When to paint?

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:29 am

Last model I made I painted most of it then assembled but that didn't go so well. I'm wondering if it might be better to assemble all then paint or assemble some sections and paint them for a final assembly. Tips?

chiver · Post by **chiver** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 12:25 pm

depends on the model, if it has lots of tight spaces or is very large, sub assemblies might be better; for example the Galactica, or some klingon ships. And some like the TOS enterprise might be ok to paint once assembeled

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 7:41 pm

Thanks for the tip and the Galactica is one of the ones i Plan on. About to start on a viper MK2

chiver · Post by **chiver** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 7:10 am

The last two vipers I did, I paired ten both as a whole

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 7:15 am

Yeah it's big enough you don't have to worry. Except the cockpit might paint it first. Trying to wait till in get my airbrush stuff to start.

chiver · Post by **chiver** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 4:15 pm

Well to get in detail, I paired the cockpit before I installed it, that was done by hand, and I taped the windscreen and painted the overall colour.

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 2:25 am

The answer to this question is always "it depends."

If the joints betqween the subassemblies are in the same place they would be on the "real" craft, and make for in-scale panel lines, then painting in subassemblies is great. Gundam and other Mecha builders do this a lot with, say arms or legs. Another example might be the wings on certain aircraft models.

On the gripping claw, if your sub assemblies are, say the right and left halves of an Enterprise saucer section - obviously where none is on the real one - then that is a bad idea, as you would want to fill the seam first before painting.

I hope this helps.

Kenny

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:33 am

Yeah I have a photoetch set for the cockpit too and plan on doing some lighting.

Mr. Badwrench · Post by **Mr. Badwrench** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 6:58 pm

ZOmBe is correct. You have to do a little of both. Look at each step of the assembly with an eye towards painting. Will it be easier or harder to build with this part painted? Interior parts, like cockpits and engines, are almost always easier to paint before installation. Sometimes it is easier to paint a control panel or seat or figure before installing it in the cockpit. bombs, missiles, and ray guns are easier to paint before hanging them under the wings or repulsor lifts. But it's a heck of a lot easier to paint a fuselage once the wings and nose and stuff are on, puttied, and fared in. Watch for trouble spots. It may be easier to paint an engine greeblie before the cover goes on over it, but much easier to paint the cover once it's installed. Then you have a complicated masking problem to solve. The trick is to minimize these little problem areas as much as possible. The only way to get good at that is to build a lot of models.

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 7:17 pm

Yeah agreed thats with just about anything. Gonna do a P-50 before I hit up the viper should knock the rust off. But I see what your saying just always thinking about the final painting. Ive been experimenting with different tapes. Ive found the scotts painter blue tape to work best so far. Any other suggestions?

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 7:20 pm

And getting paint of brushes? Ive used gas, paint thinner. Nothing seems to work really well to get it all off.

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:25 pm

lsufantc wrote:And getting paint of brushes? Ive used gas, paint thinner. Nothing seems to work really well to get it all off.

Depends on the paint:

Acrylics - Windex or windshield washer fluid. Windex has ammonia and both have different alcohols that shred acrylics. Sometimes one or the other only will work. Don't sweat it - just quickly switch cleaners and you're fine.

Metallizers - lacquer thinner swish then alcohol. If you can, have a separate container for your metallizer cleaner as the metal flakes will contaminate everything. Mark Yungblut even keeps his airbrushes separate.

Enamels - Mineral spirits.

Oils - Turpentine or mineral spirits.

And all can benefit from a good dousing in Superclean, as it will strip anything, including glazing putties and the Blessed Aves. But don't soak overnight in the stuff, just 15 minutes or so as some brushes have adhesives that are affected by it.

I hope this helps.

Kenny

Mr. Badwrench · Post by **Mr. Badwrench** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:09 pm

lsufantc wrote:Ive been experimenting with different tapes. Ive found the scotts painter blue tape to work best so far. Any other suggestions?

Tamiya tape is awesome. Thin, made of rice paper, not too sticky, easy to cut, forms to curves pretty well, everything a modeling tape should be. For those areas too tricky for tape, I use Parafilm-M.

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:59 am

Thanks for the advice guys. Got some enamel thinner and it worked great. Ordered some of that tape as well

Rocketeer · Post by **Rocketeer** » Thu May 02, 2013 2:34 pm

lsufantc wrote:...Ordered some of that tape as well

Expensive, isn't it?

I usually use the Tamiya tape to do the edges, then fill in the big areas with cheap hardware-store masking tape. I stick the hardware store tape to my pants leg first to reduce the stickiness a bit.

lsufantc · Post by **lsufantc** » Thu May 02, 2013 2:37 pm

It wasn't to bad. I got a few rolls from amazon. I'm amazed how much hobby supplies they have. Wish there was a local store though. I'd pay a little extra to support a local business.