When it comes to modelling the actual job of removing the parts from the sprue or runner, cleaning that up with a craft knife/scalpel, and a sanding sponge or sanding stick then gluing it together I can do without too much hassle, ok I may get a bit of glue in the wrong places from time to time however overall I can do that without too much aggravation. It is the next phase that gets me right in a fix, the painting. When it comes to painting this is where it usually grinds to a halt, the bits get put back into the box and my work is destined to be a shelf queen for all eternity, ok that may be a bit strong, it will stay on the shelf until I find the inclination and confidence to attempt to finish it, either that or when I need something to finish for scale model world in Telford or as a suitable candidate for that years group build. In my workroom I have a shelf or two with kits in numerous stages of being finished, some have even reached the stage of having primer applied yet that is as far as they have gone, yes there are one or two that have seen a coat of paint which has happened during one of my more proficient days. So what is my problem with painting?, that is a very good question and not one I am sure at this point I know the answer too. Actually it is not just the painting that I have issues with, decaling is also something that causes me untold stress and anxiety, lets be honest there is nothing more befuddling than applying a decal carefully to your model only to admire your handy work just to find that the decal in question has disappeared never to be found again. I also think that there are too many unanswered questions and far too many ways that the project can go wrong. Once the kit is built, part built, do you wash it before applying paint, or do you wash it before you start building it. Should you apply primer, should you apply shading, or should you post shade, when on earth in fact should you even apply the base coat. You see far too many questions and to be honest not enough answers to calm my ever stressed sanity. So lets say for arguments sake we have reached the point where we have the kit built and a coat of primer applied and we have decided due to our lack of airbrush skills and knowledge we have decided not to pre shade, or even post shade come to think about it due to the same lack of skills knowledge and of course practise, a steady hand also helps of course. We then decide to apply the base coat with the airbrush that we haven’t used in the last 6 month and you view the tricky little fellow as an accident just waiting to happen.
So, we have loaded the airbrush with our base coat of choice hoping that we have thinned it to the right ratio as we all know how that ends if you don’t, for the most part, and from my point of view the base coat invariably goes down without too much of an issue, there are parts of this painting malarky that I can and usually do right. Over the last 30 or so years and as I deviated away from the paint brush and started using an airbrush, my paint of choice was always water based simply due to sharing my home with an Asthmatic and also for the ease of cleanup. My first airbrush of choice was a basic Badger spray gun, you know the one where you screw the airbrush jar underneath and use a rather expensive can of air, boy did you nip through them at a rate of knots, I then progressed to a Badger 200 I think it was, that was a class above the basic spray gun, however I was still flying through the cans of propellant. I found cleaning the Badger 200 a task however it has stood me in good stead for my future airbrushes. I was still spraying with water based paints well Tamiya simply because you could clean it in the sink with water and it was the only water based paint you could get at the model shop I still to this day have only sprayed Humbrol paints once and I over thinned it, did not use primer and the paint just ran of the sides of the tank, it was the old Tamiya Hunting Tiger, it ended up being sprayed Tamiya sand at some point and I have still got it somewhere, anyway back to the painting. I continued with the Badger, bought myself a compressor and considering the amount of cans of propellant I was buying it was money well spent, the only downside was it had no air pressure gauge and sprayed everything at 35psi, not good when you are painting minis and all it was doing was blasting the poor thing around the cardboard box I used as a spray booth, top health and safety tip here, do not spray into a box with no extract attached, it aint no good for you. I used to get my Nephew round to help me paint so he could hold the model it as I sprayed (cheers Ant). I did at some point buy an Aztec airbrush as everyone in the modelling magazines I was reading at the time seemed to be using one but I could never get on with it, plus it was too light and I ended up selling it a few years back for considerably less than I paid for it.
Feeling frustrated with my painting goes back a long way I guess, even back to when I was brush painting as the finish that I was getting was not what I wanted, My Stepdad and I bought the first airbrush together, just as we had started this modelling journey together so stepping into the realms of airbrushing seemed like the next step although I’m not too sure he ever got the chance to use it. With my paint choice chosen for me and my frustrations born out of my inability to get the finish I was looking for, unable to find the right airbrush combination, there was only one thing for it and that was to splash the cash and buy exactly what I needed, so I emailed the Airbrush company and they advised me to buy an Iwata Eclipse CS and a compressor and at the start all was good (until I bent the needle and that is a different story). I found being able to ask advice helped a lot in my choice as if it had all gone south I could always blame it on the advice received, I do own several airbrushes now, I have an Iwata neon that I have had for many years and is a great back up if the Eclipse stops working. Now it is not all plain sailing, just ask the long suffering Wife Kerry, the build up to Telford is never complete without at least one airbrush disaster (including this year). Now I have completely digressed away from the frustrations I have surrounding painting and I make no apologies for that as it is all part of my journey, so I have built, primed and laid down the base coat without too much drama, I used to pre-shade however I tend to get the shakes when doing so, so I try to add some shading in the weathering process. Now as part of the painting process and at some point you have to add the decals, now I could right a whole book on my decaling issues, lets just say it is not a task I enjoy, and I approach it as one would approach a visit to the dentist, with dread however before one attempts decal attachment a gloss coat needs to be sprayed, yet another task that has me breaking out into a sweat, my problem is I always go over the top and gloss far too much and with it the risk of covering up all that glorious detail which I have done on too many occasions.
So, now the gloss coat has been done, the decals attached, another gloss coat sprayed over, I am ready for the weathering. I will not lie to you, I love a nicely weathered model, whether that be a vehicle, aircraft or a ship however looking at someone else’s work is one thing, taking that step yourself, or myself fills me with dread. When is too much?, and when is not enough?, I know weathering to a certain degree is subjective and is about balance between what is life like and what is artistic yet I am not sure I know what that balance is. Too often I start the weathering process and find it an arduous task full of pitfalls and the potential for disaster. You have spent all those hours building the thing, slapping on primer, base coat, gloss, decals more gloss just to slap on all sorts of mediums in a vain attempt to make it attractive to the eye, and I think that’s what weathering boils down too, you want your model to stand out, so it catches the eye. Before it reaches that point, for me it has to go down a tightrope of possible dangers as it goes through the many stages to bring the model to life, maybe it is a bit like running through a mine field that may or may not contain mines. So as my blog post and the hypothetical model that has gone though all the many processes, from the glueing to the final weathering process it then comes down to the final task, the final chance to really mess it all up, the matt coat, this is, as I am sure you may have guessed is something I have had issue with in the past, this time last year as I shook the bottle of Vallejo matt varnish ready to spray it on my two completed models that had run the gauntlet of potential disasters only to be cut down right at the end by my simple shaking of the varnish bottle, stirred not shaken Mr Bond, well something like that. So painting is not something I relish, nor is it a journey that I enjoy however this model lark is a journey, a journey that may not always be enjoyable yet if you mange to pull it all off without too many disasters you can have that feeling of satisfaction of admiring your handy work and maybe it was all worth it in the end. Until next time.
The Average Modeller October 2024
The Average Modeller 