Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

I believe what I am using is just the oil - it's in a small jar, maybe 5 oz, simply labled "Tea-Tree Oil." I actually don't remember where I got it from, though I do have some tea-tree oil soap that came from trader joe's.

aww....gotcha..sorry, I missread that post

Well...I wasn't suggesting you use it on your models ...merely as a skin-friendly clean up agent.

Hey guys, found something interesting last night- Some of you may have heard of tea-tree oil, it's a very aromatic oil used in many skin-care products and available pure - apparently it also makes a great paint remover. After a session of painting with tamiya acrlyics I had a bit of paint on my fing...

Thanks guys, I plan on starting the painting process this weekend. I've got a no-grade sword impulse gundam to practice on as well as an HG 1/144 red frame astray. I had the luck of finding a double action tester's airbrush in the basement so i'll try using that (going to pick up an extra needle or ...

I'm relatively new at building mechas, but am fairly familiar with model aircraft (built quiet a few years ago) and I’m trying to figure out the best way to use camouflage schemes on these gundams…My basic goal is to avoid the red/blue/white/yellow color scheme as much as possible. Anyway, I digress…I’ve hit a few conceptual roadblocks as it where and can’t decide how to proceed:
First: Brush or Airbrush? I have a cheapo testors single action that I used on my aircraft to achive satisfactory camo patterns…but I’m not sure if it will offer the control to handle the more intricately detailed mecha. I could get a new one (maybe a badger? 350 or crescendo?) while a brush would offer finer control – but leave more defined borders between colors – not always desirable in camo patterns.
Second: Sub-assemblies? For those not familiar, gundams are essentially two-layered: an inner “mechanicalâ€￾ layer that I would just paint a solid color, then an outer armor layer – here’s what I’m interested in camouflaging. So what order should I do this? Paint everything a base color first, then remove the (unglued) armor plates and camo that?
Third (and final): Can camo work with highlighting / other toning techniques? I’ve been reading about how to give flat panels more depth and really love the idea, but can this work with a camouflage or is it to complicated? Perhaps I should use a two-tone primer base for low/high-lights?
I would appreciate any help as I am just now getting back into modeling and am willing to spend large amounts of time on any method- I just want to make these things look great. I realize there's alot here, but i've been doing a lot of reading (on these forums and others) and can't find any advice for using camo on mecha. Thanks in advance.
~Dave