Hey everyone . I am quite an airplane enthusiast. I fly Falcon4.0 & am a part of that community. I was directed to this site by a fellow Falconeer. I have built some models in the past but I want to start a proper collection now & take it a bit more seriously. I figure that this is the best place that I can come for help.

I come from India, wanted to know if there are any more Indians on this site?

I have decided to stick with 1/48 scale modern fighter jet plastic kits.
My main problem is the painting. The paints are not available over here. My family frequently makes trips to London & the US so I will ask them to buy the models for me but the paints are a problem. I want to know the name of a brand that supplies the paints in the box or atleast specifies the names/serial numbers of the paints required outside the box. Then atleast they can pick them up. I want a brand that can supply US & Russian Jets. Maybe some Brit or French ones also. Basically, these are my questions. -

1. I am sticking with 1/48 models, I want a brand that can prefferably supply the paints in the box.

2. What is an airbrush? Is there one for all colours or will I have to buy different ones for different colours?

3. If the paints do not come in the box, what is the next best substitute that I can get at a hardware/general store?

4. Sand paper, swiss army knife, tweesers, nail polish remover, masking tape. Anything else?

Any other tips or advice to take into account for plastic a/c modelling will be very appreciated.
My main problem is the paints & painting. Any advice related to this will also be VERY appreciated.
Please help me out.
Thanks in advance,
Cheers,
WD.

PS - Let me know if there are any Indians over here.

WOW I did not realise that you guys had such an extensive user database.
I found many Indians.

Now I guess I want to find out if any of you are from Mumbai?

Please let me know if you are.
Cheers,
WD.

Hi WildDod, welcome to the site. You have quite a few questions there and I'm sure you will get the answers you want on this site.
1. Some manufacturers do supply paints in some of their kits. Airfix and Heller are two that spring to mind but they are not in every kit so you will have to make sure the kit has them. They are usually well marked on the box. However they usually only supply a few of the basic colours required for the main camouflage. Why not get the paint you need seperately when the kits are purchased? Most model shops stock model paint as well.
2. Put simply an airbrush is a miniature paint spraying tool. It's advantage is that it gives a superb paint finish without swamping the surface detail of the kit.
3. Some modellers use cheap art acrylics purchased from local stores, I've used them for painting scenery on dios but I'm not sure they would give an adequate finish for aircraft.
4. Glue and paintbrushes.

Thanks for such a prompt reply BrandyDog.

I would like to get the paints sepparately, but from where I live you cant get them. The problem is that my parents will be buying the model for me from London (probably from Hamleys) & they will not know how to tell which colours to get unless it is stated on the box.

I was quite impressed by academy. They have some nice US & Russian jets. Is this a good brand?



:-) I knew that. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
Cheers,
WD.

Hi again, I have built a few academy aircraft kits [WW2 props] and found them quite good. They were not as detailed as Tamiya or Hasegawa kits but were pretty good.
If you check out this link there are a few reviews of some Academy 1/48 jets.
http://modelingmadness.com/kitpreviews/kitpreviewsac.htm
If you know which kits you want you could do a search to find the colours and make a note which ones you need. Another alternative would be to ask the shop assistant to open the box as the paints needed will be in the instructions.

Thanks so much for all your help BD.
Academy is my pick because I called up a few tow shops & a hobby shop somewhere in town that I found out about quite by chance & it turned out that they have many academy models. The guys even specified that they had the paints but I wont take their word on that untill I see it with my own eyes.

Just one more question. What will the general dimensions of an 1:48 scale F-16 model? From nose to exhaust, will it be more or less than 11inches?
Thanks in advance,
Cheers,
WD.

Hi WildDog, the dimensions I've found of the F-16 states it is 49ft 4ins long. At 1/48 scale that would give 12.33 inches.
Here's a couple of links for some pics and info on the F-16.
http://home.hetnet.nl/~wetting/index.html
http://www.f-16.net/index.html

Welcome to the site. I wouldn't call 5 "many"...but there look to be several of those from your province. "bytepilot" has been pretty active on the site since it's early days. And I know he builds a lot of planes so you may want to PM him and say hi. There is another new user too that looks to have just posted this month.

Tell your modeling friends in India about us! I told some of my Indian programmer friends at my work but they didn't know anything about scale modeling. Lol.

Cheers,
Jim

Wild Dog, welcome to the site! Anything you buy is going to be by mail, logically the nearer the better. Here is a link to the best of the sites in the Pacific Rim. Now PMMS is very different to Armorama but the webmaster does have the best links pages for the Pacific region. HK, Japan and Australia all have a number of excellent Hobby-stores who do mail order.
The link is:

PMMS LINK PAGES

As I live in an area which has NO hobby-stores whatsoever, I can understand the problem All the best. and once again, welcome!....Jim

WildDog,
Welcome to the best military modeling site on the net. As to your quetsion about your parents not knowing which colors you may need. Most sales people in hobby shops will be happy to help your parents find the colors you will need for your model. Cheers Kevin

Thanks for such a warm welcome fellas. Really appreciated that. Everything that you guys said is taken into account.

BUT, I just had a stroke of really good luck. I went to a toy shop in town right next to my house & they had 2 academy models in 1/48 scale. They had the Russian Knights Flanker (my top choice) & a Mig-21.
The Flanker is my all time favorite a/c. The box was HUGE. I am going to pick that up tomorrow. They even had a set of 12 academy paints.
After that I found out that there is a hobby center in town so I called them up. They told me that they had a full set of models, paints in sets & individual colours, glue etc etc. I was really happy. Now I can pursue this hobby at ease. Only problem was that they did not have an airbrush. Thats OK. I'll just make do.
Cheers guys & thanks for everything ,
WD.

PS - I am going to be around here much more often for some help & tips on the Flanker. I am sure that its a popular kit & many of you have made it.
One more thing, is academy a reliable brand?