Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[Grayson72]

It may be going to your junk mail, hotmail does that to me randomly sometimes.

[MechTech]

That build might be a pain for you WM, but it's easy on the eyes for us! It looks awesome and that sucks about the decals! Have you tried coating them with the Microsol clear coat (as if you were making them from scratch?). I've rescued bad and old decals by coating them and they act as good as new. Keep the eye candy coming! - MT

[GU-11]

If you had trouble us meer mortals have no chance.

And if you seasoned builders have no chance, amateurs like me can perish the thought of taking on such a kit.

Anyways, that kit's looking better with every update, WM!

Edited February 22, 2013 by GU-11

[big F]

It may be going to your junk mail, Hotmail does that to me randomly sometimes.

I also have in the past had similar with this thread and others. I don't use Hotmail anymore for this forum, but when I changed the problems followed to the new mail account.

I ended up using desktop shortcuts instead

[wm cheng]

Thanks!

Yes, I checked the junk mail and its not in there, I am still getting notifications from other threads subscribed - just not this particular one.

Thanks, finally making some headway... but still lots of tiny warning data stenciling on the fast packs before I can clear coat them in a matte finish before assembling them - so its still in a million pieces at the moment.

[derex3592]

Finally bought a medium size spray booth and then made myself a ventilation system yesterday on my day off. Thought I would share...hopefully now I can make some headway on my Enterprise D. Light block covering an all clear model is turning out to be a pain!!!

[GU-11]

Is that booth good enough for rattle cans? Mine's only strong enough for airbrushing; then again, it's not even an actual spray booth.

[Jefuemon]

Finally bought a medium size spray booth and then made myself a ventilation system yesterday on my day off.

Does the booth's fan have enough oomph to push air though that long of a tube setup?

[derex3592]

Well...I tried spraying some paint thinner through my airbrush as a test..and I can definitely smell thinner at the end of the tube.and I can feel a slight whiff of air at the end of it...not much but enough I think. I'm gonna actually try to paint some Sunday so we shall see.

[Jefuemon]

Doing some hard-core masking.

I learned from the 1/72 YF-19 to not bother using the small line decals on the legs. Painting them is much less of a hassle.

[wm cheng]

Well, another 12hrs later...

more masking... - discovered this Alclad Stainless Steel, if airbrushed onto something with a gloss coat (done for the decals) - it goes on amazingly smooth and reflective - the rudder inset silver is done with this stuff and really glints in the light like real polished metal!

Some warning stenciling, in face that's all I've been doing to all the darker armored packs while I have the gloss coat on them. I wanted to get all the data stenciling on before I seal it in with the flat/matte clear coat so I can start assembling them

Disaster struck though... I broke those little arms holding up the neck/head to the collar (parts J-23 & J-24) while I was trying to strip them down to repaint them (I seemed to be doing that a lot on this build - I vastly underestimated the scope of this build when I started - it wasn't the easiest kit to get "back in the saddle" with - I've had to re-learn a lot of decal handling and painting) Anyone with a spare part to sell me?

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=38586

I've pilfered one of my other VF-25 kits in my stash for now - but its a shame to lose one of those kits for these 2 very import parts.

[wm cheng]

PLEASE! Everyone please wear a mask if you airbrush. A real mask (http://www.amazon.com/3M-Low-Maintenance-Half-Mask-Respirator-Assembly/dp/B00004Z4EB) not just one of those white fibre thingys. Make sure you get the filter cartridges for organic solvents - especially if you spray lacquers or any type of metalizer. This applies even if you have a spray booth and ventilation system.

(My best friend died at the age of 35 from lung cancer - he never smoked ever! But we built models throughout high school without any type of mask - they're not saying if that's what caused it (cause I'm still alive) but just to be safe!)

I get your masking hell Jefuemon - but its worth it in the end, nothing like real paint!

[kyekye]

PLEASE! Everyone please wear a mask if you airbrush. A real mask (http://www.amazon.com/3M-Low-Maintenance-Half-Mask-Respirator-Assembly/dp/B00004Z4EB) not just one of those white fibre thingys. Make sure you get the filter cartridges for organic solvents - especially if you spray lacquers or any type of metalizer. This applies even if you have a spray booth and ventilation system.

(My best friend died at the age of 35 from lung cancer - he never smoked ever! But we built models throughout high school without any type of mask - they're not saying if that's what caused it (cause I'm still alive) but just to be safe!)

I get your masking hell Jefuemon - but its worth it in the end, nothing like real paint!

Also, I strongly recommend wearing spray goggle as well (specially if you don't wear glasses). The paint dust (with solvent) bounces back and gets to your eyes. You only realize after you get affected much later...

For this hobby, eyes are very important, you know!

[EXO]

I wear my mask the whole time. Sanding. cleaning, and painting. Just bought a case of filters too. Buying by the case is about the same as buying the cheap disposable ones. I gotta wear my goggles more though, just bought a new one.

I don't know if you spray chrome but we usually use gloss black underneath to really bring up the reflextion.

kyekye, you're in Irvine! I need to go see that awesome SDF-1.

[EXO]

About the spray booth. Just make sure that you change your filter often enough. It should be mostly air that gets pulled into that vent tube. Leave your fan on for a while to push out all the air once you're done painting. If you're worried about extra chemicals going outside you can put a lint trap in the middle of the tube close to your booth for extra filtering. Of course use the right filter not regular lint wire.

[MechTech]

Sadly, most small spray booths don't have enough draw on them. The fans that would work cost more and are noisy. A coworkers wife has a simialr sized booth and only air brushes food coloring onto her cakes. She always has "colors" around her nose afterward.

I've even switched to Micro Sol Microweld (the GREEN bottle). It's citrus based and I've noticed I no longer get headaches from model building - that says something right there! I DO need to get a new mask though! - MT

[GU-11]

Good thing I only airbrush Tamiya acrylics with my spray booth. All rattle cans are sprayed outside.

I do wear a mask, but the generic dust mask type. Respirators are ridiculously hard to find locally. If only HLJ or AmiAmi sold these.

[EXO]

Here's what I call my GPS... ghetto paint station. Most of the money was spent on the blower and vent, also a couple of work lights. Everything else was found in the garage. The big box is a case for Yamato 1/48s and you can see what holds the filter. I was putting together a booth made of plastic bins but I couldn't find a good size plus I thought the cold and the repeated reheating of the room would make it crack. I gotta say though, this thing is sturdy and you can see the particles getting pulled into the filter against the light. Rohby put together the blower on a stand for me. Getting a lot of painting done.

[mechaninac]

Ugly, cheap, crude, and utterly brilliant!

[wm cheng]

I love ghetto setups! My first air compressor when I started my airbrushing was a junkyard fridge compressor that I rigged up with a sponge on the cylinder head which I kept wet so it would cool it down as it got hot and shut off (right in the middle of some important spray!)

Well, finally one of the best parts - I matte/flat clear coat the packs and start assembling the pieces!

All this is before the weathering - its pretty much spanking new now. Well, my mid grey turned out a little dark when it dried, the wet paint colour perfectly matched the plastic, but with the additional semi-gloss clear coat it darkened it a tad. Plus the darker fast packs definitely lightened up with the matte/flat coat, not sure if there's enough contrast yet.

There's still a lot of other decals to go onto the plane and clear coat that, plus all the missiles, fins, guns, engine nozzles and gak, before I can assemble it and start weathering (I'm worried the weathering will start to tie together all the different shades a greys a little too much).

[MechTech]

^{Ghettofabulous EXO! My last booth was cardboard too. I've gotta build another one (the Daedalus is too big for one ) -MT}

^{The finish and weapons load came out great on that missilicious build WM! - MT}

[kyekye]

I love ghetto setups! My first air compressor when I started my airbrushing was a junkyard fridge compressor that I rigged up with a sponge on the cylinder head which I kept wet so it would cool it down as it got hot and shut off (right in the middle of some important spray!)

Well, finally one of the best parts - I matte/flat clear coat the packs and start assembling the pieces!

DSCN6620_resize.JPGDSCN6621_resize.JPGDSCN6622_resize.JPGDSCN6623_resize.JPGDSCN6624_resize.JPGDSCN6625_resize.JPGDSCN6626_resize.JPGDSCN6627_resize.JPGDSCN6628_resize.JPGDSCN6629_resize.JPGDSCN6630_resize.JPGDSCN6631_resize.JPG

All this is before the weathering - its pretty much spanking new now. Well, my mid grey turned out a little dark when it dried, the wet paint colour perfectly matched the plastic, but with the additional semi-gloss clear coat it darkened it a tad. Plus the darker fast packs definitely lightened up with the matte/flat coat, not sure if there's enough contrast yet.

There's still a lot of other decals to go onto the plane and clear coat that, plus all the missiles, fins, guns, engine nozzles and gak, before I can assemble it and start weathering (I'm worried the weathering will start to tie together all the different shades a greys a little too much).

That's really pretty! You are working on this really fast!!

I can't wait for my current project to be over so I can get back to my hobby!

kyekye, you're in Irvine! I need to go see that awesome SDF-1.

EXO, yeah my home is there, but I'm currently away for most of time due to my job

Edited February 24, 2013 by kyekye

[Kylwell]

Love Alclad. That is one gorgeous build.

[PetarB]

. . .

Edited February 24, 2013 by PetarB

[wm cheng]

HA! You caught me!! I was debating that seam for days!!! I was trying to weigh the seam against tremendous masking of all the metalized parts and the awkward masking of the rear plate which I wanted in metal, but had to be in as well as the fins before the two parts were glued together. Yes, I hate Bandai parts breakdown when you want to paint it. The other way was to assemble it to this point and spray the whole thing blue/grey, then mask out the blue/grey to spray all the metalized parts, but I couldn't get into all the fins and nooks and crannies properly from this angle. Argh, I loose either way. Unless I had tonnes of time and patience and majorly mask like crazy - I was in a rush and didn't known when I'll start work again.

[PetarB]

Sorry I couldn't resist.

But I take your point. This is the single reason I have not completed any of Bandai's kits on this subject. I can't live with the seams that comes from the engineering of the kit. Every so often, I open the box again, assemble a few more pieces, thinking I'm just going to do the basic Ozma. But then I remember the Hasegawa version of the same is imminent, and I sight with relief...

[electric indigo]

Just build the Battroid from the Bandai kit and the fighter from Hase. That's what I'll do with mine.

[wm cheng]

Just build the Battroid from the Bandai kit and the fighter from Hase. That's what I'll do with mine.

Great idea!

[Noyhauser]

>Exo<, Jefumon and WM...Awesome looking builds guys. ITs great to see you back WM... Think we can get something else out of you after? And I agree about Bandai for Battroid and Hasegawa for the fighter version. Its the best of both worlds.

I've been a bit busy... first, this has been an ongoing project of mine which I'd urge you to check out.

http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=259589

Next, some "regular" builds... everything is in 1/72.

F-8E

F-89 scorpion

And two F/A-18Ds from Operation Iraqi Freedom.

All I need now is some ordnance. Anybody have an extra Litening pod in 1/72 from the Hasegawa weapon set they want to spare?

[505thAirborne]

The F-8 Crusader... I have respect for you! The F-18's came out great too.

[EXO]

Wow. Noyhauser! Great weathering!

[derex3592]

Those Hornet's look great! On another note...I need help guys.....I've been trying and trying to get my clear Enterprise D "lightblocked"enough to not see light through any of the hull sections. Obviously I can ONLY paint on the outside of the hull...so here's what I have done so far--doing light coats as to not to obscure any surface detail.

1. Model Master Flat Black enamel first--airbrushed on..That did squat.

2. Coat after coat of grey rattlecan good quality primer--This helps but still NOT good enough.

3. 2 coats of the actual hull color on top of ALL the rest of this..Model Master Light Ghost Grey enamel--airbrushed on--STILL not quite good enough..

Now the guy who's build I'm following--"Trekworks" on Youtube claimed he "just used 2 coats of black and then his base coat"..yeeeeeeeehhhhhhh.......ok dude..

ANY IDEAS???

I can post pics later tonight to try to get my point across...

[Benson13]

I can't help but I love pics. Just sayin'.

[Noyhauser]

Thanks guys! The hornets will look better with weapons and (possibly) RBF tags... as well as a better photo... that was really an quick interim picture. 505airborne: I love the crusader too, because it is the last gunfighter. I have half a mind to try to backdate the last Academy kit I have in my stash to a early F8U in a Natural Metal Finish.

I've also got an ASAT launchin' F-15 diorama I'm building... but only basic photos at this point.

Those Hornet's look great! On another note...I need help guys.....I've been trying and trying to get my clear Enterprise D "lightblocked"enough to not see light through any of the hull sections. Obviously I can ONLY paint on the outside of the hull...so here's what I have done so far--doing light coats as to not to obscure any surface detail.

1. Model Master Flat Black enamel first--airbrushed on..That did squat.

2. Coat after coat of grey rattlecan good quality primer--This helps but still NOT good enough.

3. 2 coats of the actual hull color on top of ALL the rest of this..Model Master Light Ghost Grey enamel--airbrushed on--STILL not quite good enough..

Now the guy who's build I'm following--"Trekworks" on Youtube claimed he "just used 2 coats of black and then his base coat"..yeeeeeeeehhhhhhh.......ok dude..

ANY IDEAS???

I can post pics later tonight to try to get my point across...

Try a metallic paint layer. It doesn't have to be a nice high quality one either like alclad. I have a very old bottle of Tamiya metallic acrylic which I would never use in a regular role (I find the paint particulates too coarse going down). However I apply it often over top of a clear canopy after a base layer to simulate the inside paint. Then I paint over it with a second primer, and the actual colour. Its a pretty solid colour if you do it right.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Noyhauser

[Kelsain]

I might have a litening pod, noyhauser. I'll check tonight.