philbean

Anyone in the Manchester area, preferably north (Bolton, Bury, Wigan etc) know of a model shop that sells the modern spanish acrylic paints ? AK, AV, Mig etc ?? I'm amazed that all the 'specialist' model shops around here that I've tried, still think that tins of Humbrol and a few jars of Tamiya are the cutting edge at model painting.

Also.. if Humbrol has changed manufacturer again it just worsens the 'pot luck' situation of picking up a pot at a retailer and not knowing till you try to use it whether its good bad or ugly. After a lifetime of Humbrol enamel usage I've given up now. Too many tins recently have been utter junk. Tried a couple of their acrylic pots and they were awful too.

Everybody did. Except him. (cough Wellington)

It does look good that Mossie. Did anyone else notice that everyone in the Airfix design dept uses Tamiya cement ? They turned all the labels the other way but it was plainly obvious. Not a great endorsement for Humbrol product 😄

Thats your first mistake I've stuck with Humbrol enamels for many many years. I still have tins that must be 40 years old and after a good stir are good as new. They started going down hill a few years ago.. when the artwork on the tins became a vinyl wrap instead of painted on. The latest batch are even worse. Pretty much unusable. I've finally given up. I've tried brushing a few Acrylics over the years without much success. First Tamiya.. which produced a good finish in the end but after a LOT of hard graft. Revell (like glue). Couple of others. I tried one Humbrol Acrylic - Gunmetal - utter junk. Just got a set of 6 AK Acrylics and... up to now... actually loving them. Early days, but they seem to be exactly what I'm after.

I'm having Klear problems I've had a search and read up on (old) Klear and yellowing and the consensus seems to be it's not the Klear but the white paint underneath.. and this happens over time. I white sprayed (aerosol) an Airliner and Kleared and it came out perfect. About a year later I repeated with my next airliner and the finish is very off-white. Almost creamy. Immediately after Klear dries. Very noticable when the two models are side-by-side. I thought something must have gone wrong in the paint/klear process.. but before I start my next paintjob (Concorde) I tested it by painting some missiles from a fighter kit and then Klearing them. After only one coat of Klear, next day they're noticably yellowish. Where the klear pooled near the fins it's extremely yellow tinted. My Klear is almost a full bottle. Not contaminated by anything other than air. It looks slightly mistier than I remember on purchase but not obviously yellow in the bottle. Obviously I cannot get hold of any more old type Klear. Any ideas? Could the spray paint (PlastiKote White Appliance Paint) have gone off in some way? Although, like I say, from the pooling on the test missiles it definately looks like the Klear is the yellowing influence.

so.. why do they always print the red dot seperate to the rest of the roundel? Its a complete pig to get it dead centre.

Cheers all. Won't bother with the cheapy one

My brothers just getting back into modelling. Up to now he's painting with brushes. I've seen a 'Beginners' airbrushing set for about £15. You get an airbrush + aerosol can. Are these any good?

Should have gone for the Rafaele-M - but then the press would have had a field day. "Britain buys french planes shock horror !!!" As for the carriers.. typical British farce. We still want to be GREAT Britain with the best navy in the world. Well guess what - hardware costs money! You either spend a small fortune and get the best kit.. or you accept we can't afford it and scale back the forces, and stop being the USA's little brother.

What's the best Humbrol or Revell match for the US Army green for an Apache? The kit (Italeri) seems to point to Humbrol 155 - Olive Drab but that looks a bit too brown for me. 159 - Khaki green looks more accurate. Any recommendations?

Whats the concensus on the nearest Humbrol or Revell blues for the various BA paint schemes? For the current BA livery and the World Tails scheme (I assume the same blue for both?) Revell recommends their 350 - Lufthansa Blue. Anyone agree? This looks a bit dark to me and seems more like the old Landor colour. For the Landor though, Airfix suggest Humbrol 15 - Midnight Blue. I know Xtracolour do exact matches but I'd like to use my existing Humbrol/Revell stock if possible.

Nope haven't started yet. Twas cheap in Hobbycraft - only reason I picked it up.

That looks spot on

About to start the Airfix 747-200 in BA's landor scheme. Anyone know what the upper fuselage colour is? It's like a very slight blue/greyish white. http://www.airliners.net/photo/British-Air...236B/1138149/L/ Don't suppose anyone knows of an exact match for this in modellers paint?

Another Klear question.. I have a Revell 1:24 GP car. It has rubber tyres that will need decalling. Is it OK to Klear coat the tyres?

Great. Thanks guys!

Hi all Newbie poster, long-time lurker. What do I use to clean my brush if I'm using it to brush on Klear? Will normal brush cleaning fluid be OK or will I need to find some ammonia based doodah. Is it OK to use one of my nice painting brushes.. or would you keep a seperate brush for Klearing ??