Here's my VF-2SS,

[Myersjessee]

Well i'm just happy to see someone actually building their models, rather then horde them away in a dark closet for noone else to see (brings Gollum to mind "My Precious..........") Hard to beleive that here in Macross World, I have only seen 5 other VF-2ss Valks. It's too bad more people collect models instead of build them.

LOL...true...Im trying to build mine...but Im just so slow....I need to figure out how WM and others build them so quickly!

[neptunesurvey]

My first use of an airbrush was on a VF-2SS kit which is right here.

[robokochan]

I would build one but I don't have one

ROb MN

[Nitrous]

Nice job done for a someone's first try. I tried on a Imai 1/72 VF-1J before, and it looked like Salsa dancer...

Anyway, one question. I thought that Bandai actually provide stickers for the colour parts of the VF2SS. I have 1 set with me, and it came with sticker sheets for the blue on the chest, orange for the head and black for the cockpit cover. The rest of the parts have been colour coded nicely by Bandai.

The only thing that you'll need to do is to panel line it.

So just wan some opinion, is it worth painting it? Or is it better to do a "Stick-it-on" exercise?

Thanks!

[neptunesurvey]

I prefer to paint those on. It always seems to look better.

[vlenhoff]

I would build one but I don't have one

ROb MN

I'll sell you one if you want one

...but it is gonna cost a lot

...and it's gonna be made by Toynami

Funny, when you totally reverse the ecuation, it doesn't seem to factor all that well

vic

Do you really don't have one?

'cause I'll sell you one if you want one....

edit:...but it is gonna cost a lot (oops again )

Edited November 19, 2003 by vlenhoff

[Deadzone]

I think this model is a good start. When I was a kid, it took me five models before I got... well, actually I was never really good as a kid. Almost all my models sucked. I just saw Greatmoose show off a black valk that he said he hand painted. That is the smoothest hand painted finish I have ever seen. Might want to ask him for advice. Personally, I got past this problem with a good airbrush. An Iwata Eclipse did it for me although I hear Paasche and badger are also good. With Tamiya paints and a good clear coat, you should have no problems. Keep them coming.

[vlenhoff]

I think this model is a good start. When I was a kid, it took me five models before I got... well, actually I was never really good as a kid. Almost all my models sucked. I just saw Greatmoose show off a black valk that he said he hand painted. That is the smoothest hand painted finish I have ever seen. Might want to ask him for advice. Personally, I got past this problem with a good airbrush. An Iwata Eclipse did it for me although I hear Paasche and badger are also good. With Tamiya paints and a good clear coat, you should have no problems. Keep them coming.

That is insane, he hand-painted it? What? That looks too even for a handjob

vic

[VFX]

That is insane, he hand-painted it? What? That looks too even for a handjob 

Actually I think your worst enemy is the paint you are using. Those little square Testors bottles are a pain. I recommend you try hand painting with Tamiya paints and a Camel hair brush.

Almost all the 1/144 Stuff on my website is hand brushed with either Tamiya or Mr Color. This VF-19 Gerwalk was entirely hand brush by me a few years ago:

Edited November 22, 2003 by VFX

[vlenhoff]

Wow, that is really nice. Wow, it has lots of detai, and you say this YF-19 is 1/144?

That's nice!

vic.

[ComicKaze]

Yes VFX, that is an awesome hand-painted job. I've always loved that particular model and it's nice to know who it's builder is.

I have 3 VF-2SS's here but I'm too afraid to touch them. I paid over $80 for one of them when I was naive and HLJ didn't have reissues in stock.

[CoryHolmes]

Good stuff. I really like the pebbled effect of the paint. It looks fantastic on a space-mecha like the 2SS.

Now then, if I could only model half as well as you do...

[Druna Skass]

Nice, VF-2SS. I want to get one but all you punks got them all before I could snap one up.

Just a few tips I got from this one guy running a hobby shop I frequent often.

Use spray paint or an airbrush when ever you can, try not to brush paint big things if you can avoid it.

Some paints are pretty thick (like the ones in the square testors jars, use the ones in the round jars, they're thinned out already) and you'll need to dilute them a little with just a bit of paint thinner.

I had some of same problems till I started talking to that guy.

[vlenhoff]

I can't believe that no one noticed that in some of the pictures, the VF-2ss is floating....

vic.

[tetsujin]

Hi,

It is most certainly possible to do better work than this, even when completely brush-painting a model. The key is to be patient, use very thin coats of paint, and build up the color gradually.

For starters, I would recommend switching to acrylic. Apart from being water-soluble (which I do not consider an especially great asset) they also dry faster (enamels can take weeks to cure - and have strange behavior between the time they dry and the time they're fully cured which can cause layering to fail. For a long time I was dead-set on using only solvent-based paints like Testor's enamels, but in retrospect that was a mistake. I could have done better work with less effort by using acrylics. Testor's enamels also have this real gummy texture when they dry, it's not something one can easily sand smooth if it's misapplied.

The texture that's all over your parts appears to be a layering issue: you paint a layer of paint, it dries, you paint another layer, and the brushing action of the second layer along with the solvents in the paint cause the first layer to break up a bit. This, in my experience, can be hard to avoid with enamels anyway - but it can largely be avoided by working in very thin layers (thin your paint, quite a lot!).

Another thing to keep in mind: never work with paint straight from the bottle. Don't put your paint thinner into the paint bottle (paint thinner accelerates curing). Also putting your paint brush into the paint bottle deposits dust and paint particles into the paint bottle, which can show up later in your paintjob. Transfer paint to another container first, then thin it, then apply.

Also, there are places on your kit where you applied white paint on top of blue. This generally doesn't work too well, white paint doesn't seal very well. It's easier if you use flat white paint instead of gloss, or paint the area gray then repaint it white - but the easiest thing, if possible, is just not to do that. Paint the white part white then paint the blue.

Also, I cannot stress this enough: you must putty your seams. All your paint work is wasted if you do not smooth the seams properly.

Here's a good painting tutorial. It's a little more advanced than you need for painting aircraft/mecha (it deals with figure modeling stuff, like highlights and shadows) but the basic painting techniques taught in there are solid.

Here's an example of my work: done in a total of 8 hours (starting from the sprues) using acrylics and handbrushing:

http://1-4-4.home.comcast.net/regult01.jpeg

It's not finished yet, in particular the black areas need more layers, and some putty's showing through the white on the legs, but hopefully this shows that some decent work can be done with handbrushing.

[treatment]

heh!

i'm finally getting my vf-2ss kits next week from hlj.

wish me luck.

i still am not sure what paint-scheme to apply.