strand of cotton, wet the end and try and push it through like threading a needle. Or you could use the point of a pin or a sewing needle to push it through. The important thing is not to use anything solid enough that it might make the hole in the needle tip any bigger, as it'll increase the size of your spray pattern - it'll turn your 0.3 tip into an 0.4 or bigger.

My o-ring seal (part no.4 on the diagram) disintegrated during cleaning. I now use plumbers' PTFE tape to seal the nozzle cap to the airbrush body. You'll know if there's a leak in this area 'cos you'll get bubbles of paint coming from the joint when you work.

Yup, there's a hole beneath the tube. It's really hard to see but you can feel and probe it with a piece of wire. It's about 1mm diameter. If you can feel air coming out of it (with or without the nozzle or cap fitted) when you push the lever down, you don't have a blockage or an airfeed problem. Having read the whole thread again I'm inclined to think you have a damaged nozzle, possibly caused by the bent needle tip. It'll allow water to pass through it but the paint is thicker, even when thinned, and can clog it. Are you using a reamer shaped like a spike, with a screw-on cap? They can't clean the whole of the nozzle interior, the taper is different. You could try a piece of cotton thread or dental floss though.

The big, big problem with cheap airbrushes is that the quality control of the components can and does vary widely. You have to trust that every part gets along with each other. This is why quality airbrushes are more expensive - because they are precision mechanisms, individually assembled and tested. It would probably do no harm to mix and match components from your ABs to try and get the best results. You will need to make sure other variables - paint type, paint thinner mixture, air pressure - are consistent, though. Write them down if necessary.

That's how the air gets to the nozzle. When you push DOWN on the lever, you open the air valve. This is like a Schrader car or bicycle tyre valve, it's spring loaded. The air goes through the hole in the side of the air valve housing, along the channel in that ventral rib, to the nozzle cap. There's a hole under the nozzle where the air comes out, but it's very hard to see cos it's small and recessed. Depending on how far you have the needle fixed back from the nozzle, when you push the lever down you will feel some air come out. This comes out of the hole, swirls around the inside of the nozzle cap, then comes out of it. Meanwhile, the paint sits above this air channel, in its cup. You can see this. When you pull the lever BACK, the needle comes out of the nozzle and allows paint to flow out of it. If you push the lever DOWN then BACK, air comes out drawing paint through the nozzle via the venturi effect, creating an spray pattern of atomised paint. The size of the pattern is determined by your air pressure, how far the needle is pulled back, and the diameter of the nozzle - the larger these factors, the bigger the spray. This is why paint collects on the inside of the nozzle cap; it acts as a mixing vessel before it leaves the airbrush. Everyone likes pretty pictures, this is how it works: I have used the component names as stated on this parts diagram. Your terminology may vary.

I had trouble with an AB that just stopped wanting to work properly (I have the same type of AB, a Chinese BD-130). In the end I changed the nozzle and needle with parts from another Chinese AB, and no more problems. In the short term you could try letting the nozzle soak in cellulose thinners, then taking a reamer or dental floss to it, but to be honest it might be new nozzle time. EBay has all the bits you need but you might have to wait for delivery from China, as I did for needles. It does no harm to have a few spare parts on hand so you're not stranded in mid session, in case you drop it or something. Also, when it comes to cleaning or polishing an AB needle, I use a piece of green Scotchbrite on it after every stripdown.