Here is the air-field of dreams. If you remember building it as a youngster or are just coming back to the hobby after a long absence. My two cents...welcome! Congrats to our beloved Merlin. Taking charge of the young Arthurs eh?

Hi Stephen

I think I'll be posting here as a beginner myself when it comes to WW1 builds!

Seriously - Aeroscale's building a great reputation for offering maximum help and encouragement to anyone starting out in our hobby - and the idea of Start Here is to take that to the next level and provide a purpose-built environment where beginners of all ages can learn from the mass of talent on the site. So, if you're new to modelling, don't be shy to post pics of your models and remember - there's no such thing as a "dumb" question.

All the best

Rowan

Rowan,

On the subject of helping beginners, I have just started a full article on choosing, building, painting and weathering an aircraft kit - the kit I'm building for this is a 1:48 Fw190A-3 (Tamiya) as I believe its probably the simplest build of any 1:48 kit available. I will be uploading the article soon but here is what I've done so far ( I'm just about to start spraying the kit) -

Beginners guide to everything! (Well, a few things anyway)

There are countless features/articles/tips on the Internet about how to build, paint and weather aircraft. Most of these articles are very good but they all tend to be specific about the particular point in question and often they seem aimed at the more experienced modellers. To this end I have decided to write this article that will hopefully bring all these tips together and will be aimed more at the beginner. For many readers there will be a lot of egg sucking to be had but you may find out something anyway. I will be covering –

· Choosing a kit
· Tools
· Building
· Adding further details (basic)
· Painting iIncluding airbrushing)
· Applying decals
· Panel lines
· Exhausts stains
· Pre/Post shading
· Using Klear/Future

It is not my intention to tell people how they should model, rather this is my way of doing it, is therefore neither right nor wrong – it just works for me.

Choosing a kit

For people new too modelling of any sort, there are certain companies you will very quickly get to know, some for the right reasons and some for the wrong ones! Those that are coming into aircraft modelling from other genres will have heard of most of the companies and in general their quality of kits is fairly standard across all their genres.

For the beginner in aircraft modelling I would suggest that you look no further than Tamiya or Hasegawa (Often referred to as Tamigawa). Revell also produce some good kits but they are a lot more hit and miss than Tamigawa. For beginners, stay clear of the likes of HiPM, MPM etc. I’m not saying that all their kits are poor – indeed, some are very good and even class leaders (MPM’s 1/72 Wellington for example). Some though are simply awful.

Tamigawa between them produce all the more common and widely modelled kits in 1/48. Whilst they are not always 100% accurate they do nearly always go together extremely well with a minimum of effort and filler. Some modellers prefer Hasegawa to Tamiya and others vice-versa. Personally, I think the detail in Hasegawa’s cockpits is better but Tamiya always seem to build easier. For this guide I’ve decided to build a kit that I have done several times in the past and it is by far the easiest kit I have ever built in any scale. It is one of the most modelled aircraft of all time and is a German WWII fighter. Whilst not 100% accurate (particularly with the size of the main wheels being too small and the undercarriage legs too short) it is a very pleasing kit on they eye when finished. It is the Tamiya Fw190A-3.

After Market Extra’s

Traditionally, most kits were built out-of-the-box (OOB) with no additional after-market parts, and in most cases you can still produce superb results that way. However, more and more modellers are turning to resin and etched parts to give finer detail on their kits. Often these extra’s can cost as much or more than the kit itself and while they do undoubtedly increase the level of detail I would not recommend them for beginners. Two items that can be used quite simply are decal sheets and (in my opinion) the only after-market necessity – etched seatbelts. Decal sheets cost around £6-8 but you can usually get 3 or 4 aircraft out of them. For this kit I will only be using Eduard’s 1/48 pre-coloured WWII Luftwaffe fighter seatbelts (Set 49002). One final item I frequently use are Eduards ‘Kabuki tape’ canopy masks – these are really only used as I can’t be bothered to cut Tamiya masking tape to size and I get the masks at trade prices! You do not need these but they do save a little time.

Tools and Equipment

The basics here are –

· Side-cutters/snips – for removing the parts from the sprue.
· A knife - I use a Swann & Morton scalpel - but these are VERY sharp so take care.
· Files – I use the 3 coloured nail buffers on Tamigawa as coarse files are really not needed.
· Brushes – Ranging from 5/O (very small) to 4 (fairly large).
· Glues – I almost exclusively use Humbrol liquid cement but also a little superglue for the etched belts.
· Pegs and tape – for holding parts together or holding parts when painting.
· Paints and varnish – I use a combination of Humbrol and Tamiya for the interior/detail colours and Xtracolor/Xtracrylix for the camouflage.

Additional items that REALLY aid the finished project –

· Gunze Sangyo Mr Surfacer – available in 500, 1000 and 1200 grades with 500 being the thickest. I use this applied with a cocktail stick along the major join seams such as the fuselage halves and wing leading/trailing edges. Not always needed particularly with Tamigawa.
· Johnsons Klear floor polish – more on this later.
· Microset and Microsol – Decal solutions that aid the bedding down of the decal. Again, more on these later.
· A double action airbrush – Expensive but if you are getting into modelling in the long run, well worth it. Furthermore, with Luftwaffe mottling, an airbrush is just about the only way to effectively reproduce it. I use a Badger 150 with fine, medium and XL heads.
· An airbrush compressor with adjustable pressure valve. Again, expensive but they are at least 1 zillion times better than using a car tyre or compressed air can.
· Good quality oil paint – I use Winsor & Newton’s Raw Umber on all my panel lines.
· Very fine fishing line – used for the radio antenna.


Before I complete and upload the article, It would be good to have you read over it and see what you think.

Regards,

Lee

Hi Lee

Fantastic! That sounds PERFECT! I was planning something similar myself, but my work-load means it would be a long way off...

Just glancing through your list of topics, the only real difference I can see is that I was planning to build a kit using the simplest and cheapest spray-gun. A lot of beginners see models built by experts and feel they need to run out and buy an expensive airbrush set-up straight off - something which usually leads to frustration and disappointment because, like everything else in modelling, it takes considerable practice to achieve the best results.

I think the eventual answer is for Aeroscale to have a series of tutorials covering all the major modelling skills - and my aim is to make these an interactive database so people can add their own experiences (there's usually more than one "right way" to do things).

All the best

Rowan

Well,

I also have a cheapo single action badger - but I really wouldn't fancy mottling with it! I suppose an OD/Natural grey P-47 would work though. Or even a hard edged camouflaged Spit/Hurricane. Maybee they would be a better choice for beginners.

In all honesty, I would suggest that beginners start on 1:72 anyway as they will quickly learn the basics and any major problems/mess-ups won't cost much.

OK, perhaps I'll do the Fw190 article as an intermediate guide and do a 1:72 something - I could even just brush coat it. What do you think?

Lee

Hi again Lee

I was actually planning a nice easy camo-scheme too - but I'd demonstrate mottling with the Blu-tak masking method, so there's no need for an airbrush.

But your article, as planned, sounds a great way of taking beginners through to the next level of modelling - and there's no harm in demonstrating what can be achieved with an airbrush. As much as I say "Keep it simple", it's equally true to bring in the notion of the "right tool for the job" - the main thing is to be as encouraging as possible while making it clear that there are seldom "instant answers" - every new tool takes practice to master.

All the best

Rowan

Fantastic idea Lee,

But please make it in such a way that it is easy to add things and can "evolve" over time. Maybe it could be the start of an on-line airplane modelling book with many contributors?

At the moment, Aeroscale contains a wealth of information but, like on many sites, it is hidden in a patchwork of forum posts, reviews, features, ...

To distill a coherent on-line book out of all this would be a huge task but also a very rewarding one.

Have fun

PS: by the way; ain't we all "beginners"? It is part of the fun that there is always something new to learn or to improve, isn't it?

..now you've got my attention - what is this...? while perhaps not a neophyte, -having assembled kits on and off for a while and used a single action Badger - I'm still stuck at what I'd call a beginners level - compared to most of what I see here..in fact I've gone backwards - ditched the Badger, taken up the brush, kinda reluctant to move out of 72nd scale -despite my stash of larger scales -.for all sorts of reasons - mostly to do with time, ability etc ...been stuck on the 'research' side of thngs for too long but am enjoying the relaxed atmosphere here at Aeroscale, perhaps now is the time to take my modelling to another level..

The idea here is that you spray the mottling colour FIRST and then apply small blobs of blu-tac (With normal masking too). You then spray the main colours and when the blu-tac has been removed you get relatively soft edged patches.

Basically the sequence (I used to use this but I'm sure there are other 'sequences') is -

1. Mask the canopy.
2. Spray the sides of the fuselage with the mottling colour/colours (if 2 colours just spray random small parts of the fuselage until all the fuselage side has been covered.
3. Apply blu-tac in small blobs over the colours - in 1:72 you need smaller blobs than 1:48.
4. Spray the RLM76 - or whatever underside/side colour you use.
5. Remove blu-tac to reveal mottling.
6. Use a strip of rolled blu-tac to do the upper/lower surface demarcation and mask the entire lower surface.
7. Spray the first upper surface colour.
8. Mask the camo pattern - with blu-tac if you want soft edges.
9. Spray the 2nd upper surface colour.
10. Remove all the masking and hey presto.

Note this doesn't follow the general light-to-dark spraying rule!

An alternative is to put a large piece of blu-tac over the sides that has had 'holes' made in it and spraying the mottling colours after the rest of the paint job.

Whichever way you do it, the results are only so-so and certainly no replacement for a decent double-action airbrush. But clearly not everyone can afford £100+ for an airbrush and another large wad of cash for a compressor.

This is all a bit vague I know, but I may well give a more thorough account in the article I'm producing.

I have now decided to switch to 1:72 for the article and I will be doing a P-51D in Natural metal (Alclad as its dead easy to use). I may also do a German fighter in 1/72 - perhaps just to demonstrate the blu-tac method.

Lee

Hi Lee

..thanks for that - very helpful ....I have however mastered natural metal finishes -- :-)
Halfords spray cans and Tamiya masking tape...