jrlx Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Really impressive work on the canopy, propeller and undercarriage, Stix! Looking forward to seeing the NMF painted aircraft. Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREG DESTEC Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Hi Stix, I'm plodding along with my build. Almost finished the checks on the nose. Academy decals have been rubbish though, and I'm trying to cover up a bit of silvering, other than that its great fun!! Cheers Greg. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Really impressive work on the canopy, propeller and undercarriage, Stix! Looking forward to seeing the NMF painted aircraft.Me too John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Excellent progress Stix! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Those prop and gear look awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Very tidy, looking sweet, Sean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 (edited) I, for my folly, once worked for GW during their transition (now abandoned I believe) to single-man stores. Myself and colleagues were all summarily dismissed whilst our manager was on holiday and he came back to find that a 7 day a week store was now 5 days, and he was the only employee. Left somewhat of a bitter taste towards the company...also they stopped making their old paint line, for which I actually dislike them for much more. Where shall I get my Lich purple and Rotting Flesh now? Anyway, that's long in the past. Great work on the little fiddly bits. Yo0ur work always looks so neat. Question; do you drybrush before or after applying a wash? I can certainly see why you have negative feelings towards them and, although I haven't used many of their paints over the years, the ones I did use now don't seem to exist any more. Ah well.... With regards dry-brushing - I usually do it after applying any washes although I have been known to add some after - usually into small areas and I usually do it with a fine pointed brush. Nice work Stix, but now the pressure to see how you paint the NMF grows ... Ciao Yes I know........ Really impressive work on the canopy, propeller and undercarriage, Stix! Looking forward to seeing the NMF painted aircraft. Cheers Jaime Thank you Jaime......and me too! Hi Stix, I'm plodding along with my build. Almost finished the checks on the nose. Academy decals have been rubbish though, and I'm trying to cover up a bit of silvering, other than that its great fun!! Cheers Greg. Hi Greg. Glad it's been fun despite the decal issues. As you probably know decals are one of my least favourite parts of a build - wish I was able to mask off in the same way some of the air-brush users do. Really impressive work on the canopy, propeller and undercarriage, Stix! Looking forward to seeing the NMF painted aircraft.Me too John Thank you John. Excellent progress Stix! Thank you too Steve. Those prop and gear look awesome. Thank you very much Thom. Very tidy, looking sweet, Sean Thank you too Sean. Now this is going to sound a bit like me trying to avoid painting the NMF again (and you'd probably be right) but I realised I might want to paint the black and white stripes rather than use the decals. I'm going to have a bit of an investigation tomorrow and then decide what I want to do. On my D-Day Spitfire build I did the painting of the stripes before applying the rest of the paintwork and it seemed to work okay. There will be some progress on this over the weekend.........I hope. Kind regards, Stix Edited March 11, 2016 by PlaStix 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 (edited) As predicted - I managed to find the reason mentioned (in the post above) to avoid applying the NMF! The black and white stripes did require painting - probably better than using the decals ( - I hope!) I began by masking off the areas on the undersides of the wings - I measured the decals to work out the size of the areas: Then I began getting some thinned Humbrol matt white applied by a wide flat brush. While the paint was drying I cut out one of the decals for the striped section, under the rear fuselage, to use as a template for the masking tape. Once masked it looked like this: After a few more thin coats of white: Once this had dried I masked off for the stripes and then I applied some thinned coats of Revell's Anthracite. The results with the masking removed: I still need to do some bits of tidying up where the paint leaked under the tape. I did do some painting on the canopy parts too: ........and I am rapidly running out of excuses not to do the NMF painting. Maybe tomorrow.............. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix Edited March 12, 2016 by PlaStix 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Superb painting on the stripes Stix. How much did you thin the white by? NMF tomorrow then, no pressure.... Sean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Nice work so far. Do not be affraid of NMF. It is not whitchcraft and products like Alclad makes it almost easy. The most improtant thing is a basecoat which is free of any marks. I would never get it flawless straight from the airbrush but that does not matter. You can even use a rattle can - all you have to do is to let the paint dry completely, then sand it with 1000+ abrasive till it is shiny (I used 6000 and even more depending how shiny the final finish should be). Now you can either spray Alclad or any other metalizer paint. You know you can make it ;-) Edit: Mixed something up here. Forget about the airbrush thing - as others have written it can be done with the hary stick too. C'mon - take a look at the invasion stripes you have painted - I would have trouble to get then so nice and clean with an airbrush. I have no idea how people manage to get such results when brush painting white. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 The invasion stripes look perfect Stix, I don't know how you can brush paint white so smoothly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 (edited) Plastix airbrush-hand?? Outstanding job on the stripes Ciao EDIT: I have probably already told you, but to prevent paint from leaking under the masking tape, you could brush a bit of Klear around the tape edges, enough to "seal" them. Edited March 13, 2016 by giemme 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hosbabon Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Invasion stripes look great !!I sure there won't be an issue with your metallic painting ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Great stripes there Stix, and it must make it easier to do the NMF in smaller areas rather than all in one go. Go on, you can do it. Cheers John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Superb work on the invasion stripes, Stix! I'm always impressed with your paintbrushing, I wouldn't be able to do it myself... Fortunately, airbrushing is so much easier Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 wow those strips are really nice...well done!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREG DESTEC Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Hi Stix, I have to agree with the other guys, nice work. I can understand your reticence brush painting the silver over such a large area. Why not start on the smaller surfaces and see how it goes, ie, the tail planes. If you are happy with that maybe start painting individual panels or the underside to gain confidence? Good luck, I'm sure it will turn out as good as the rests of it. Cheers, Greg 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 (edited) Superb painting on the stripes Stix. How much did you thin the white by? NMF tomorrow then, no pressure.... Sean Thank you Sean. The white was was thinned with lots of water - the first couple of coats looked awful but I tried to be patient. In post #183 above, second photo down, if you look at the white areas - that is after three thinned coats. There's probably five or six coats in all......and yes I have done some of the NMF painting - see below. Nice work so far. Do not be affraid of NMF. It is not whitchcraft and products like Alclad makes it almost easy. The most improtant thing is a basecoat which is free of any marks. I would never get it flawless straight from the airbrush but that does not matter. You can even use a rattle can - all you have to do is to let the paint dry completely, then sand it with 1000+ abrasive till it is shiny (I used 6000 and even more depending how shiny the final finish should be). Now you can either spray Alclad or any other metalizer paint. You know you can make it ;-) Edit: Mixed something up here. Forget about the airbrush thing - as others have written it can be done with the hary stick too. C'mon - take a look at the invasion stripes you have painted - I would have trouble to get then so nice and clean with an airbrush. I have no idea how people manage to get such results when brush painting white. Thank you Caerbannog and thank you for the advice too. If you check below I have started to get some of the NMF on now. The invasion stripes look perfect Stix, I don't know how you can brush paint white so smoothly.Thank you Cookie. I have to be really patient when painting stuff white or with NMF paints.........the problem is I'm not patient. It's a good job I don't use enamels - I certainly couldn't stand the waiting times for them! With acrylic paints I can be onto the next coat within an hour or so, depending on the paint. Plastix airbrush-hand?? Outstanding job on the stripes Ciao EDIT: I have probably already told you, but to prevent paint from leaking under the masking tape, you could brush a bit of Klear around the tape edges, enough to "seal" them. Thank you very much giemme and you are right!!! - you did advise me to use Klear and I totally forgot before doing these, doh! I must remember for next time! Great advice! Invasion stripes look great !!I sure there won't be an issue with your metallic painting !Thank you Hosbabon. I have done some of the metallic painting and so far, it's going okay - please see below. Great stripes there Stix, and it must make it easier to do the NMF in smaller areas rather than all in one go. Go on, you can do it. Cheers John Hi John and thank you. And that's a very good point! Superb work on the invasion stripes, Stix! I'm always impressed with your paintbrushing, I wouldn't be able to do it myself... Fortunately, airbrushing is so much easier Cheers Jaime Thank you too Jaime. It is funny because I always think using a paintbrush is so much easier than using an airbrush - all that having to find and buy the right airbrush and accessories, having somewhere to use it (I don't), setting it up each time and getting it cleaned properly afterwards - not to mention everything going wrong horribly, quickly!! Nope I'll stick with buying a pack of cheap(ish) brushes from a market stall, take out brush from packet, use brush anywhere I want, wash brush out with water, reuse immediately. And if things are starting to go wrong it's well easy to stop! I think I'll stick with brushes (for now!). wow those strips are really nice...well done!!!Thank you very much Rich. Hi Stix, I have to agree with the other guys, nice work. I can understand your reticence brush painting the silver over such a large area. Why not start on the smaller surfaces and see how it goes, ie, the tail planes. If you are happy with that maybe start painting individual panels or the underside to gain confidence? Good luck, I'm sure it will turn out as good as the rests of it. Cheers, GregThank you Greg and thank you for your advice. As it happens that's exactly the route I took - I began with the tail section! Great minds think alike!Yesterday I ended up with very little time on this project but - as I mentioned above - I have made a start on painting with Citadel's Runefang Steel. I began with the tail section: Very thinned coats were applied with a flat brush. As before, I used water for thinning the paint. I had to be very patient not to rush and add the next coat too soon but I managed to get about four very thinned coats applied. Once I was reasonably happy that this was working I did make a start on the main wings. These are also going reasonably well so far but, as I had to pack up fairly quickly to go out (I do occasionally), I didn't get chance to take any photos of these. ...........seems like a long time to wait until next weekend to do more on this................. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix Edited March 16, 2016 by PlaStix 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 It's already looking very good, Stix! Have you tried polishing this kind of paint (on a scrape piece, of course)? Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Looks very good and natural. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 The NMF on the tail looks good, Stix. Very smooth finish. Thank you too Jaime. It is funny because I always think using a paintbrush is so much easier than using an airbrush - all that having to find and buy the right airbrush and accessories, having somewhere to use it (I don't), setting it up each time and getting it cleaned properly afterwards - not to mention everything going wrong horribly, quickly!! Nope I'll stick with buying a pack of cheap(ish) brushes from a market stall, take out brush from packet, use brush anywhere I want, wash brush out with water, reuse immediately. And if things are starting to go wrong it's well easy to stop! I think I'll stick with brushes (for now!). You're right regarding the equipment and set-up needed for airbrushing but, if you get the thinning right, it's easier to get a good coverage and finish than with brushes. It's also easier to get feathering and mottling effects, I think. The ability and patience needed to get smooth paint-brushed surfaces like you do is just admirable! Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimbledon99 Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Looking lovely Stix - But then I expect nothing less from you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 That looks pretty good alright, it bodes well for the rest of the aircraft. I'll bear in mind plenty of thinning for the white paint, I have a tendency to not thin the paint enough, but I suppose I'll get used to doing that with acrylics, eventually, Sean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 she looks good from the photo, love smooth work for a hairy brush!! If slow and smooth is what it takes then keep going as she will look amazing when finished. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 It's already looking very good, Stix! Have you tried polishing this kind of paint (on a scrape piece, of course)? Ciao Hi Giemme and thank you. No - not tried polishing yet. I will try practicing on some of the bits I painted up before when I was testing the paints - I'm not really sure if these paints will polish. Thanks for the suggestion. Looks very good and natural. Thank you. I'm reasonably happy with the results so far - I will be happier once I've got a layer on all over. The NMF on the tail looks good, Stix. Very smooth finish. You're right regarding the equipment and set-up needed for airbrushing but, if you get the thinning right, it's easier to get a good coverage and finish than with brushes. It's also easier to get feathering and mottling effects, I think. The ability and patience needed to get smooth paint-brushed surfaces like you do is just admirable! Cheers Jaime Thank you Jaime. I do agree there are a lot of benefits to having an airbrush........... Looking lovely Stix - But then I expect nothing less from you Thank you Nigel - you are way too kind! That looks pretty good alright, it bodes well for the rest of the aircraft. I'll bear in mind plenty of thinning for the white paint, I have a tendency to not thin the paint enough, but I suppose I'll get used to doing that with acrylics, eventually, Sean Thank you Sean. Yes have a go at practicing using thinned white paints on some scrap. I tend to find both Humbrol and Revell acrylic white paint work pretty well - the Humbrol perhaps a bit better than the Revell. I thin them a lot and the first few coats look awful - you have to be patient. I get them so that they just give an all over milky appearance on the first go using a wide flat brush. Then build up the layers in a similar way. This technique, I have found, often gives a slightly shiny finish - to get a matt appearance I dry brush very lightly over the area with the un-thinned paint. she looks good from the photo, love smooth work for a hairy brush!! If slow and smooth is what it takes then keep going as she will look amazing when finished. Thank you Rich. Yep - has to be slow. I wish we were a bit closer to the weekend - really want to do some more on this. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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