First kit in 22 years !

[Eric Mc]

No.

You can get excellent airbrushes for under £100. I bought a £90 Harder and Steenbeck Evolution two years ago and it is excellent.

To get started in airbrushing, the AB range sold in the Expo Tools catalogue can be as litle at £30. They may not be as precise or as brilliant as H & S, or Iwata, but they are good for getting started.

I bought one a few years before the H & S and it was extremely easy to use. I still use it today - but mainly for spraying varnishes rather than paint.

Airbrushes have never been so affordable.

[HoHoHo]

Thanks Eric.

On a larger model would you airbrush or spray with paint the fuselage from Halfords (thinking about my Vulcan here)?

[Eric Mc]

I use Halfords (or sometimes Tamiya) spray can undercoat grey on almost all my models - no matter how big or small they are.

For the main colours, I would only tend to use Halfords spray can paints if the colour is fairly generic or not available from one of the model paint manufacturers. For military aircraft camouflage schemes, I would normally use either Xtracrylic or Tamiya acrylic pains sprayed through the H & S Airbrush.

The other main use of Halfords aerosols is with white airliners, when I make use of Halfords Appliance White - as mentioned earlier.

One kit I made not so long ago which was almost excluisvely painted with various Halfords paints was my 1/144 Space Shuttle.

[HoHoHo]

Looks great - are they out of focus because the main engines have just ignited or did you have a wobbly hand

[dr_gn]

HoHoHo said:

I think you're right about an airbrush but I'm not sure if this is going to become a reasonable hobby again or just a flash in the pan.

I've had a look a few months ago and they seem to be around £200 for anything worth having, is that the case?

Bear in mind that you'll need a decent compressor as well as a decent airbrush. Throw in a few accesories such as a holder and cleaning equipment, and your figure of £200 'for an airbrush' might well be a bit low.

[Eric Mc]

HoHoHo said:

Looks great - are they out of focus because the main engines have just ignited or did you have a wobbly hand

I have slightly better pictures but because I'm working I didn't have time to track them down for you.
I was more concerned about showing what can be done with Halfords Acrylic.

[Eric Mc]

dr_gn said:

Bear in mind that you'll need a decent compressor as well as a decent airbrush. Throw in a few accesories such as a holder and cleaning equipment, and your figure of £200 'for an airbrush' might well be a bit low.

At Farnborough Modelfest, you could buy H & S airbrushes from one trader starting at £70 and another was selling nice compressors starting at around £70 too - so a decent set up for £140.
If you bought one of the AB brushes - you could be off and spraying for just over £100.

I think that you don't have to spend a fortune to learn the ropes at airbrushing.
Obviously, you could spend lots and lots if you want to.

[dr_gn]

Eric Mc said:

dr_gn said:

Bear in mind that you'll need a decent compressor as well as a decent airbrush. Throw in a few accesories such as a holder and cleaning equipment, and your figure of £200 'for an airbrush' might well be a bit low.

At Farnborough Modelfest, you could buy H & S airbrushes from one trader starting at £70 and another was selling nice compressors starting at around £70 too - so a decent set up for £140.
If you bought one of the AB brushes - you could be off and spraying for just over £100.

I think that you don't have to spend a fortune to learn the ropes at airbrushing.
Obviously, you could spend lots and lots if you want to.

I'd go for the H&S airbrush too and be done with it. The cheap Chinese ones seem notoriously inconsistent (might get a good one, might get a bad one) from what I've read. If you get a dud, how do you know if it's technique or equipment that's causing a potential issue? Since we're not talking mega bucks for a decent setup, I'd budget for around £200 (ok maybe £150 at a push) and go with a known quality airbrush. Just my opinion obviously. I'd also recommend calling Paul at Little-Cars and having a chat - he doesn't sell rubbish, is knowlegable and usually has some great deals on equipment - including H&S.

[HoHoHo]

Thanks for the info guys.

Once I've decided if I plan to keep going I'll invest and make necessary calls.

[Eric Mc]

Little-Cars are ace. I was chatting to Paul on Saturday at Modelfest. He is very, very helpful and will talk you through the best options for you.

[HoHoHo]

Well, number two done and aside from a bit of touching up and finishing and attaching the Blue Steel Missile, then hung in little Sammy's room along with the 747 400.

Thought for a change I'd have 558 as a white Vulcan, wheels up looking like she does best - flying


Vulcan XH 558 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr


Vulcan XH 558 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr


Vulcan XH 558 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr


Vulcan XH 558 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr

Used Halfords primer and then Appliance White as per Eric's instructions and the results are much, much better than a brush

I'm now going away on business for 6 weeks but will tackle a smaller 1:72 Harrier GR Mk3 when I get back.

[Eric Mc]

That looks pretty damn good.

[HoHoHo]

Thanks Eric

I need to focus on filling and making good without destroying any panel lines and so on. I'm not interested in becoming a 'scale' modeler with the fine detail exactly as it should be, however a good representation of what I'm building will suit with a reasonable finish.

I'm quite pleased with it and your suggestion of spray paint certainly worked a treat , thanks

[Eric Mc]

Destroying panel line detail when sanding and smoothing is the main problem with older kits which feature raised panel lines. The best course of action is, when filling and sanding a seam, to protect surrounding panel lines with masking tape.

Engraved, recessed lines are easier to restore after the sanding process.

[HoHoHo]

Good advice and when you think about it - bleeding obvious!

Often it's the little things you forget.

[Eric Mc]

To be honest, I don't always follow my own advice. It depends on how extensive the sanding needs to be. Some older kits (Heller in particular) are very nice and go together really well - with often little sanding required. So, their panel lines usually survive quite well.

Older Airfix kits are often festooned with excessive and inappropriate rivet detail and usually this just needs to be completely obliterated by sanding down, forcing the replacement of panels by rescribing.

A good example of one of these old kits is their 1/72 Chipmunk - which is accurate in outline but covered in rivets.

[dr_gn]

Eric Mc said:

Destroying panel line detail when sanding and smoothing is the main problem with older kits which feature raised panel lines. The best course of action is, when filling and sanding a seam, to protect surrounding panel lines with masking tape.

Or, as I've said many, many, many, many, many times before, just use Milliput for seam gaps and remove the excess with a damp cloth before it sets, then there's no sanding to do afterwards whatsoever. Apart from not having a gap in the first place, there's no simpler solution.

[dr_gn]

HoHoHo said:

Well, number two done and aside from a bit of touching up and finishing and attaching the Blue Steel Missile, then hung in little Sammy's room along with the 747 400.

Thought for a change I'd have 558 as a white Vulcan, wheels up looking like she does best - flying


Vulcan XH 558 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr


Vulcan XH 558 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr


Vulcan XH 558 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr


Vulcan XH 558 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr

Used Halfords primer and then Appliance White as per Eric's instructions and the results are much, much better than a brush

I'm now going away on business for 6 weeks but will tackle a smaller 1:72 Harrier GR Mk3 when I get back.

Looks superb - clean build.

[Eric Mc]

The only comment I would make is that you have put 1980s style RAF roundels on a 1960s colour scheme. The RAF roundels that were used on the anti-flash scheme were pale blue and pink - with the serials in pale blue.

[HoHoHo]

Eric Mc said:

The only comment I would make is that you have put 1980s style RAF roundels on a 1960s colour scheme. The RAF roundels that were used on the anti-flash scheme were pale blue and pink - with the serials in pale blue.

That's the very picture I used (or one of them) for my black bits.

I realised rounders were incorrect, but they came with the 558 kit so I thought...........they'll be ok

Finished now and hanging proudly in Sam's bedroom.