To Paint Brush or To Air Brush

[dewbs2012]

Hi All

Still working on my first project in 30 years, kit 506 Hawker Hurricane, my young fella thinks it looks cool but he is only 5 and looking at it through Skype. It it is fair to say that I have a full card of lessons learnt on this project.

I just gave it a paint job using aerosols, I had the paint lying around and there are no Hobby Shops in the Solomon Islands where I live to go and get some model paints or advice.

Anyway it did not turn out too bad, but not really what I am looking for.

Would welcome any feedback or advice from the forum on how you guys finish your projects, I am more into static display than flying at this stage.

Thanks for reading my post.

Cheers
Dewbs

[Wildpig]

in the Solomon Islands where I live

Dewbs

Neat, finding people from all over the world on this forum.


Since I build for flying, my finishes are usually minimal when it comes to painting. The best finish I've had is Aero Gloss dope.
I think that if I kept sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper and reapplying layer after layer of dope, I could get a very nice finish.
Probably doesn't help you much, with that.

David Duckett gets a nice finish on his static models. Check out his B-29 build. I think it's artist acrylic paint.

[dewbs2012]

Thanks Wildpig

[Bill Gaylord]

The only area that I really found the need for airbrushing, is Lufwaffe motting, or other schemes that require an intentional over spray effect. Spitfire and Hurricane schemes can look reasonable, by simply using paper mask templates cut to create the pattern. I generally mask camo areas and then remove the mask and use the airbrush only for the final edging, to get a scale overspray effect when desired. Without masking templates, the tendency is to paint more area than initially planned, as the edge seems to just keep moving outward.

I got a decent airbrush compressor setup, but the sprayer never worked so I ended up using my cheap Testors Pasche airbrush tips that seem to work well enough. I imagine that a small, low dollar air compressor like the ones sold for bikes and car trunks would also work the low dollar Testors airbrush set. You could put together something inexpensive to experiment with, since airbrush setups can get quite pricy.

[cliffm]

When I started the hobby again after 50yrs. or so I experimented with about every method suggested on this forum and a few others, I finally ended my search with the use of wal-mart acrylics from the arts and crafts section and an air-brush. You'll need to experiment with thinning the paints for desired effects ( about 50/50 water to start) and there are a bunch of air-brushes from el-cheapo to spendeeee. The cheap ones work all right as long as you keep them clean after use,if you don't clean them right after use they can be easily damaged trying to clean them when they have dried. I finally got a Pasche which is well known and you can find parts for them if you do mess something up. You'll be able to get any type finish you desire with very little experience. I still use brushes for small pieces and touch up but comes out beautiful with out a whole bunch of brushing and sanding. I know,blah,blah,blah,anyways this is what I've found,good luck