Build Workflow ?

[Grumpy Modeller]

Hi,

 

What is your typical workflow/process when it comes to building and weathering your models ?

 

I've recently returned to the hobby and am a bit confused as to what order I should be doing things, such as applying washes, decals, coats of Klear, varnishes etc

 

When I was a lot younger (back in the 80's) I would just snip the parts off the sprues, glue them together and slap on some Humbrol enamels and decals whilst trying not to get anything on the cockpit

 

These days there's a lot more information/techniques out there but I'm struggling to get my head around what to do when.

 

I know it's a bit of a big ask but I was wondering if anybody could supply a list of the process they would usually follow when building and weathering a typical model, for example a Tornado

If you could also specify what products you would usually use and how much drying time the require etc that would be even better

 

Many thanks

Simon

 

[Grumpy Modeller]

Anybody ?

 

Any info would be much appreciated

 

Thanks,

Simon

[RODH2]

Keep doing what you are doing, and improve as you go along.... I don't pre-shade, post-shade or weather to any extent, but I do enjoy a build, left to my own devices. If I followed all the advice, and did things "correctly", I'd never get anything finished, and quickly lose interest. Just one opinion amongst many!!

[Grumpy Modeller]

Thanks for responding RODH2

 

I've done this in the past but I'd like to try some weathering

 

Simon

[dogsbody]

On ‎14‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 6:27 PM, Grumpy Modeller said:

Thanks for responding RODH2

 

I've done this in the past but I'd like to try some weathering

 

Simon

 

Keep it light and don't over-weather. A little is better than a lot.

 

 

Chris

 

Edited November 18, 2016 by dogsbody

[CurrantBunbury]

I'm pretty new to the world of weathering too, but there's some great information elsewhere on the forum if you have a search. There are some good tutorials on YouTube as well - I can't remember any names and I'm on a tablet so can't search easily - but it's well worth a look. In terms of order of work, I've been going for gloss varnish, then decals, then weathering, then final coat of varnish (gloss or flat as appropriate) and that seems to work as long as you're careful to let things dry in between. I've had some odd mixing/running effects when I've got ahead of myself. 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

It's probably best to look up a particular technique you want to try, and get someone to describe the process they use for that particular technique. As an open forum without a specific scope of work in mind, any methods and sequences you get could be in for a lot of crossed wires!

[Giorgio N]

It's not easy to compile a list of the various steps in order, and it would be probably easier to do this for each technique individually. However I'll give it a try, keeping in mind that different models may require different approaches depending on how they are split into parts or the kind of subject (aircraft, tank, helicopter) or any particular feature of the individual kit (you mention the Tornado, where the presence of variable geometry wings may require to paint them separately for example)

So thinking for example of a relatively simple aircraft like a Spitfire, the workflow for one of my tipical build would be:

- Assemble and if needed detail the cockpit and other interior parts, for example wheel wells.

 

- Paint all small bits, particularly those that make up the cockpit and interiors. Now some parts may be painted before assembly, others are better painted when assembled. I use almost exclusively acrylics today, Vallejo, Lifecolor or Xtracrylix. All these dry quickly, it's possible to apply a second coat 10 minutes after the first.

 

- Add weathering to cockpit and interiors. My technique is simply adding a wash of the appropriate colour, nothing too complicated. Sometimes I also drybrush a ligher colour on the edges

 

- Build the main airframe. Easy to say, not always to do.... Some parts may have to be added to the airframe already partly painted, for example I paint the inside of the radiators before gluing them to the wing/fuselage. I may or not glue the canopy at this point, generally I glue the windscreen but not the opening parts. Other parts may be better glued at the end, like small antennas and similar as otherwise they may get knocked off during the painting process

 

- When the main airframe is complete, start that boring process of filling, sanding, priming, checking, filling again, sanding again, priming again.... until I'm satisfied with the finish.

 

- Paint the main airframe... now as you say you want to add weathering, you may be interested in pre-shading and similar techniques. Personally I never pre-shade ! I rather post-shade...

Staying with the Spitfire example, I would first paint the undersurfaces. These are first covered with a lightened variant of the paint supposed to be used. Simply I take the paint I like and add some light grey and then spray the mix (I use an airbrush, but a similar process can be used with hairy sticks). How much lighter ? Depends on how weathered you want the finish to be.

When the paint is fully cured, I take the paint I want to use straight from the tin, mix it with some clear paint and thin quite a lot. In this way I have a semi-transparent paint. Then I spray this over the panel lines and in areas that in the real aircraft would be in shadow. With such a mix it's easy to add more or less paint, and therefore darken the surface, depending simply on how many passes I give on each area. When I'm happy with the result, I stop, keeping in mind that any variation in the paint will be flattened by the following steps, so better overdo a little in this phase.

Once I'm happy with the undersurfaces, I mask these and repeat the same process on the uppersurfaces. These may involve more than one colour (generally 2 with a Spitfire), as usual the lighter colour goes on first, again with a lightened variant first followed by the thinned coat of the standard colour. When the first colour of the camo is complete, I mask the areas in this colour and repeat the process for the other colour. Other subjects may require many other bits to be painted differently too, like radomes and so on.

Note that generally I'll have masked all the various openings like the wheel wells. In some cases it's however possible to paint the wheel wells after painting the main airframe. Again, I use mainly acrylics. For the camo scheme I also use Tamiya and Gunze paints, these require a bit more to cure, say one hour to be sure.

 

- Spray a gloss coat using the paint that works best for me. This is needed in preparation for the decals. Today I'm using my last bottle of Johnson Klear, old formula. I'll have to change in the future.

 

- Add a pin wash to the panel lines. This is something I generally do but not always. If the kit has very wide panel lines I often prefer not to do this. If the kit has raised panel lines of course it's necessary to use other techniques. What colour for the wash ? Personally I try to use something that will be visible but is not too stark. On the light grey, I'll give a medium grey wash, on a typical green/brown camo scheme I may use a raw umber. Most of my washes are done using Winsor & Newton water-soluble oils, other modellers use oil paints, others use washes specifically made for models. Recently I started using Vallejo's glaze medium to make my own washes, check my Macchi 202 in the MTO GB for an explanation of the technique I used.

 

- Apply decals. Simply dip in water and then use the Microscale liquids. For particularly thick decals, I use the Gunze liquid as it's stronger. Now sometimes I apply the decals after the pint wash, sometimes I do it before the pin wash. If the decals are thick I prefer to add the wash before the decals as the wash may emphasize the decal film. When the decals are thin I often add the wash after the decals... in any case I try to emphasize the panel lines hidden under the decals too, as otherwise the decals will not look painted. This means that if I add the decals after the wash I will then pass over the decals with another wash using a very, very small brush

 

- Spray a final clear coat with the required finish. On a Spitfire I'll use a slightly satin coat, in my case using Vallejo Satin varnish. This is not really semigloss but more of a matt coat with a hint of sheen, very realistic IMHO. Other subjects may require different finishes. I should add that sometimes I also spray a gloss coat over the decals before spraying the final coat. I do this when I feel that the decals may not stick.

 

- Add exhaust stains and other types of dirt, depending on the subject. These have to go over the decals and I generally prefer to apply them after the final coat.

 

- Glue all the various bits and pieces, like landing gear, doors, antennas and so on. All these pieces would have been painted separately during the build

 

- Paint

 

 

[Grumpy Modeller]

Thanks for all your responses guys. Especially Giorgio I really appreciate the time and effort you've put in. It's made it a bit clearer for me now.

 

Is it common practice to add weathering after your final coat ? I thought it'd be the other way around

 

Cheers,

Simon

[Giorgio N]

6 hours ago, Grumpy Modeller said:

Thanks for all your responses guys. Especially Giorgio I really appreciate the time and effort you've put in. It's made it a bit clearer for me now.

 

Is it common practice to add weathering after your final coat ? I thought it'd be the other way around

 

Cheers,

Simon

 

You're welcome Simon, hope it helps to get back into the hobby ! As others have said though, it's worth asking direct questions on all the single "steps"

 

Adding weathering after the final coat is not common but actually it's not what I do. I only add certain types of "dirt" after the final coat. The reason is that if I have to add for example some sooty exhaust marks, these would be dead flat in finish, while the underlying paint may have to be semigloss because of how the actual aircraft is. If I add an overall final coat on the "dirt", this will take the same finish of the rest of the aircraft. I should also point that there are cases of aircrafts with areas in very different finishes, in this case even the final coat may require masking.

Most of my weathering actually takes place before the final coat, and is based on postshading the surfaces and the use of washes. I also sometime add some dirt at this level, for example the effect of airflow that can sometimes be seen on the paint is something I'd apply at this stage.

In any case, different modellers usually follow slightly different workflows, particularly when it comes to weathering and all the various techniques used to make the finish more "3-dimensional". To name one, I don't use pre-shading, many other modellers do and achieve great results with this (I'll have to try it myself at some point...). Others use "salt weathering", and again I've seen some fantastic results using this technique. Of course some modellers don't even use any of these techniques and are happy anyway.

My personal advice would be to try and read as many techniques as you can, then try to apply one to a cheap kit and see how you feel with it. Choosing one technique over the other often is just a matter of which one better suits our own personal taste and our skill

[spruecutter96]

This is my typical work flow.....

 

A. Start the kit. Get very enthusiastic about how I'm gonna build and paint it.

 

B. Get the kit about 30% made. Rapidly loose all the previous enthusiasm I had, from three weeks earlier.

 

C. Put kit back in its box and on the shelf, with vague mutterings about "I'll finish it off some other time..." (like in my next life!)

 

D. A few months later, forget I've even got one.

 

E. Buy a new one and then remember I already have a part-built version. 

 

F. Put the untouched model in the Kit Swap at Telford.

 

G. Go for a beer. 

 

Oh, well.

 

Chris. 

Edited November 18, 2016 by spruecutter96
Correcting a typo.

[Alpha Delta 210]

6 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

This is my typical work flow.....

 

A. Start the kit. Get very enthusiastic about how I'm gonna build and paint it.

 

B. Get the kit about 30% made. Rapidly loose all the previous enthusiasm I had, from three weeks earlier.

 

C. Put kit back in its box and on the shelf, with vague mutterings about "I'll finish it off some other time..." (like in my next life!)

 

D. A few months later, forget I've even got one.

 

E. Buy a new one and then remember I already have a part-built version. 

 

F. Put the untouched model in the Kit Swap at Telford.

 

G. Go for a beer. 

 

Oh, well.

 

Chris. 

Hilarious!😂

[spruecutter96]

Thanks for the compliment, Sir.

 

That sequence of events is WAY too close to the truth, by the way.....

 

Chris.