Post by Baz on Feb 9, 2008 10:23:26 GMT 1
Hi guys
Thought I’d put my twopence worth in here too and it may provide helpful info, especially for those who have not started painting,
Thought I’d start this thread to differentiate between painting methods and colour schemes
Please bear in mind I’m no expert in model painting matters, but just my ideas and opinions.
For all the time and effort beneath the surface, the paintwork makes or breaks your project.
Prepare carefully for the paint will hide a vast majority of hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of your precious work
To start, I have never painted a model this size before, so will cover myself with Mark’s anorak before I go forth.
Looking at the detail of the parts supplied, they are excellent, sharp and in some cases minute.
It is vital this detail is not lost with a thick coating of paint.
Think of applying paint 1/200 that of the original.
That means sections of the model with small indentations need to still have those edges when the final coat of paint is applied, such as the recess between the hull and the porthole (for those who are going to use inserts)
The hallmark of a high-class model is sharp, well defined features, accentuated by the paintwork.
With this in mind, I have also treated any part of my construction as final preparation, even if it is only the first rib or layer of work. That way construction imperfection is hopefully minimised, preparing the opportunity to apply a quality paint coating.
As has been mentioned by at least Mark in previous postings (reply 29 re; painting), multiple thin coats are best.
The paint should be applied so it is thick enough to spread when drying, but not too thin that it runs.
That is the secret.
For spraying, the finer the droplet, the thinner the paint. This is where the airbrush has a great advantage
For brushing, well maybe MikeB’s suggestion is the answer. (post reply 30 re; painting)
I have thought of using a 1/200th scale roller, but I can’t find a live sheep small enough to get the correct scale wool type.
In the past I have tried airbrush, brush painting and Spraycans of various manufacture on plastic models. Have never colour painted any of my period ships, only applied thinned clear polyurethane paint with a rag or oil.
With airbrushing, I flopped badly. Bought a very expensive model some 30 years ago and tried for hours. Could never get the paint to the correct constituency.
I used high quality sable brushes with only fair results.
The finer the brush hairs, the better the flow of paint.
Wouldn’t like to try and purchase a 3 inch one of those today. Probably cost more than this model.
Less expensive and still excellent brushes are the larger lettering brushes using a combination of sable and ox hair.
These are available at most art supply stores
What I finally used regularly were the Tamiya spray cans. They produced a high quality mirror finish and the droplet size was small and consistent (if the can was new…another secret).
I’m tending to lean this way for painting the Bismarck as it will be perfect for the photo-etched deckhouse details.
Might cost a bit to cover the hull though.
Hope this is helpful to some out there
Baz
Thought I’d put my twopence worth in here too and it may provide helpful info, especially for those who have not started painting,
Thought I’d start this thread to differentiate between painting methods and colour schemes
Please bear in mind I’m no expert in model painting matters, but just my ideas and opinions.
For all the time and effort beneath the surface, the paintwork makes or breaks your project.
Prepare carefully for the paint will hide a vast majority of hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of your precious work
To start, I have never painted a model this size before, so will cover myself with Mark’s anorak before I go forth.
Looking at the detail of the parts supplied, they are excellent, sharp and in some cases minute.
It is vital this detail is not lost with a thick coating of paint.
Think of applying paint 1/200 that of the original.
That means sections of the model with small indentations need to still have those edges when the final coat of paint is applied, such as the recess between the hull and the porthole (for those who are going to use inserts)
The hallmark of a high-class model is sharp, well defined features, accentuated by the paintwork.
With this in mind, I have also treated any part of my construction as final preparation, even if it is only the first rib or layer of work. That way construction imperfection is hopefully minimised, preparing the opportunity to apply a quality paint coating.
As has been mentioned by at least Mark in previous postings (reply 29 re; painting), multiple thin coats are best.
The paint should be applied so it is thick enough to spread when drying, but not too thin that it runs.
That is the secret.
For spraying, the finer the droplet, the thinner the paint. This is where the airbrush has a great advantage
For brushing, well maybe MikeB’s suggestion is the answer. (post reply 30 re; painting)
I have thought of using a 1/200th scale roller, but I can’t find a live sheep small enough to get the correct scale wool type.
In the past I have tried airbrush, brush painting and Spraycans of various manufacture on plastic models. Have never colour painted any of my period ships, only applied thinned clear polyurethane paint with a rag or oil.
With airbrushing, I flopped badly. Bought a very expensive model some 30 years ago and tried for hours. Could never get the paint to the correct constituency.
I used high quality sable brushes with only fair results.
The finer the brush hairs, the better the flow of paint.
Wouldn’t like to try and purchase a 3 inch one of those today. Probably cost more than this model.
Less expensive and still excellent brushes are the larger lettering brushes using a combination of sable and ox hair.
These are available at most art supply stores
What I finally used regularly were the Tamiya spray cans. They produced a high quality mirror finish and the droplet size was small and consistent (if the can was new…another secret).
I’m tending to lean this way for painting the Bismarck as it will be perfect for the photo-etched deckhouse details.
Might cost a bit to cover the hull though.
Hope this is helpful to some out there
Baz