Andy's 1/35 Tamiya Stug B

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks all. Second hinge went better than the first John but I'm still not sure I'll manage the 11 for the hatches which are around 1/4 the size!

And that's the frustrating thing for me, so many of you seem to have no issues with Vallejo but virtually every time I use it I'm in a constant battle. I'm usually lucky to get 30 seconds of spraying before it clogs up with lumps. Strip, clean, go again for a bit, strip ,clean, etc etc The bigger 0.4mm nozzle helped for a while as it let the lumps through rather than blocking it up, but then of course they need sanding out of the surface and it's a bit of a hosepipe. I've started filtering which gets a lot of the lumps out but I guess I need to go finer. Time to try Paul E's idea of tights!

 

[SimonT]

Andy - I know what you mean with Vallejo. I had the same problem - tried all kinds of things people suggested but in the end abandoned it for spraying and went back to Tamiya which sprays really well.

Recently I have also sprayed AK/Mig modulation sets without too much problem through 0.2 but I would say that Tamiya are still the winner for ease of use in my book

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Cheers Simon, good to hear it isn't just me.

If I could I'd switch exclusively to lacquer paints as they spray so much nicer. I get better results from Mr Color through my £20 airbrush with a bent, wrongly sized needle than I do with Vallejo and the Infinity! Trouble is they don't brush well so I'd need to buy extra paints for that.

I'll try a few tins of regular Tamiya first and see how I get on.

 

[Jakko]

I couldn’t get Vallejo Model Color to spray without clogging up my (pretty forgiving) Aztek A470 with a big nozzle on, whether I thinned with water, alcohol or Vallejo’s own thinner. OTOH, their Model Air sprays fine through it when I do no more than put some into the cup, straight from the bottle.

However, I have to say I much prefer Tamiya acrylics, even if I usually have to fiddle around to get them thin enough to spray well.

 

[Steve Jones]

Model Color is designed to be brushed on but with a few drops of Windowlene it works fine. Vallejo's Air range is a funny beast. Some bottles are perfect consistency and others too thick or runny. I use them due to their large range of colours. I always have a sponge soaked in airbrush cleaner to hand as it is invariably the nozzle that gets clogged with drying paint. So a quick clean out and I'm off painting again.

Don't worry about the unevenness of th Red oxide as once you have added a few dirt washes' and pigments it would look much the same. I expect a lot of it will be covered in Elfenbein anyhow

Tremendous result on the PE hinges. All coming along nicely .

 

[Deleted member 7181]

I've only used the Air type so far Jakko but have been thinking about getting some Model Colour for brushing as I'm sure it'll work much better.

I did get some tip dry issues during the summer Steve so similar to you I have a paper towel or cotton bud on hand with cleaner on it. I don't get it that much now the weather is cooler and I use a drop or two of their flow improver. But the lumps are my problem now. Sometimes I can keep the air on and work the needle backwards and forwards to tease the lumps out. They splat on my paper then I can spray fine until the next one comes along. Although if you looked closely at the Stug interior I just kept going and let them splatter all over that as the red mist had descended

And yes, plan is to cover most of the red and chip through to it, heavily on the floor.

Really happy with the hinges myself thanks. Might get a third one done today, I can only wear the magnifiers for so long before they strain my eyes

 

[Mr Bowcat]

I can't stand Vallejo paints for airbrushing, could never get them to work for me. Until recently I stuck with Tamiya Acrylics which always spray fine thinned 50:50, but recently I've starting moving over to Tamiya and Hataka lacquers which (other than the smell) are an improvement in every way.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks Bob. Have you tried using either of those with a brush, just for touch up's etc?

Lacquers are by far my favourite for spraying, and to be honest I barely notice the smell. I've spent 25 years working around thinners so I've gotten used to it lol. Our spray gun cleaning machine is effectively a high pressure dishwasher recirculating 25 litre barrels of the stuff so you can imagine how pungent that gets! And I've had a good face full before now when I've opened the lid a bit quickly

 

[Mr Bowcat]

I have with the Hataka paints, not tried the Tamiya for touch ups. Can't say I had any problems with the Hataka, although it was literally a tiny blob.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Aimed to get the interior finished today and I'm pretty much there. I might add a couple of small bags and boxes to provide a bit of extra interest but not too much as I know space was at a premium inside these.

Didn't get any pictures straight after the hairspray chipping but here it is after some work with oilbrushers



I then splashed a variety of pigments around



And with the gun in place

 

[BattleshipBob]

Lovely Andy, crew need a rollocking, dirty buggers

 

[Steve Jones]

Well done Andy. A stunning result. Really looks the DB's. Great stuff

 

[stillp]

Looks great Andy, I wish my interiors would come out like that. Maybe a little wear on that black seat?
Pete

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks chaps. Really happy with it myself, even though most of it will never be seen.

I'm annoyed by the mould line down the gun sight/periscope thing though. I thought I'd cleaned it up well enough but the camera says different

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Crossed replies Pete.

Yes, that's something else I noticed in the pictures. I did quite a bit of work on the two black seats but it doesn't seem to show up very well. Will have another go at them

 

[Jakko]

With that amount of wear, you’re going to have to paint it as a Berlin 1945 vehicle, I think

 

[BattleshipBob]

Crossed replies Pete.

Yes, that's something else I noticed in the pictures. I did quite a bit of work on the two black seats but it doesn't seem to show up very well. Will have another go at them

At least its the correct seat!

 

[AlanG]

Glad your chipping went 100% better then mine did lol

 

[dave]

Interior’s looking good

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks all.

Jakko - I normally think my weathering is too subtle so thought I'd go completely wild with this one!

Al - I'm still very much a novice at chipping but after some good advice it went a bit better this time. I don't feel like I should be giving advice in your thread since it's still pretty new to me, but if I tell you how I did mine it might help. Maybe.

Base colour was done in Model Air, not varnished, and left to dry overnight.
I put on two light coats of hairspray and left them around an hour to dry. From what I've read and been told, brand doesn't really matter but I used Tresemme as it's what the local shop had.
A couple of light coats of Model Air were sprayed over and given around an hour to dry.
I then started chipping just as Paul describes in your thread - water, a couple of brushes, and a cocktail stick, working slowly.

It came off in big chunks in some places which isn't good, but most of it came out as I was hoping, heavily chipped on the floor and behind the seats, less so elsewhere.