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Preparations before painting

Compressor from Proxxon

In previous part I mentioned I was a rookie in the world of airbrushing. Badly painted model can totally ruin the effect of hundreds of hours of work, so I was very scared before painting. But there must always be the first time.

During Model Fairs in Vienna in October 2005 I bought myself with a discount small compressor with airbrush of class, for ones like me i.e. completely fresh splashers. When I gain experience I will buy something better. Compressor itself is quite OK; its main real disadvantage is lack of possibility to set the level air pressure – its characteristics are 0.2 MPa (2 bars) and 12 l/min; getting hot a bit fast. But you have to use what you have.

So I begin to splash…as I have been taught in the past I start with brightest colours, what today is not a necessity any more if you have well covering paints. On the pictures you can see green deck - those were only my tests :-) Proper painting I begin with white – everything above water line; bottom green, water line stripe red; deck light-green. I do not paint for real white colour. I mentioned “Marine Colors“ series, among others, they also have one called “Navy White” – this white is not so snow white, but comes close to cream colour. Looks quite nice, the hull does not blaze with white so much.

Spraying

At this moment I started to wonder if I should have planked the deck upfront. Now I had to mask it. Perhaps it would have been better to paint first… I do not know. Depends on one’s mood.

With paper I cover all surrounding of my “workplace”, as after my last tests with undercoat paint I found small spots on the parquet in a distance where I did not expect to find them at all. Now I paint safe.

The paint as it is acryl paint I thin with water, producer says that you should use their original thinner, but I am very curious what they are adding to expect water :-). So when the paint has consistence of more or less milk I start to paint with it. I have not yet mastered how to prepare points for airbrushing and for that I will still direct you to other experts. I began to airbrush! I am trying to stick to rules i.e. splash from the same distance 10-15 cm from the hull and I lead the gun parallel to surface. I paint with each colour 2-3 times or until I see that colour lies nicely and all looks as it should. Green bottom for instance I painted only once - it was enough. On the other hand the deck, I will have to paint again because in the meanwhile I messed it already :-(

What I like a lot about acryl paints… it is so easy to clean everything with water and they do not stink, you can do everything at home.

And few pictures of almost ready hull… almost, because water line stripe has to be corrected. I do not know how to do it yet but I will have to do it… you can see that on the picture of the bow. This is what happens when masking tape does not stick well enough to the surface… splashed paint will get everywhere! I do not have picture from paining, as I was painting and do not have 3 hands.