Noob Vs. Models Vol. 2 1/100 ARII VF-1A

[Benson13]

And here we are with the second epic installment of Noob Vs. Models. This threads victim will be ARII's 1/100 scale VF-1A.

Now, last time with the Fan Racer, it was all about your basic masking, painting, and sanding. This time I'm going to experiment with some slightly more advanced techniques such as applying waterslide decals, panel lining, and weathering. I have on order some black Promodeller's Wash but it's about 2 weeks out. And as usual, all veteran modeller's are welcome to chime in and share their experience.

Since I don't really care about this particular model I'd be more than happy to let someone else pick the paint scheme as long as it's within my abilities. So fire away with your suggestions. I personally was leaning towards the new Alaska Base scheme but we'll see. I can't actually do any priming or painting in the next couple of days because it's hailing/raining/storming out right now and last time I tried to paint after it rained I had to sand it all down, reprime, and repaint. I had no idea that was a bad thing. Oh well, lesson learned and that's what this thread is for.

So this what's we'll be working with. Not to complicated, so that's good.

First thing I noticed was that the nosecone could be screwed up pretty easy. The way the sprue is connected to the actual piece is going to be a pain in the turdcutter to clip and sand right.

On a side note it's taken about 2 and 1/2 hours just to get this single post up because I keep getting sidetracked playing Final Fantasy V.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Benson13

[Benson13]

Today I cut away all the excess plastic making it easier to sand and prep it for priming. I try to cut way the plastic on the most visible areas so when I paint it I either don't have to touch up that little area or it's not as noticable if it ends up being slightly off color. I also leave a little "handle" or something I can pick up with tweezers so it's easier to hold during painting.

Hopefully the weather clears up soon so I can start priming.

[Benson13]

So there are times I tend to be an oversized caveman kind of guy. In this case it means snapping two pieces in half while I was sanding.

First was the fin on the gun.

And second was the fin for the leg.

I guess the lesson to be learned here is be careful with thin pieces that have a large panel line through them, or ARII makes a fragile model. Does anyone know if the plastic this is made out of gets brittle after 10+ years?

[Jefuemon]

Are you using just a piece of sandpaper for the initial sanding part (right when you remove it from the sprue)? I highly recommend going to the nail department at your local drug store, and check out the emery board/nail finishing sticks selection. (or raid your wife's supply ) Just take a look around, and find the grit that you think will work. Used that for as long as I remember, and never had a problem.

Now, for sanding the panel lines after putty, then I do use sandpaper.

[Vifam7]

I too broke that leg fin piece when I built my Arii 1/100 fighter. Used superglue to put it back together.

[Benson13]

Are you using just a piece of sandpaper for the initial sanding part (right when you remove it from the sprue)? I highly recommend going to the nail department at your local drug store, and check out the emery board/nail finishing sticks selection. (or raid your wife's supply ) Just take a look around, and find the grit that you think will work. Used that for as long as I remember, and never had a problem.

Now, for sanding the panel lines after putty, then I do use sandpaper.

I'm slowly but surely putting together my modeling tool kit. I've noticed people have some pretty interesting things in their tool kits and they all have some sort of functional use.

[derex3592]

can i just say i luv these threads....

[MechTech]

Yeah, when my wife goes to the beauty supply store, that's when I get new gritted sponge blocks and emery boards. They usualy have nice tweezers with the manicure stuff. They're usually cheaper than getting them from the local hobby shop (which I don't have). REMEMBER - go with your wife or it's not cool!!! - MT

[Benson13]

I hear if you wear a pink shirt that the girls at the beauty salon won't be as quick to judge either, just don't have that "I'm lost" expression on your face.

Also I'm still waiting on some suggestions for a paint scheme before I start priming and painting.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Benson13

[derex3592]

ALASKA BASE all day long dude!

[Benson13]

Well that's one for Alaska Base.

[VF5SS]

go for broke and do some camouflage

[Benson13]

Theres the camo suggetion. Lets get a tie breaker and I'll get to work on it.

[miriya]

Cool thread and project Benson13. I have this kit too. Maybe after watching you build yours I will have the courage to build mine.

[Benson13]

Cool thread and project Benson13. I have this kit too. Maybe after watching you build yours I will have the courage to build mine.

These are the first kits I've ever built and honestly there's not a lot to the basics. Plus you're starting in the right place because this kit is cheap and easy. Lucky for you and I, we have this awesome community to help us through the things we don't understand.

[Jefuemon]

Camouflage

I did a VF-1 Battroid in this pattern.

Macross the First VF-1

Building right now, but at the rate I'm going, you'll probably finish before me.

[Benson13]

For me it's now a toss up between "The First" and "Alaska Base". I'm not a huge camo fan with the exception of the Low Viz.

Edited June 15, 2012 by Benson13

[Benson13]

So I started painting on the cockpit and thrusters. Not really a big deal. Honestly I'm losing interest in this model really fast but I need the practice with waterslides and using Microsol. Then once my Promodeller's Wash gets in I'm gonna get some experience doing some weathering. Good news is I have a Bandai VF-2SS for Vol. 3 and I'm totally stoked to build it.

[Benson13]

Decided to go with the Alaska Base scheme since it's more on par with my skill level. However, I will get a 1/72 Hasegawa and do a Macross the First scheme on it one day.

[mickyg]

Great stuff! Sorry I hadn't popped over earlier.

I completely forgot about these little old kits. It's a great way to build a small valk, get some practice and hone those skills!

Edited June 16, 2012 by mickyg

[Benson13]

So I've been doing some painting and I used some Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey over some Testors Glossy White Spray Enamel and the Tamiya started doing some weird stuff. It started to clump up over the gloss white.

So professional modellers, is that a no-no?

Also the spray enamel loves my fingerprints even 24 hours later. We'll talk more about it later after I get some pics up.

[Benson13]

I've managed to really screw up this model and I feel very bad about it. I never should've gone into a project completely uninspired. To my fellow noobs, if you're not excited about what you're building either wait until you are excited or give the model to someone who will appreciate it. I'm ashamed of what I've done over the last couple of days because it's completely obvious that I rushed. I'm still going to show pics and comment on my "progress" if that's what you want to call it but only for the sake of others learning from my mistakes.

[mickyg]

Hardly a professional modeller but I'd say the enamel didn't have time to fully dry before you put the tamiya paint on. Acrylic, right? Generally speaking, if you want to overcoat, go lacquer first, then acrylic. Or I've heard acrylic can be overcoated with most anything. Not that I've tried it though. Someone else might want to home in with personal experience.

As for the mess, of it's acrylic gray, windex that off, wait a few more days for the white to fully cure and have another crack at it.

By the way, if finger prints are showing, definitely not cured yet and possibly something not quite right with the paint.

[Benson13]

I'd say not fully cured. How long does that normally take?

[Benson13]

Here I got the undercarriage and the tail fins hanging up to dry.

Here I have legs masked off. What I did was lay a pieces of tape over the center and went over the contour lines with my fingernail until I could see all the lines. Then I took a knife and cut out the areas that needed to be painted. Peel off the excess and this is what you got.

The model didn't really have a good fit right from the get go and I'm retarded and didn't do a test fit before painting any of the parts. For this particular model the windshield and the intakes didn't sit flush in their respective places.

Legs once they had all the masking tape removed. I recommend when doing parts like this that are masked off, you spray really light coats to prevent some of the bleeding.

This is what I was talking about when I said the Tamiya clumped up over the Testors. It was this point I wanted to take a hammer to the model but I'm not. I'm not sure what happened or why but it looks like hell and I still haven't fixed it.

Fully assembled and awaiting clearcoat and decals.

Side view.

Ok, I need a little help now since this is "my first time". I'm going to be putting on some waterslide decals, do I put on a clearcoat first or do I put them directly on the normal paint? I'll be using Micro Sol (it came recommended by a fellow MWer) as well, so does anyone have any pointers?

Edited June 18, 2012 by Benson13

[anime52k8]

So I've been doing some painting and I used some Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey over some Testors Glossy White Spray Enamel and the Tamiya started doing some weird stuff. It started to clump up over the gloss white.

So professional modellers, is that a no-no?

Also the spray enamel loves my fingerprints even 24 hours later. We'll talk more about it later after I get some pics up.

XF-53 (the stuff in bottles) should be a matte acrylic, in which case it shouldn't react with the Enamel layer underneath as long as it's sufficiently cured. that said, the Enamel is definitely not cured and from your picture it looks like the enamel out-gassing caused the acrylic to separate. In my experiance, Testors Enamel takes AT LEAST 72 hours to properly cure in open air. Cure times are depend heavily on temperature and humidity were you're letting the parts dry, but Enamels are by far the slowest drying/curing paints out there.

The model didn't really have a good fit right from the get go and I'm retarded and didn't do a test fit before painting any of the parts. For this particular model the windshield and the intakes didn't sit flush in their respective places.

Are you using spray cans on this kit? looking at you're photos I'm noticing you're not getting very even coverage with the green paint (it looks visibly thin and light near edges and corners). what you're probably doing is laying down too much paint at one time. To get even coats with a spray can you need to use short, controlled burst from the can, building up the paint gradually.

for cans I prefer a technique similar to this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7NH5iZX7Lk

Legs once they had all the masking tape removed. I recommend when doing parts like this that are masked off, you spray really light coats to prevent some of the bleeding.

light coats help with preventing bleeding, but another good way to prevent it is to do a pass of clear over the edges of the tape BEFORE you do the color layer. The layer of clear will seal the edge of the tape, and any bleeding that does occur will be clear (and therefor less visible/easier to clean up).

I also highly recommend using Tamiya masking tape if you aren't already, as it's more flexible and resists bleeding better than normal masking/painters tape. The other thing I like to do is use a product called micro mask, which is a blue liquid that you brush on, that when dries forms a film that won't be dissolved by paint but will peel up easily. I like to brush that on to the edges of tape to get a better seal.

This is what I was talking about when I said the Tamiya clumped up over the Testors. It was this point I wanted to take a hammer to the model but I'm not. I'm not sure what happened or why but it looks like hell and I still haven't fixed it.

When something like this happens, your only real options are to sand down the part until you've removed all the affected paint layers, or strip the paint off completely and start over.

Ok, I need a little help now since this is "my first time". I'm going to be putting on some waterslide decals, do I put on a clearcoat first or do I put them directly on the normal paint? I'll be using Micro Sol (it came recommended by a fellow MWer) as well, so does anyone have any pointers?

ideally, you should do a gloss clear coat first, that way you'll have a consistent smooth surface for the decals to be placed on, this will help prevent silvering (tiny air bubbles caught under the decal film that are visible as tiny white spots). then you do a matte clear coat once all the decals have been placed to seal them in and give everything the proper sheen you're looking for.

As for placing decals and using micro Sol: Use hot water, dip the decal you're working with for maybe 10 seconds then let it sit on a non-porous surface (you don't want to let it soak or wick the water away because that will cause the decal to loose adhesive and not stick as well). Wet the surface slightly, then slide the decal into from the backing paper to the surface (I like to use a small, soft brush for this). once you've got it placed the way you want it, wick the excess water way with a q-tip or piece of tissue paper. The Micro Sol is used to get the decals to conform to odd shapes and uneven surfaces, once you've placed the decal where you want it, apply a drop or two of it over the decal with a brush, and just let it sit. after a while the decal will begin to soften. you can tell the decals getting soft because it'll start to wrinkle up. DON'T TOUCH IT at this point. if you've got an excess of micro Sol on the decal (i.e. pooling over the decal) wick it away carefully without touching the decal. fro there, just let the Micro Sol do its job; as the decal dries it'll settle into the contours of the surface.

:edit:

hopefully, some of that was helpful/made any sense.

Edited June 18, 2012 by anime52k8

[pfunk]

Hey man, have to start somewhere, I try to build everything I can before paint and mask. Most of the newer kits seem to keep this in mind as the older kits require a LOT more fitting and masking. So thats another thing to think of.

[Benson13]

Thanks anime52k8. All that's going to help out a lot. I had no idea that enamel took that long to dry. I'd only used Tamiya before this and it dried pretty quick.

[Vifam7]

It might've been easier to simply brush paint those pieces.

Also, Testors spraycan paints are crap. They tend to spray on unevenly and take forever to cure. Plus, since it's enamel, it's a PITA to remove if you mess up. I'd recommend using Tamiya's lacquer-based spraycan paints. Much faster to cure, much easier to spray on even coats and much easier to sand off if you mess up.

[anime52k8]

Also, Testors spraycan paints are crap. They tend to spray on unevenly and take forever to cure. Plus, since it's enamel, it's a PITA to remove if you mess up. I'd recommend using Tamiya's lacquer-based spraycan paints. Much faster to cure, much easier to spray on even coats and much easier to sand off if you mess up.

I'm going to second this. I love Tamiya spray Lacquers, I use it for most of my projects. It's a little pricy but the paint quality is superb. (I like to drain paint into jars and use it through an airbrush so it'll last longer)

also, if you're concerned about curing times, you can look into getting a food dehydrator. I've got one of those old Ronco dehydrators and it makes an excellent drying rack.

[derex3592]

I'll 3rd that! Testors Spray cans SUCK. Tamiya are better, however....Do yourself the biggest favor of your life! Save your money and buy an airbrush/compressor man. Doesn't have to be some $300 Iwata....just something other than spray cans. PLEASE! for the love of all!

Edited June 19, 2012 by derex3592

[Benson13]

Maybe one day I derex but I only have one more project coming up and that's the VF-2SS. I may hold off on that until I do another build or two because I don't want to screw it up.

[Steve71]

I'm a noob, too, and I find I have the most fun when I allow myself to suck. I botched a car a while back, baaaad, with the paint. BAck in the box and will deal with it later. Oh well. I get to learn about removing paint.

I'm guessing you have learned a ton - and that's success to me. Then, when it really does turn out, it's all the sweeter.

Keep modeling and thanks for sharing your work. I haven't had the balls yet to do that - compared to the most of thes posts, I think my stuff would look like it was painted with crayolas! (and I know the guys are pretty cool about supporting new modelers, too.) Soon, though, I will - maybe my old 1/100 Vertitech I started.

[Capt Hungry]

Wow. Haven't built a model in years.........I look forward to the completed model though. I built three of these Arii valks back in the early 90's and I liked them. They aren't the best models, but they turned out pretty decent. I did two 1As and a 1D and I pretty much stayed with the stock paint schemes. Keep at it!

[MechTech]

I think you're problem with the paint was that it's gloss. I've had gloss take a week to fully cure. Flat on the other hand fully cures within hours. The colors are limited (like for flat colors) but Krylon's paints are great. If you want a gloss finish, then you can always apply a gloss coat later.

The key to making the decals come out good is having a gloss coat on before/after putting them on. That and the Micro Sol will make them nearly like they were painted on. If you want a flat finish, that comes after the gloss. Hopefully that all makes sense. - MT