Hi!

I've finally completed my first model, a P-40B Tiger Shark (Revell, 1:48). I've had lots of fun building the model and although it's not great, I did learn important things. I was very worried at first about making everything perfect but soon realized I don't have the experience for that yet!

So here's the final thing, in my gallery:
https://photos.kitmaker.net/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=4915

I appreciate any comments you might have on how to improve the obvious areas where I screwed up (as clearly noticed in the pictures). Here are some examples of things I had problems with:

- camouflage: using a brush I found difficult to make the areas where green meets beige to be smoother.
- decals: not sure what happened, maybe the decals I had were old and the glue not good anymore but some of them were really hard to place in the model.
- glueing transparent parts: I tried using little glue for the cockpit windows but was only able to fix them in place using a greater amount of glue that unfortunately spread over and can be seen if you look closely.

Beginners, I encourage you to take a look at the pictures. You'll see that your project can't get worse! ;-)

Again, feel free to share any advice, criticism, etc.

Cheers!

what a coincedence, i bought this exact model yesterday. it looks pretty good, did it go together well. i looked at mine, the pieces fit togetherbadly, or should i say, don't fit together at all! how was yours, how long did it take to build?

hi norwood,is this your first model after an absence from building or first ever? when i came back to modelling most of my stuff was like your P40, however i didnt have the benefit of anything like this site, the advice and help i get here is exellent.you yourself outlined some areas you were having problems with,the most noticable thing to me was the canopy where you said it took a lot of glueing to get it on,what i do with canopies is to use superglue,applied with a pin or needle with the idea that you should try to use the absolute minimum of glue, this applies to all small parts.as for the camoflage did you paint the lighter coluor first? on two or three tone camo its a good idea to paint the lightest colour all over then add the next pattern on top, this will help stop thick paint lines at the point where two colours meet the decal problem can be helped by applying a glossy coat before you put them on, then a matt coat afterwards, these model "varnishes" can be found at your local hobby store (lhs) usually in the paint section. hope these words help, phil

Hi Norwood,
For a first attempt this actually isn't that bad
Clear parts
Although Phil has a good point, about using superglue, for a novice this might prove a little extreme? I would suggest white glue. You can use woodworking glue or there are similar glues marketed for the modeller, one is Krystal Kleer, I also have another, which is marketed for the flying model scene. It is applied using a tooth pick and will not damage the clear plastic parts. If you do get it on the parts it is simply removed with water, or wait till it dries and peel it off. It dries clear, so is ideal for clear parts.
Painting
First of all let me say I use an airbrush, so I am in no way an expert on hand brushing.
Am I correct in assuming that this model comes in a dark green plastic? Trying to cover dark plastic with hand brushed paint can be a nightmare. Part of the answer is to use a primer coat, I use a plastic primer designed for (real) cars. If you go this route be careful not to spray it to heavily, light coats are the way. It is possible to cover dark plastic without using a primer coat, and I suspect this is what you may have done. It looks as if you have put the paint on to thickly, as is usual when first attempting brush painting. In actual fact the first rule of brush painting is to use multiple thin coats, building up the depth until coverage is complete. 2, 3, or even 6 or more coats might be required, depending on the colour used and the colour being covered. Having said that I do know a modeller that brush paints and covers in one coat, but he has built his technique over a long time. As Phil says, it is also customary to paint the lighter colour all over then add the darker camouflage colour. Just to clarify, the underside colour is painted first (usually the lightest colour), when dry this is masked off. (You might decide not to mask it off, if you have a steady hand ). Then paint the lightest of the uppersurface camouflage colours, all over the upper surface and, when dry paint the darker colour. Using a flat brush helps.
Decals
It is probabably easier to brush paint using matt paint, that's cool, but it doesn't help the decals. After painting you need to prepare the surface to receive the decals by giving it a coat of gloss varnish, I use Johnsons Future, an acrylic floor polish. Take a look hereThe Future is Klear (page 3 is the start of the hand brushing). For an explanation of applying decals look here Decal Dilemas. If you have any questions, post again.
Beginners, I encourage you to take a look at the pictures. You'll see how good a first attempt can be
Mal

Hi Travis, welcome to Armorama
Mal

hey there looks pretty good.. will make a couple of suggestions even though I might also be considered a newbie as i've only built about 3 wingy things so far.. I do more in groundhuggers.

Glue for canopies.. white glue is ok but I think the best is Testors Clear parts glue... it goes on a milky color so you can see it but dries clear... so it doesn't mess up the canopie.. and it doesn't fog it like other glues or superglue will....

cockpit instrustments.. I note you painted the larger ones silver.. I have done that also but on the larger gauges I also try to drybrush the molded on detail inside in with black to give an idea of numbers or whatever..and after sometimes on larger ones i put a drop of clear parts glue to dry to make it look like a glass cover. not that anyone really sees this detail except me..

Tires.. unless its just the photo the tires look gloss black.. i think flat black is more realistic looking..

Exhaust stacks.. look a little shiny.. if its a plane in use more of a burnt metal / rust color depending on the plane and the metal used for the exhaust's.

all in all thats a good first attempt.. my first plane was terrible and I went for a single color one. ..

for instance if you hand painted the canopie rails your pics show a steady hand.. :>

and as for the decals.. once you learn about future you will see a great improvement.. be sure to read up on those links shown by Holdfast.

and one bit of advice.. if you decide to get an airbrush in the future.. remember the basic rule you get what you pay for.. and reasearch will help u understand what your looking for.. :>

I recently bought this P-40b revell monogram kit too.I prefitted the thing and it doesn't fit very well and it will need much much putty!I'm a little disappointed in this kit ,but what the hell it costs only 9 eur.

Your model looks nice,especially when it's your first and handpainted! (i know i don't have an airbrush yet,and use brush and spraycan instead)
The decals are a bit "silver", i could be your digi cam to, but try to use some gloss coat and a decal softner also when you have those big decals wich have "clear" parts (you know what i mean ) cut the clear parts away. After the application apply a matt coat.

cheerz Q. (i'm not an expert al all!)

I like it very much. The camo pattern gives it good contrast even thought they are both dull colors. The red and colorful wheels gives is a nice subtle pop of color too.

Hey guys, thanks a lot for the comments! Very good info indeed

Here are some answers for questions asked, in no particular order:

I started modelling when I was about 13 or 14 years-old and did mostly ariplanes but tried a couple of ships as well. Not much details, at that time I wanted to have the model done as quickly as possible and did not venture too much into painting. I then stopped and after 10 or 15 years I'm back to the hobby. Now my interest is to get it right, learn little by little and hopefully be able to apply the techniques that give those great models shown in magazine a realistic appearance! I'm also very interested in dioramas but first things first

This P-40B I've had for years now and it was the first on the shelf and it looked pretty good for a comeback so that's why I started with it. I didn't have much problems with the parts as some of you mentioned, but did have to apply putty especially in the space between wings and the body of the plane. Other than that, don't remember having much trouble with the parts.

It took me a long time to get this model ready, but mostly because I couldn't dedicate a lot of time for it, so it was made piece by piece. I guess it took me about 6 months or so, but again, I didn't dedicate much time for it.

Great advice about the decals... I did not use anything (coating) before applying them, so next time I will!

Tires: I used flat black. It's probably the digi cam that made it look glossy. Mmm... this brings me to another question: does it make sense to sand the tires a little bit so it gives that appearance that the wheels are supporting real weight? Any suggestions to give it more realism?

Paint: good point on painting light colors first... and using a primer. Will try it next time!

Canopy: I masked (or tried to mask) the canopy so that I could paint it better without making a mess. It worked for some parts.

Oh, yes, and I also learned that some parts are easier painted if you don't take them off the sprue (like the tires and canopy).

Initially I thought about giving it a more realistic paint job with oil/grease at certain points, exhaust marks, etc. but then decided I was having enough trouble painting the basic thing as it was so gave up on that idea.

Thanks again for all the comments!

Your right, it is sometimes easier to leave parts on the sprue while you paint them, but you really need to clean up the parts first. I'm guessing that when you say you left the tyres on the sprue to paint them you didn't remove the mould part line? I remove parts, like tyres and wheels because it is easy to provide a "handle" for holding them using a tooth pick. It is also much easier to remove the sprue attachment and clean up the part line (the raised line that runs down the middle of parts, which is where the molten plastic escaped between the mould halves. Parts contained in only one half will not have this, such as cockpit floors.)SEE HERE this will show you and give an explanation of how I treat wheel/tyres. ( to see the explanation click on the thumbnails to open them). This will show that I don't use black for tyres, but a dark grey. It also shows how to get a perfectly painted tyre.To see the full build CLICK HERE then click on Spitfire Mk I.
Hope this helps
Mal

Hey, thanks for sharing! I just love this forum, so many helpful things (especially being able to upload pics).

I like the way you used toothpicks for handling the tires. Will definetely try on my next model.

Your welcome, anything else just ask
Mal