hammett98

you sir are a genius. I told my wife that giant box of spare cables would come in handy one day. And 30 years later = in yer face wifey!

Hi all, Probably a basic question but one I haven't found an answer for so far, so hopefully someone can help me. Ive been spraying 18 or so psi for my standard paint mixes of 50:50 paint to thinner. However, next step is to spray a 10:90 paint to thinner mix, so very highly diluted. Would I be right in saying I also need to reduce the psi at the same time? My reckoning is a thinner mix would just splatter if sprayed at too high a pressure. My primer is thicker and goes on at 30psi, so thats where my logic comes from. Thanks for any help or advice you can give. Simon

Hi all, Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask, however, I wanted to try my hand at a nascar model kit. However, I;m having a tough time finding them for sale in the UK. Does anyone know of a good source or could recommend some options? Many thanks, Simon

I really havent been doing this long and am having frustration with lots of elements - however painting hasnt been one of them. I always prime (so far) with stynylrez primer - I got grey first then got black more recently. Even as someone who has never used an airbrush before, it goes on superbly. I then either use a 50/50 mix of vallejo air thinned with their own thinner, or tamiya acrylic again thinned to about the same ration with X20A. The thinning is something to play around with but surprisingly, the basic side of it is fairly straight forward. I might not be able to pull of any fancy techniques, however I can get a really nice basic paint job down. One thing I would say is I paint many very thin layers - probably allowing far less out of the airbrush than most do. It gives me a bit of control so that I dont overdo it. And the other thing to mention, almost every issue Ive had with airburshing so far has been solved by stripping the thing down and giving it a good solid clean. Good luck!

HI all, Frustrating problem yesterday building my kit. I clamped two sections together using some pegs that I had (using some paper towel between the kit and the peg so as not to damage the paint), and when I removed them - a massive dent. Well, massive to me anyway. It only happened in the one place and Id used these pegs 6 or 7 times already without problem. Its really annoyed me as I was very happy with how the kit was working out until that point. So my questions is, what clamps do you use when gluing sections together. I know it sounds silly, but I want to use the actual ones someone else uses on here so I never have this happen again! Many Thanks, Simon

thanks for your help guys and sharing your knowledge

Hi all, Quick question - I have a canopy from a sci-fi kit that needed some quite complex masking. I've done it and painted it but should I apply a matt coat over the top before removing the masks or do you guys typically varnish the clear section of canopy also? I intend to apply a gloss coat on the kit before applying the washes and then finish it all with a matt coat. Many Thanks, Simon

Thanks so much for the input guys - @Tony Oliver love the finish on the felix!

Hi All, Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere - I couldnt find anything as most questions relate to using a primer or not. My question is, can you use a primer as a main top coat? The reason I ask is that I have a model car kit that Ive primed in stynylrez matt black and I like it so much on this particular kit that Id like to use it as the main colour. I was wondering about going over it with Tamiya and using their matt coat to get a really flat matt black but then with the primer looking so good I thought why? Also, when you guys do a lot of masking jobs, do you spray down a matt coat to protect the paint underneath to stop the tape pulling small bits up? Im imaging thats the solution but wondered if I was doing something else wrong. Many thanks for you help in advance, Simon

Glad it wasnt just me - snapped both control columns and antennas from both kits (although was more flash than antenna). Managed to get the landing gear off though!

Thanks for your comments - yeah digital photography is still a world that eludes me! Curious as to what the Canopy Challenge is though?

Where to start.... Worked solidly on this kit for the past 2 days. Literally. Long list of disasters - paint rubbing off whilst decalling (which took me over 8 hours!), airbrush issues, snapped control sticks and antenna's from both kits (although antennas were more flash than anything else). Oh and the kits world decal sheet is printed incorrectly - the checker pattern is duplicate for the camo version but it should be mirrored. Spent ages trying to work out that one. Thankfully used the NMF decal but still means Im one short if I build the other version. Took me nearly a day to figure how to mask the spinner and it still doesnt look good. Anyone would think I wasn't having fun but actually I loved building this kit! I see loads of flaws in my work - bit annoyed that I had a really nice paint finish then seemed to constantly chip it, meaning I ended up with a pretty poor paint job. Really couldn't figure out painting leading and trailing edges either. Might have overdone the wash, but I was enjoying it! Found out watercolor pencils don't go over gloss....so that was a big part of weathering out the window! Considering this is my first kit, its 10x better than I thought I could do. I know its not a masterpiece but I'm quite pleased with the final result. Need a week or so though before starting the next! Thanks for any comments/tips etc.

Landing Gear, engines and drop tanks. Thats what it came down. Im posting here as although I have to glue these last bits on I worked too hard to miss out on being part of the party!

wow, that is insanely good.

Just to prove I'm still in with a chance of getting this done on time! Have to touch up the grey along the sides, tony bit of olive too, finish the red on the spinner. Landing gear is done. Need to do the second part of the canopy. Need to do the stripes. Varnish, decals, varnish. Then sit back and bathe in glory!

Wife went and booked a last minute holiday - have tried to do some priming and other bits before the off but looks like I'll have a lot to do when I get back! See you all in a week and really enjoying the amazing work everyones doing on this kit.

Definitely possible as I didn't stir at all....oops I'm going to test the matt on the trashed kit before using on this one until I get a better result. Kicking myself a little as before the varnish I was really pleased with it but I've re-painted the boxes and am painting the seat. Its just a case of if I should paint the floor again or not. Probably will... Oh well, got the wings together and painted the zinc cromate and aluminum on the wheel wells and got them nice and dirty last night (how having a dirty night in has changed as I've got older!)

just discovered my phone camera takes better photos than my digital SLR... Excuse the blob on the floor - the result of the seat coming out. I also just snapped off the control stick. Genius. But I have a spare from the other kit that I trashed. So I just tried rubbing some of the glossiest areas with my finger and then a cotton bud. Seems to have partly worked although I'm sure there's probably a better way. Still I think I'm going to repaint the top surfaces of the radio boxes and I'm going to use the seat from my other kit. Tonight I'm on to wings!

Hi all, So, after a bit of a break (it took a week for the new kit to arrive and the same amount of time for me to pick up all my toys I threw out of my pram after the photo etch incident!), I managed to get a full day of modelling in yesterday. 100% happy. Everything went really well. Until the varnish. The MATT varnish. Which is well..... not matt?! I've been searching around but I really dont like the finish. It looked superb after the dark wash and I already had my eyes on the prize, but the matt varnish has just gone on glossy. Everything was dry. Used light coats. So not sure why it happened but really want to find a fix. (Its not just slightly glossy - it comes with a warning not to look directly at for fear of permanent damage to your eyes!) First photo doesnt show it well although you can see the wet look of the cockpit floor and the instruments on the left hand side Here you can see the problem a bit more Thats not just a rubbish photo - that glare really is there. So the radio/battery boxes and the seat are the worse. I accidentally knocked the seat out so have easy access to it. Not sure if I should strip it down and re-do. Or if a bit of spirit would take some of the varnish off. Not sure if there's a product that could dull it up a bit (like a weathering pigment?). Please help!

Hey Dennis - sorry to hear you had bad news and hope its nothing too serious. Keep on kicking bottom. Enjoying watching your build develop - looking forward to seeing more. Being new to all this, its the pictures you (and others) post that keeps me inspired and determined to keep doing my best. Especially on days like this when I literally called quits on my first kit and have had to order another!

Thanks - think I probably took it on too early. I think I'd try again but only at 1/48. Cant even imagine 144! New kit ordered anyway and getting geared up for take 2!

So I'm massively massively disappointed. I worked for literally ages on the PE seat belts last night and was forced to glue them down - as I said the "self adhesive" claim is just simply not true (also known as a massive lie). The bottom of the seat belt was bent up at a comical angle and despite applying pressure and all sorts it wouldn't bend back down. Then guess what happened this morning? Two of the belts fell off - so no PE in place and a nice glue mark on the seat. And you know what - it looked rubbish with the PE on anyway! The sidewalls literally look like stickers have been applied. As I said its comical. So, all the paint work that I did I actually like and think was looking pretty good. The green is dark but its interior green so its what I'm going with. Minus the PE it would look good. So I'm pretty sure I'm gonna mark this one up to experience and start again. I cant really rescue the base of the cockpit as I chopped off the side controls which is a shame as its looking good. I'll probably keep the instrument panel PE as I like that and lets face it, it will be super easy to remove. What I'll quite probably do is build the kit roughly and use it as a practice model for paints/techniques. I know I wasted a tenner on the PE and also a tenner on the kit but that's life I guess. Learnings from this 1) Eduard Zoom PE is not even slightly self adhesive 2) Tamiya Nato Green is NOT a color match for this kit 3) Don't chop off bits of your kit in preparation for PE unless your sure the PE will work in the first place! (probably only I didn't know that one!) If anyone wants to make me feel any better with suitable stories of modelling failures then it would be most welcome as I feel like right now!

I can honestly say its killing me! I've moved on to some of the controls/levers and its feeling almost impossible. One of the pedals snapped, but that wasn't surprising as it needed bending and the join was next to nothing. I also really hate the green color. I've been pushing on although I might leave out some of the PE simply because it doesn't enhance the kit and its a lot of work with essentially no benefit. I think in hindsight I would have probably just used the radio/battery box and the instrument panel and seat belts but I already prepared all the surfaces so have no choice now. But hey, learning is part of the process so at least I know for next time! Oh yeah, the one massive lie with this PE kit? "Self adhesive"!!!

Thats really amazing - great work!

So my paint arrived! And one of them was still the wrong one! I can categorically confirm without any doubt that XF-67 Nato Green is NOT a colour match for the Eduard PE set for this kit (despite the online resource that assured me it was!) Its not even close. Its actually less a match than what I have. So I've gone back to the vallejo interior green. I know it wont match but 1) I have it 2) I could spend a long time looking for a match, spend a fortune and still not get there. So firstly, the instrument panel is almost complete. Everything painted by hand with a brush that had a single hair. Oh, actually its just PE! (I feel its a little like cheating?! Except its a crazy job getting it in place. Plus "self adhesive" is a little stretching the truth by those guys!) Cockpit sidewalls got a coat of black and then a base coat of interior green. I've been playing with my airbrush to try and create depth - not sure if I succeeded but its only my first attempt. Probably a bit heavier one side than the other but when both sides of the fuselage are together its not noticeable. Excuse the rough looking area which will be filled by PE. Finally just the seat and cockpit assembly ready for a bit of brush painting which hopefully I will do tomorrow. also please forgive my really awful photos - having a real tough time getting them lit to actually show the detail.