Alright i have two questions

1. i am doing my first plane, i am at the point where i attach the wings, the next step is to do the landing gear, do i go ahead and do all my overall painting for the plane then go back and do the rest of the little things?

2. this is a two part question
a. can u pre-shade without an airbrush and if you can how
b. when you are washing to bring out the panel lines, do you follow the lines very closely with a fine point brush or do you just slap it on there

thanks

Nick6570

Hi Nick,

Do whatever makes the build easiest. Generally, it is much easier to paint the airframe, then attach gear, doors, etc. Now, there are some kits I've done wherewith the gear have to be attached before the wing is complete. In such a case you'll just have to mask it or paint the gear later.

You can pre shade with or without an airbrush. Some people use an indelible black marker to pre shade--I did on my P-40E.

Washing the lines, both of your methods work. If the use a wash that is not easy to remove, a fine-tip is best; if using a sludge wash, just slop it on and wipe off.

im building a 1/72 scale for my first time as well. good questions by the way. what is a good sludge method for panel lines because the lines on the tiny plane are almost invisible? thanks

Howdy fellas,

to Nick6570 & larulid2:

Since, from your posts you seem to be working on your first aircraft model, and you're asking questions about washes and panel lines...allow me to point one very important thing out to you first {because a looooooooooong time ago when I first started out, no one pointed it out to me } and, everybody always seems to forget to mention this......
When you have your bird painted, and you're at the point where you're about to apply your wash, whether it's a 'fineline' wash, a 'pin' wash, or a sloppy "sludge" wash.....please remember to apply a gloss coat to your model first. Personally I prefer a clear 'Satin' coat, but that's another story....
What this does is empower the applied wash medium to flow much more freely down and along your panel lines....now, there are some who swear they can do it on a flat painted surface {and just for the record, I don't wish to generate any discussions about this }, and all I can say is; more power to them. They obviously have more talented hands than this poor carmudgeon {me} does.....

But since it's your first time, give the gloss coat a try, it will allow the process to be kinder to you.......promise

hth.

warm regards, and a hearty "Welcome!!" to the site fellas....

Tread.

Hi all!

I agree with Gordon! A coat of gloss makes the "panel lining" a lot easier. You can use Future (Klear) as well (that's what I do)...
As for making panel lines there are a lot of techniques. I use a very small brush and go along the panel lines with a mix of Tamiya acrylics (dark brown usually) and Future. Some are using oil washes. But doing panel lines on Mat paints, like Gordon said, is very difficult as every mistake will be hard to wipe away!
Mal Mayfield (Holdfast) did an excellent article about oil washes. You can find it here
Unfortunately the pictures of the feature seems to have disappeared!? Is it a way to get them back?

Jean-Luc

thanks a bunch guys! by the way, Model Masters makes a Water based clear coat and i have a cheap little aztek sprayer i wanna protect as much as i can so im only spraying acryl. my question is, is this stuff any good, and will it protect against the oil and spirits wash?