Hello all, total newbie, looking to learn

[yak face]

Hi andy welcome to the forum. Youll find the knowledge on here invaluable . Sounds like you're on the right track already , just dont be afraid to ask anything . As a former apprentice paint sprayer myself ( albeit 35 years ago , abbey garage , bottom of twentywell lane!) i reckon youll be able to master the airbrush no probs, its basically the same principles - air first then slowly feed in the paint , its a two stage trigger just like a spraygun, you can even get an AB with a handle and trigger if you like. As for the equipment , maybe a quieter compressor would be nice but once its charged the tank it shuts off so the noise is only once in a while. The cheap chinese airbrushes are perfectly usable ( its all ive ever used) so give them a good go first before splashing out hundreds of pounds. So you're in Gleadless , im just up the hill in Frecheville, come on the south yorks massive!!! Cheers tony

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Small world Tony! As a youth I used to bomb up Twentywell regularly in my mini, pretending I was on a hillclimb

I bit the bullet and a cheap airbrush compressor arrived today. So much more useable as I can hardly hear it running under my workbench. Not that the noise of my big one bothered me that much, but if I could hear it in the house I know the neighbours could too.

I have looked at those trigger style airbrushes as they would be like an even smaller version of my Iwata LPH80 which is an awesome mini gun, so it would be an easy conversion, but I've spent the afternoon painting plastic milk bottles and I think I'll soon get the hang of a "regular" airbrush.

Also made a good start on my first model, painting the cockpit parts then having to the scrape the paint back off so I could glue them together! Probably not the last rookie mistake I'll make but it's all part of the learning curve I guess.

 

[Archetype]

...painting the cockpit parts then having to the scrape the paint back off so I could glue them together!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I use cyano on everything that isn’t likely to be stressed, i.e. fuselage, wings etc.
Might save you the effort of scratching off paint!

 

[Jakko]

With some more experience, you’ll be able to look at the parts and see what bits you can put together before painting, and which are best left loose so you can get the paint where you want it to. I usually try to put together as many parts as possible that need the same colour, and leave off those that need a different one. For an aircraft cockpit, for example, this could mean glueing most of the cockpit together except the seat and pilot (if one is provided), paint these three bits separately, and only then bring them together.

Take a look at my Lightning, for example: as you can tell from those photos, the pilot was glued in only after the rest of the cockpit was painted. What you can’t see there is that I had also left the seat off, but the rest of the cockpit parts, I put together before painting.

What also helps is to use a glue that dissolves model paint — that way you often don’t have to scrape much paint off at all, especially if the joint will be out of sight anyway.

 

[Tim Marlow]

I second Jakko on the glue use, Revell Contacta cuts through quite nicely if you give it a few seconds to work before joining the parts. You have to be careful of overusing the glue, but that is true if you have scraped the joints anyway....

 

[colin m]

I could use my existing compressor, but at 96dB

Hello, and yes, that's how I started - I had to use ear defenders !

 

[Deleted member 7181]

I second Jakko on the glue use, Revell Contacta cuts through quite nicely if you give it a few seconds to work before joining the parts. You have to be careful of overusing the glue, but that is true if you have scraped the joints anyway....

Yes, the Contacta seems to have worked quite well, it was just so cold out in the shed last night that it took an age to dry. The temperature never really bothered me when I was woodworking in there but it sure makes a difference when painting and glueing it seems. Might have to finally get around to insulating it a bit better!

Hello, and yes, that's how I started - I had to use ear defenders !

I'd need to buy them for the whole street

 

[Dave Ward]

Tony, Andy,
Twentywell Lane! - Our hillclimb was Hagg Lane over at Rivelin, in a Moggie 1000, praying that we didn't have to stop................. Going down was a bit hairy, as well, involving use of the handbrake. Jointly owned with my brother, it was a real battler. It was stolen, and never did surface!
Dave

 

[Jakko]

Yes, the Contacta seems to have worked quite well, it was just so cold out in the shed last night that it took an age to dry. The temperature never really bothered me when I was woodworking in there but it sure makes a difference when painting and glueing it seems.

Definitely: acrylic paint will harden faster when it’s warm, since it’s a chemical reaction that causes them to “dry”. I used to spray my models in the shed, where there is a CV radiator but it’s not exactly turned up high, and the difference in drying time between winter and summer was very noticeable. Solvents in both glue and paint will evaporate faster in the warm too.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Definitely: acrylic paint will harden faster when it’s warm, since it’s a chemical reaction that causes them to “dry”.

Indeed.

At work, between coats I have a "flash off" setting which raises the air temperature to 40C and activates a system of 32 blower vents that create turbulence to scrub the boundary layer of saturated air away from the cars surface, massively reducing drying time. A model would be dry in seconds in there, although I'd have to strap it down or the violent air movement would blow it around like a rag doll!

 

[colin m]

Indeed.

At work, between coats I have a "flash off" setting which raises the air temperature to 40C and activates a system of 32 blower vents that create turbulence to scrub the boundary layer of saturated air away from the cars surface, massively reducing drying time. A model would be dry in seconds in there, although I'd have to strap it down or the violent air movement would blow it around like a rag doll!

And not one spec of dust - amazing.

 

[tanktrack]

welcome to the forum , take your time do some research and enjoy yourself .

 

[Steve Jones]

Welcome to the forum Andy. Look forward to seeing your first build. Good luck

 

[Jakko]

At work, between coats I have a "flash off" setting which raises the air temperature to 40C and activates a system of 32 blower vents that create turbulence to scrub the boundary layer of saturated air away from the cars surface, massively reducing drying time.

I once used a hair dryer to speed up the drying of paint on a model. Important tip if you decide to do this too: don’t set it too warm and don’t hold it too close to the model. I was just quick enough to point the thing somewhere else when I saw a bit of plastic begin to sag, so that it didn’t completely ruin the model

 

[Deleted member 7181]

I once used a hair dryer to speed up the drying of paint on a model. Important tip if you decide to do this too: don’t set it too warm and don’t hold it too close to the model. I was just quick enough to point the thing somewhere else when I saw a bit of plastic begin to sag, so that it didn’t completely ruin the model

Yes, a good flow of warm air will dry waterbourne paints much better than low airflow/high heat, and like you say, is less likely to soften the plastic of a model!

Welcome to the forum Andy. Look forward to seeing your first build. Good luck

Thanks Steve.

I'm knocking together a Revell Spitfire as my first attempt. I've had to do a fair bit of filling and sanding as it's a bit gappy in places and the two main fuselage halves don't line up everywhere. Not sure if all models are like this but I guess I'll see as I go.

Got it in primer tonight but I'll probably see how it turns out before I let you guys look/ laugh at my first efforts

 

[Mini Me]

Welcome to the forum Andy and above all have fun while learning. There are plenty of us here ready to lend advice based on experience as has already been conveyed in previous posts. Looking forward to your first project post. Cheers, Rick H.

 

[Jakko]

I'm knocking together a Revell Spitfire as my first attempt. I've had to do a fair bit of filling and sanding as it's a bit gappy in places and the two main fuselage halves don't line up everywhere. Not sure if all models are like this but I guess I'll see as I go.

No, they’re not Either you bought a kit that has problems in general (especially older ones by certain brands are prone to this), or the specific one you have has a minor deficiency.

BTW, if you want a kit with guaranteed good fit, buy a Tamiya one.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

No, they’re not Either you bought a kit that has problems in general (especially older ones by certain brands are prone to this), or the specific one you have has a minor deficiency.

BTW, if you want a kit with guaranteed good fit, buy a Tamiya one.

It's most noticable around the nose, one half of the moulding is quite rounded, the other much more square. No something I can't deal with though, I spend my days filling and shaping stuff so I'm sure I can manage

 

[Jakko]

Just adjust to the smaller scale

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Just adjust to the smaller scale

And I'm definitely going to have to get my eyes tested!

Struggling to focus working so close up so I tried on a pair of my wife's reading glasses. What a difference, I hadn't realised how bad they'd gotten