Methods You might be interested in how I am working. In principal, I don’t have a lot of special tools or a dedicated working place. I am using my general working table and some paper towels to protect it from paint or dirt. When I am not modeling, it is a normal working table for writing or computer work .
The
main tool I am using is a scalpel. Then there is of course sand paper
(400, 800 and 1200) and sanding sticks of different grainings.
For putty I usually use Gunze Mr.Surfacer or superglue. If the
openings are big, simply put some plastic sheet in between, and then
again lots of super glue. For glueing I use only super glue, just for
some very tricky parts two-component glue might be necessary. A
mini-tool or dremel is nice for drilling holes, cutting with a rotating
blade, or milling. For scribing, the UMM Scriber A1 proved to be very
useful. It is very easy to use for free-hand scribing of the panel
lines that disappeared under superglue when putting two pieces
together.
The
canopy should be sealed in a bath of future, since this protects it from
super glue vapours and dramatically increases the see-through effect.
If you have to sand the canopy (work from grainings 400 to 8000), the
final bath in future brings back the shine.
For
painting I am using an
Aerograph Sprite Major and an Evolution airbrush. The Aerograph is
better for fine details. I paint virtually everything by airbrush, also
smallest
pieces. Brushes I only need for washing, drybrushing and fine details.
The paints I am using are mainly Gunze and Tamiya acrylics, for bare metal I like Gunze Mr. Metal Color. With Testors aluminium metalizer as a base, you can easily take off the above acrylic color layer by using duct tape. Otherwise I use Gunze Mr. Metal Color aluminium and a very fine brush for scipped-off paint on dark surfaces or Gunze iron on light surfaces.
Rivets
can be easily applied with the RB Productions riveters. They produce
very fine round holes that do not appear overdone at all and are
available for a lot of distances between the rivets. After application,
the surface has to be sanded smooth again.
Painting
and weathering: I airbrush the model with the basic colors, then add
some white and yellow to those colors and airbrush a cloudy pattern
onto the panels. Then I put some heavily diluted oil paint into the
panel lines with a brush and wipe it away in the direction of the air
flow with a piece of cloth. 3D structures, mainly in cockpits and wheel
wells, are highlighted by drybrushing. Then I add the chipped paint. A
coat of Gunze gloss, decals (and weathering of the decals with oil
paint), another coat of Gunze gloss and a Microscale semigloss or flat
finish. I dilute the colors heavily with isopropanol (50% at least),
and for spraying patterns even more diluted. |