My first Valkyrie...

[Spatula]

This kit was actually done about 2 weeks ago but I didn't get around to do a decent photo shoot.

Somethings you'll notice:

1) Very dirty appearance. Yeah I was very washy-weathery happy on this one. I pretty much douzed the whole cockpit cone with grey Humbrol and I did do some paneling, but the problem was just that I wasn't really patient to leave the oil wash alone overnight. I was afraid that the thinner wouldn't take care of the residue.

2) Some poor fits in areas. I admit to rushing a lot of areas, and the ugliest part is the right engine where it meets the fuselage.

3) Inconsistence paint markings. This was the first major project that I did with an airbrush, and I'm still very new at using an airbrush. So most of this stuff was trial and error. As well, the water from the decals rushed and washed away some of the oil Humbrol, interestingly enough. It took me 3 nights to get all the decals on. Plus you'll see some decals not where they ought to be.

But at any rate, it's done.

But anyways, I'm about 60% done my VF-1D and it's much better in appearance than the one right here now.

Edited November 7, 2005 by Spatula

[azrhino]

Don't be so hard on yourself. It sounds like you learned a lot of things

to do differently in the future, and the only way to improve is to practice

and be a little self critical.

If I may add one bit of constructive criticism, you might want to spend a

little more time working on seam lines. The few I saw weren't terrible,

but they were noticeable.

Overall, I think it is a good looking model. Keep up the good work.

[Grayson72]

The other thing I would add is try using a flat coat over the final product (after you've removed/protected the clear parts). It will hide all the shiny bumpy parts on your model.

[broadshore]

Great job! Thats one dirty bird.

[Spatula]

The other thing I would add is try using a flat coat over the final product (after you've removed/protected the clear parts). It will hide all the shiny bumpy parts on your model.

342853[/snapback]

I see, well I did the final coat as future floor and thought that's how it should be finished, before the dark wash. I see I see...

Also, here's just a quick in progress of my next Valk:

*P.S> I know I stole the front top intake markings off Cheng, but they look so damn cool! So I had to try it on this one here.

Edited November 7, 2005 by Spatula

[MechTech]

It looks great for a first attempt. You caught your blemishes. You learn more from screwing up I think anyhow.

One suggestion, work on your paint thinning AND mixing. The lumps in the paint are usually from one or the other. Don't be afraid to practice on some sprue or smooth card stock. If you get your mixture and spray right, it will look like you haven't painted at all (it will also make your scratches and blemishes stand out too)! Keep it up!

[Gabe Q]

Your first valk looks better than my first valk. Just for the heck of it, I'll try to post pictures later to prove it. I think your valk looks pretty good considering.

Your VF-1D is coming along nicely. Please post pics of the finished model.

[Ido]

My first valk is in the trash

Take more time for surface preparation before painting and do a lot of tests, before painting all should be perfect, fix after painting its a bad thing IMO. (especially with non-sandable paints)

Small scale models hate thick layers of paint, be careful to not overdo, the airbrush its your Pal, humbrol enamels are my arch-enemy.

Use a flat coat finish as suggested, it will hide minor imperfections and decal but keep in mind it doesn't do miracles.

Good luck

[wm cheng]

Hey Spatula, don't be so hard on yourself. I think it looks great! Especially considering its your first Valkyrie... its a tremendous effort. The most important thing is don't be discouraged - we are all learners here, and I for one, still have so much to learn!!

If it makes you feel any better, I have yet (in my 10+ years of experience) to build a perfect model - or even one that didn't have some major mistake or flaw. Plus since we built it ourselves, we will always have a more critical eye and can pick out immediately where we went wrong or what the mistakes were. The key is getting it to the point were others can't pick out your mistakes - I've given up on trying to build the perfect model long ago!

Criticisms eh... (I'll reply to your PM here instead - since I think others will benefit from the comments too) well, first off - did you hand brush or airbrush the white coat. It makes a lot of difference (I can't really hand brush a smooth coat to save my life! and really rely on the airbrush to get a clean even coat). As mentioned before, I'd concentrate on getting rid of the seams - in the beginning, I'd use more putty (which results in more sanding) but its safer to use more putty and sand to get rid of the seams. It also looks like you did your wash on a flat finish paint - I see that the wash seem to have stained areas around the panel lines. The oil panel wash works well on glossy or semi-gloss surfaces - so you can wipe away the excess wash without staining the surrounding paint. Lastly, does your digital camera have a white balance setting? If it does, set it to tungsten setting, it will neutralize the orange cast in your photos to give you a better colour rendition in indoor lighting.

Don't worry about stealing anything - I post here to share, and I think its a great compliment when I see others use my suggestions. Actually, I "stole" it from Tenjin the artist anyways

[Spatula]

Don't worry peoples, I'm actually happy with my 1st Valk. It ain't pretty, but it's good enough to display with the rest of my models. Plus I want to keep it as reference.

For the white base, I used Vallerjo off-white, however, I personally will not use it next time. It's very clumpy and just made these small dots all over the place with the air brush. Yes, I do have a paasche double action internal mix VL - and it's awesome, and I'm just learning the basics right now. Well in time hopefully I can use it better. I should show you some of the old pieces of paper I practiced doing various techniques like in the instruction book.

For this VF-1D here, I used Tamiya Flat White XF-2, which works MUCH better than the Vallerjo. I keep hearing Vallerjo being “better†especially from the shop owner that kept saying he prefers Vallerjo, but perhaps its more for other projects, or I don’t know how to use it properly. I found the Tamiya much easier to work with, even though I had to thin it with the X20 thinner.

Also:

No pics in sig. You have been moderated.

LOL! Sorries.

Edited November 7, 2005 by Spatula

[Grayson72]

I've never heard of that other stuff, I use Tamiya and Gunze, water based acrylics, so awesome to use.

[Sar]

For this VF-1D here, I used Tamiya Flat White XF-2, which works MUCH better than the Vallerjo.  I keep hearing Vallerjo being “better†especially from the shop owner that kept saying he prefers Vallerjo, but perhaps its more for other projects, or I don’t know how to use it properly.  I found the Tamiya much easier to work with, even though I had to thin it with the X20 thinner.

343067[/snapback]

Aren't Vallejo's paints water-based? I hear about them a lot in the context of miniature figure painting, WH40k and BTech and so on, but not so much in the context of kit building...

When you're airbrushing - especially when you're just starting - it really helps to use paints with a rapidly-evaporating solvent, 'cause the longer the paint is sitting wet on the surface of the model the longer it has to bead or run or fleck or pick up dust... Tamiya's (based in what, 'glycol ether'?) can be thinned with alcohol, for instance... I've never used lacquer paints, but I seem to recall they use something like xylene, which also evaporates really quickly. It certainly smells aromatic.

(The downside to such a solvent is that the regular filters you get on most shop-bought respirators don't cut it, and you'll need to buy a set of organics filters to avoid breathing the stuff in...)

The reverse can also be true, unfortuantely - if the paint dries before it hits the model it's equally bad for the finish, you need to find a steady median... it's just easier to find that median with something that dries quicker rather than slower. ;-)

Edited November 8, 2005 by Sar

[Spatula]

I normally head for Tamiya and Testors for the wash, but the shop guy told me that Vallerjo was like "SUPER DEE DUPER!" and didn't require thinning at all. I tried it out but it was terrible, since it was really clumpy, and didn't really conform to the surface. This REALLY screwed up the panel lines and such.

For the VF-1D, I already noted I used Tamiya White instead of the Vallerjo off white. It makes a WORLD of difference.

Also, some updated pics. I did the panel lines using flat black Testors. I know normally grey should be used, but this time I saw they used something much darker on the box art, so I'll give black a shot.

Edited November 8, 2005 by Spatula

[Kylwell]

Actually thats pretty nice for a first. Being a weathering junkie myself I don't mind the world weary look.

It does look like your airbrush pressure may be too high, resulting in the bumpies. I usually finish with a satin coat for modern aircraft. If you can find the Testors clear satin acrylic I can recomend it.

Washes are a pain, but since I've discovered using a pastel wash things have gotten much easier. Basically grind some pastel dust into water til you get a thin sludge. Paint in onto the gloss coat (always wash over gloss unless you want a really dirty look) let it start to dry them wipe off, remembering to never wipe parallel to a line. You can use a q-tip with a little water to wipe those tight corners.

All in all, a nice job.

[Spatula]

Well I finished doing most of the wash for panels here. Some parts I didn't do well or clean, like the wings etc. I think the legs turned out the best. I need to find a better paint/thinner ratio with my testors.

[kanata67]

first try looked nice. Most of your pics have a tint to them though... not sure if it's lighting or camera. the third pic from the right [top row] reminded me of many a f/a 18 I fell off of while washing in the navy.

Don't be afriad to make mistakes and something I sugest is always have one or two "crap" pieces to work on while working on your main project. If you ever do dry-brushing having a few pieces to screw up makes it much easier as you can "prime" them and when the brush is "dry" enough move on to the piece you care about . You might also try painting a toy or two while painting your models... you can get them cheap, they don't need any work [unless your a nutcase like me with excess spawn parts], and you can get some very nice effects. Lord knows some guys around here can put a factory yammie or bandai paint job to shame... but if you mess up a custom paint job on a jetfire the paint remover to start over has less dire consequences than if it was a kit.

oh yeah... listen to wm cheng... his wisdom is great... as is his humility... probably why he's one of the few folk around here I don't make fun of

[Spatula]

Well, here are the two birds. I think I like the VF-1D a bit more since the panel lines are more pronounced and has a much more better finish. I'm learning!!!

[broadshore]

Looks nice! Give the Vf-1D a look of a old beaten up bird. Good work I would say. Keep it up man!

[Spatula]

What's interesting is that I actually wanted to keep the VF-1D as clean as possible, and thought that using black Testors for the panelling would do the trick for crisp lines. It surely worked better than the Humbrol for the VF-1A, however it smudged along the sides even with using the Testors thinner to clean it up.

Also:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Yamato-1-100-Macross-Ro...bayphotohosting

Sneaky B@st@rd, putting the price so low, but putting a ridiculous amount for shipping...gee. >_>

Edited November 11, 2005 by Spatula

[Ido]

What's interesting is that I actually wanted to keep the VF-1D as clean as possible, and thought that using black Testors for the panelling would do the trick for crisp lines.  It surely worked better than the Humbrol for the VF-1A, however it smudged along the sides even with using the Testors thinner to clean it up.

Also:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Yamato-1-100-Macross-Ro...bayphotohosting

Sneaky B@st@rd, putting the price so low, but putting a ridiculous amount for shipping...gee.  >_>

344067[/snapback]

I think that your problem is caused by the uncured acrylic layer, acrylics can take even a lot of weeks to fully cure and in that period they are somewhat sticky and weak, so the enamel paint or the thinner could stick to the acrylic or worse damage the the acrylic layer, maybe you should use a lacquer clear coat for protection like MW cheng do and it looks to work.

Personally I hate use acrylics for base colors.

[Berttt]

acrylics can take even a lot of weeks to fully cure and in that period they are somewhat sticky and weak

What the hell type of acrylics are you using man!

If the acrylics I airbrush on aren't dry inside of 5-10 mins then something has gone terribly wrong. On the other hand I find enamels to be a pain to clean and they smell up my paint station.

Acrylics are the way to go, when your done you can dunk the airbrush in a bucket of water and run it for a few mins, shake off the excess and your good to go for your next colour.

[Spatula]

For me? I already stressed I use Tamiya acrylics. I tried out Vallerjo but it turned out horrible and got all spotty on my VF-1A. I know Tamiya does take about 1 week to fully cure, however usually overnight does the trick when you want to do a enamel work over the acrylic base coat.

[Kylwell]

I think that your problem is caused by the uncured acrylic layer, acrylics can take even a lot of weeks to fully cure and in that period they are somewhat sticky and weak, so the enamel paint or the thinner could stick to the acrylic or worse damage the the acrylic layer, maybe you should use a lacquer clear coat for protection like MW cheng do and it looks to work.

Personally I hate use acrylics for base colors.

344087[/snapback]

Unless you're using some crap brand of acrylics acrylics will fully cure within 48 hours. There's a reason I'm willing to pay for the price of Tamiya acrylics, they stick and they dry beautifully. Cheap craft brands can make a mess of a nice model.

I only seal with lacquer if I plan on goving the model a wash with an acylic paint, otherwise I can't stand the smell. And lacquer can also take 48 hours plus to fully cure.

[Wicked Ace]

Spatula, I really like the pic of your models positioned on their respective boxes. If that -1A was trully your first Valkyrie, then you did a way better job than I did on my first Valkyrie model. If I were you, I wouldn't be the least bit hesitant to display these pieces -- you wil really appreciate them when you've done others and can see how you've improved. Thanks for you contribution.

[Berttt]

For me?  I already stressed I use Tamiya acrylics.  I tried out Vallerjo but it turned out horrible and got all spotty on my VF-1A.  I know Tamiya does take about 1 week to fully cure, however usually overnight does the trick when you want to do a enamel work over the acrylic base coat.

344284[/snapback]

No for Ido. I just wanted to know what acrylics he was using, as they shouldn't take a week to dry.

Edited November 12, 2005 by Berttt

[Kylwell]

Dawned on me it may be a humidity issue. Around here the humidity rarely gets above 25%. That combined with the high altitude makes paint cure damned quick.

But I know guys in Florida that don't have much issues with even Tamiya gloss paints.

What are you using to thin it?

Edited November 12, 2005 by Kylwell

[CdnShockwave]

Looks great!

[Spatula]

If that -1A was trully your first Valkyrie, then you did a way better job than I did on my first Valkyrie model. 

344304[/snapback]

Yes, indeed this was my first Valkyrie. It's definately not my first model, but then again I've only done models for about 1/2 a year now. Not that much in terms of models I might add. I'm pretty into the Japanese type anime mecha stuff, so Gundam - Gunpla is definately no mystery to me.