Hi all, I'm new here!

I'm on my first model - Tamiya's P-47B. I've invested in an airbrush, and have got to grips with thinning and spraying acrylics. I'm now at the point where I need to prime the model, and tried the decanted auto-primer method. I have to say this did not work out too well! First, I got in a right old mess decanting it. Then the bottle I decanted into pressurised and paint went everywhere when I opened it. When I finally got around to spraying it through the airbrush it was spluttering out of the paint cup. At this point I gave up, and am now looking for another method. So, what it as a good option? I would prefer an airbrushable acrylic with good adhesion properties. Can I just use a normal Tamiya paint?

All advice appreciated.

I prime all of my kits using Tamiya's fine primer spray in light grey. It primes quite nicely and leaves the kit baby-smooth.

Hi and welcome to Aeroscale.
For priming I use Halfords grey plastic primer straight out of the rattlecan.
A light dusting is all you need and Tamiya acrylics airbrush nicely over it.
You can also use Halfords white plastic primer. Same stuff just a different colour.
Hope this helps
Nige

Hello there, glad to have you here at the forum. I recommend to everyone Model Master Acryl paints and Polly Scale acrylic colors, their military line. Both of these paints airbrush well with little thinning, just use water to do so.

I think Tamiya is a more difficult paint to use although some may differ with this opinion. I would simply use a grey or green color, like U.S. interior green and airbrush the whole model sub assemblies with it. Then go on to your final colors of O.D. and neutral grey. Hope this advice helps you some. I welcome input from anyone else. Good luck, Russell.

Thanks for the replies! I still have some of the Halfords primer left in the can, so I'll try that on this particular model. Is any smoothing down recommended after using primer from a rattle-can?

I'll also order some of the Model Master and Poly Scale paints.

...I'm with Nige here ..it's too easy to over-complicate with modelling..personally I'd stick with the Halfords primer sprayed straight from the can....

I dont prime personally never could see a reason two.




Build On,
Justin

I use Tamiya white or gray. If it is white plastic I use the gray. For any other color of plastic, I use the white. As mentioned, no need to over complicate things.

I used the white Halfords primer straight out of the can, and after some wire-wooling it was a nice smooth finish that took the neutral grey and olive drab very well. But, I now have more questions!

I seem to be struggling a lot with masking. The curvy demarcation lines I did with blu-tak sausages but I found it really hard to get the stuff to behave. I'm now masking the tailplane so I can apply red and white to the rudder and, again, I am struggling with the Tamiya tape. I just can't get it to bend sideways and form curves.

So, not so much a question - more of a tip request. How do I mask weird shapes?

Hi Vapour,




I find it easiest to cut a very thin strip (2mm wide) of Tamiya Tape to follow the curved profiles tightly, then fill in the bigger area with wider strips. The thinner strips are also easier to "burnish" down tightly to prevent any paint seeping underneath the edge.

Hope this helps, Damian

I tried many primers and to keep things simple I use Tamiya acrylic paints except when certain models call for mixing tamiya colors to achieve RLM color,too much hassle.I recently started priming with tamiya liquid surface primer thinned with tamiya laquer thinner to use in my airbrush, certainly are other options but I am going to strictly stick to tamiya reccomendations.tamiya is easy to clean out of airbrush with hot water flush.Its somewhat frustrating to have to buy reccomended brand paints on different models

I do more or less the same but for bigger surfaces I cut paper in the shape needed (but 4-8 mm too small), then I cover the edges with 9 mm tamiya tape only putting 4 mm of the tape on the plastic. With scissors, i then cut the tamiya tape in the correct shape and stick it all on the plane.

This may seem complicated but it goes relatively fast for large surfaces, yuo need a lot less tamiya tape and it is a lot easier to remove afterwards. Just make sure to use sufficiently heavy paper so that the paint does not penetrate

Well, so far so good - thanks for the tips. I just have the canopy, ordanance and prop to finish, and my first model will be complete! For masking the canopy, I wrestled with Tamiya tape for about an hour and then ordered some Eduard masks from Hannants. They've just arrived and, after applying the first 3 pieces, I can say it's the best £ 1.90 (second-hand) I've ever spent. I don't know how far down the after market route I'll go in this hobby, but I'll order some special masks for each model I build.

Well, she's done!

I made a fair few mistakes but I learned a lot and am happy with the results. I really enjoyed building this kit and will do a Tamiya P51-B next.

I've uploaded a pic to my gallery, feel free to add comments.

..looks excellent..many congrats ! BTW you can cut & paste the "linked thumbnail" link from your gallery post straight into your forum post to avoid the viewer navigating away from the forum...

Ah, thanks for the tip. Let's try that:

Welcome to the forum and modelling,be sure to show us some WIP pic's.that Tamiya kit builds like a dream !!

Great job!

Well done.
Nige

Very well done indeed . Look forward to see other projects in future

Now I see it,very nicely done,thanks for sharing

Thanks for the comments. The P-51 is underway and I am taking photographs! Maybe I'll do a little beginners build log or something.

:)

Well done, it's a lot better than my first model