Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Hello,

I edited your post because we do not allow in-line images.

To answer your question, you could try drybrushing with a color that is not a blue leaning grey. Testors model masters has a "primer" color that is fairly neutral grey. It comes in an enamel and acrylic.


Cheers,

Mark

You could also try with Model Masters silver. When drybrushing with silver I tend to use an enamel. I find they drybrush better than acrylics. The other thing I use is metallic printers inks. these are basically pigments and they need to be used with a carrier. I use then with either humbrol clear o...

I have been painting with oils for almost 30 years. If your oils are thin enough to get under tape then you are not using them correctly. Unless you are doing oil washes. In any case put down your tape then seal the edge by spraying a layer of clear coat. Paint with your oils then let them thuroughl...

Just beware of one thing about artist's inks. Many of them are not light fast or will change color if exposed to bright light for protracted lengths of time.

Cheers,

Mark

I have a question. How thick are the wings that need to be attached to the fuse? is the whole wing designed to fit in the slot or is there a peg on the wing? Also folks take it from an old artist that still has 20 year old W&N Series 7 brushes. This after every paint session and leave some in af...

The alcohol acted as a thinner and effected the Tamiya paint. I would suggest a laquer based clear coat before washing with thinned inks like that. Or try using an oil wash instead.

Mark

While I have a silent compressor, I rarely if ever use it. Instead I use a 25lb CO2 tank. I get about 40-60 hours of continuous use out of a fill and the "air" is bone dry. Hehe I have even airbrushed in 95% humitiy with little to no moister in the line. See if you have a company in your a...

I am with Kywell on this. Paper thin flash is just fine. inb fact if you are going to be shipping a kit with small fine parts the flash will help protect the small parts.

Cheers,

Mark

That's the one I use as reference. The Key is that you need REALLY bright and very intense paints. I bought a set of Citadel paints to do mine but there are others available.

Cheers,

Mark

There are two other methods I know of both using the postit idea. One is to use pastels and what you do is seal as you go. The other is to streak a panel with oils like many aircraft guys do. This would work nicely if the panel adjacent to the weathered one was painted like a new replacement panel. ...

Two possibilities for you... First look around at local hobby shops and see if any have the aluminum tubling modelers use all of the tubing is designed to telescope. The other option is to find the right size OD tube and fill it with a hard epoxy putty like Aves. once cured drill a pilot whole in th...

Here is my take on washes... Washes are most effective when they are employed to meet a desired finish. By that, I mean that using similar and dissimilar materials can GREATLY affect how the wash acts. If you paint the base with an Acrylic, and then use an acrylic as a wash, the wash is likely to le...

Hmm at this point I am not sure it will even work properly. I'd try taking some of each out of the package and let it druy out overnight or maybe another day without mixing them see if you can get some of that water out.

-Mark

Okay here is the deal. I never thin with water. Use Alcohol or their thinner. Putty is more clay like and the Aves Clay IS clay like and even stiffer when mixed up. The normal putty is what most use here, BUT the paste can be mixed and used in the same way as your Testors putty. The big difference i...

Butters, What did you thin your Aves with water or Alcohol and how thin did you make it? There is a point where the putty will loose cohesion (even with their thinner) because it has been thinned too much. In those instances I use the paste and thin that as it is a slightly different formulation and...

Another trick for what Ter suggests is to add a drop or two of dish soap to your mix water. This will act as a surfactant (wetting agent) and allow for greater and finer flow in the detailed areas. As a side note, I add a surfactant of some type to all of my water based paints when brush painting. T...

I guess my first qestion would have to be is this harware, or a natural subject, or is it an animal ? all of those are handled in a different way. Then I have to ask what is the situatiuon? is it in a specific enviroment? For instance if near dirt/ earth you would want to introduce a warm undertone ...

Okay here is a trick that was taught to me 30 years ago. Once you are completely done with the paint in question for a project, Shake the bottle up until all of the pigment is suspended in the paint. Then store the jar upside down. The pigment will settle around the lid and act as a secondary seal f...

The paste is a great seam filling product. Being that it too can be shapped and smoothed with a soft brush and alcohol. The best part is there is little to no (under 2%) shrinkage as well!

Cheers,

Mark

Photoguy hit the nail right on the head. The auto grey primers as well as sandable primers by Krylon and Rustolium are all very good basic primer straight out of the can. When I worked at the model shop for Kenner that is all we ever used unless we has a truly small finely detailed subject then we s...

I am in agreement with the idea that the undercoat could be part of the problem. Additionally, I would enquire as to how long to let the paint cure with either the retailer you purchased it from or the manufacturer. Typically paints like that can take up to 48-72 hour to fully cure. Also, think abou...

We always used a system like Don is tlking. I prefer the bell jar as i can more closely monitor the degasing process and prevent spill over with ease. De gasing is really the only way to go. Additionally, if we were molding smaller highly detailed parts we would put the mold in the pot after pouring...

Laquer thinner can be very caustic. I almost always use srtist oils and turpentine for my washes. Also you might want to try putting a layer of Future down first thus giving you an acrylic layer as a barrier between the base coat and the wash.

Cheers,

Mark

Just a little hint if you use Humbrols, I HIGHLY recommend using their thinner. I have found over the years that it works best with their paint particularly their clear finishes.

Cheers,

Mark

Take and old #11 blade and break the tip off. Use that and scribe with the back of the blade. This will cut a channel not spread the plastic. You can keep scribing until it is a clean through cut. then just a little sanding will be required. For really thick stock I use a plexiglass cutter which cut...

I'm a huge fan of a CO2 tank instead of a compressor. The air is dryer and I typiccally get 20-24 hours of spray time out of each tank (that's a lot of airbrush time).

Cheers,

Mark

The answer to your question is that It cannot hurt to warm it up. You'll also want to make sure that your paint (be it spray or airbrush) be warm as well and your model needs to be warm as well when you paint it.

Cheers,

Mark

I suggest a Paasche VL.

Cheers,

Mark

Here is a PDF of my class handout I did for my Model Photography Class i taught for years at Wonderfest.

http://www.starshipmodeler.info/wfest2k ... yFinal.pdf

Cheers,

Mark

Priming depends on many things. First are you doing it in sub assemblies? Second do you have a lot of filling etc. yet to do? I generally prime after my first round of filling and sanding. It helps to show where the flaws might be hiding. If you are doing sub assemblies make sure that when you go to...