When I was a kid, I lived a mile from a Hobby Shop. Models, Estes Rockets, Cox-powered cars. I spent all my paper route money there. My interest in models started off with cars, and later shifted to WW2 kits. I got pretty damn good with an air brush. I’ve been tempted to get back into kits.
I Paid $199 For An Aurora Model Kit
- Thread starter DrumBob
- Start date
Many years ago I assembled a model of the USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides"). I spent months on it, detailing every part - the bands around the canon castings, the sail riggings…
The sailor figures were perhaps 3/4" tall? (the memory is weak here). I remember painstakingly painting the buttons on their uniforms. You needed a magnifying glass to appreciate the details.
When finally finished, I proudly placed it on a shelf for the world to admire.
The cat knocked it over within a week.
So it goes…
The sailor figures were perhaps 3/4" tall? (the memory is weak here). I remember painstakingly painting the buttons on their uniforms. You needed a magnifying glass to appreciate the details.
When finally finished, I proudly placed it on a shelf for the world to admire.
The cat knocked it over within a week.
So it goes…
DrumBob
Senior Member
I'm a little out of touch on pricing but I think you could get set up for your needs for maybe a couple hundred including paints/ supplies, starting with something like this:
Master Airbrush KIT-G22-T Dual Fan Air Compressor System Kit for sale online | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Master Airbrush KIT-G22-T Dual Fan Air Compressor System Kit at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!www.ebay.com
I think you'll see the compressor isn't that loud, and having a spray booth really simplifies indoor work, that's where the big bucks are:
ONLY $1800 which seems like a great deal until you realize you still gotta install the ducting and filters to comply with OSHA standards.
Paasche 3' Bench Type Paint Spray Booth - Made by Paasche in the US- (NEW) | eBay
3' Bench Spray Booth. The Booth Includes Booth must be assembled and hardwired (switch to be supplied by electrician). Set of Paint Filters.www.ebay.com
(OK, yeah I was going a little over the top for laughs.)
I see the airbrush as ideal for parts needing consistent covering like car/plane bodies, engines, chassis, interior tubs, and they're ideal for things like camo patterns, you get the idea, but there's a still a place for brushes for fine detail.
For things like car bodies you can get very good results with spray cans, but not only do they need to be shaken thoroughly and then again even 2 or 3 times, but need to be used in an ideal temp range: too cold and the droplets end not to atomize as finely, too hot and the paint dries too fast. Either on can result in getting too thick layer of paint which tends to bury fine surface details like rivets or body moulding.
That's where understanding thinning is good to know for brush work. I think most of us just used the straight paint from the little Testors or Pactra jars, right? Unless there was another modeler in the family, nobody to teach us the little trick of thinning, which helps keep the coat nice and thin, and helps prevent brush marks.
Also I tried spray cans outdoors a couple of times, and discovered it's almost impossible to have a perfectly still day. There's always a little waft of air that seems to come along and carry paint away from the piece.. Then you try to compensate and wind up with uneven coverage.
Also it's better to use multiple coats than to try to do it all in one pass, and that means at least a 24 hour cure time between coats, just like lacquering a guitar. Also can result in orange peeling or "drips".
Or at least that applied to NCL-type spray paints, I'm not even sure they make those anymore.
One of the nicest jobs I ever did was on a '63 Stingray, going for the factory Silver Blue color:
(not the model)
Did it by using Silver as the base coat and then spraying a couple of thin/light coats of Dark Blue over it.
Gives a different effect than the single-paint job on that Avanti, a little more realistic I think, although in my case the color I wanted just wasn't available off the shelf or I probably would have gone for it.
I did go wrong once though, using an automotive paint on my own Avanti model because it was available. Turned out to be a little too rich in solvents which softened the plastic, yielding a bizarre after effect.
Good luck and have fun! Let us now how it goes!!
I appreciate all your good advice here. When I made models as a kid, I never had anyone help me. I just did it, and never used thinner for anything other than cleaning my brushes! And yes, I used Testors paint all the time. Could you explain to me the correct usage of thinner for paints and when should you use it?
adorshki
Reverential Member
Styrene Plastic models? Or were they actually old school metal models? I actually had one of those as a kid, "Hubley" a Model T, I think, but I never did anything with it because it was bare metal and I discovered painting it was problematic. Gave up on that one.
Now if it had had a real cool body I probably woulda saved it.
adorshki
Reverential Member
It kind of depends on the application, but the idea is it will go on thinner evaporate faster. Helps avoid brush marks.
Some paints might thinner right out of the bottle, the glosses always tended be thicker than the mattes, too, right?
And of course you can't just dump thinner in a fresh-opened full bottle, which means having a mixing container(s) handy. I'm leading up the idea of experimenting yourself, start with a small amount of thinner if the paint's too thick out of the bottle, and test it on the plastic trees of the kit just to get a feel for the "spreadability" and results.
I'd start with say just a drop or 2 of thinner for a couple of teaspoons of a gloss paint. It'll take a bit of the gloss out, but I think that's a more realistic effect overall, anyway.
I'm sure there's gonna be vids out there dealing with proper use of thinner, and on the modeling forums too.. it is called after all, thinner, not brush cleaner, right?
Obviously there was a conspiracy to prevent all of us kids from having access to that kind of knowledge back in the day.
It helped Testor's sell more paint.
PS: Remember when the paint jars were glass?
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spoox
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I never saw any of them by the time I knew him, but I would assume plastic. I first knew him through his friend Bill, whom I met when we were freshmenStyrene Plastic models? Or were they actually old school metal models? I actually had one of those as a kid, "Hubley" a Model T, I think, but I never did anything with it because it was bare metal and I discovered painting it was problematic. Gave up on that one.
Now if it had had a real cool body I probably woulda saved it.
in high school--I didn't actually meet Chuck until we were seniors. Through Bill I'd heard about his model building skills--and he was one of the only guys at our school that had an extensive record collection--the remainder of which I got when he died last August. Evidently Chuck's cars would always win at hobby shop competitions in Redondo back in the '50s and early '60s. I taught him to strip furniture without gloves and respirator, but he eventually used both...
woosy!
DrumBob
Senior Member
It kind of depends on the application, but the idea is it will go on thinner evaporate faster. Helps avoid brush marks.
Some paints might thinner right out of the bottle, the glosses always tended be thicker than the mattes, too, right?
And of course you can't just dump thinner in afresh-opened full bottle, which means having a mixing container(s) handy. I'm leading up the idea of experimenting yourself, start with a small amount of thinner if the paint's too thick out of the bottle, and test it on the plastic trees of the kit just to get a feel for the "spreadability" and results.
I'd start with say just a drop or 2 of thinner for a couple of teaspoons of a gloss paint. It'll take a bit of the gloss out, but I think that's a more realistic effect overall, anyway.
I'm sure there's gonna be vids out there dealing with proper use of thinner, and on the modeling forums too.. it is called after all, thinner, not brush cleaner, right?
Obviously there was a conspiracy to prevent all of us kids from having access to that kind of knowledge back in the day.
It helped Testor's sell more paint.
PS: Remember when the paint jars were glass?
I sure do remember when they were glass bottles, in fact, I have a couple stashed in a junk drawer that I used to touch up guitars or drum shells.
I had no idea what I was doing with Testors paint when I was a kid, I just slapped it on and hoped for the best. And you're right; there was nobody giving us advice on how to use thinner or anything much else back then. Now, there's so much information online, and the kits have generally gotten much more detailed than they ever were before.
One of the videos I watched however on You Tube was a really cute twentysomething girl with big ta-tas who went on and on about airbrushing. The only problem was, she was a dingbat who was trying to describe the parts on her compressor, and didn't know the names of them, calling them "thingies" and "thing-a-ma-bobs." I finally turned it off, it was so bad. Some people just should not make YT videos.
I sold this Revell model new in the box a few years ago:
adorshki
Reverential Member
So wha' happen wit d'kits?
adorshki
Reverential Member
Do you really want to get me started on Marvel comics?
NGD... sort of..
Okay so I have had this idea for a while and finally did with an old MIJ Strat body I had laying around. Fortunately such a piece does not require perfection nor much if any talent other than imagination. I present to you my Devilcaster!!! These are the elements used to assemble: - Elbow...
letstalkguild.com
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HeyMikey
Enlightened Member
Same here. All my prized possessions gone to the yard sale while at college. Seems to be a common story. Which explains why my attic, basement and shed are filled with so much crap because I can’t throw anything out. Yeah, thanks mom and dad.
I would have been much more successful with the old plastic models had there been superglue when I was a kid. The old plastic cement had way too long of a cure time, parts would move, etc.
davismanLV
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EXACTLY!! My brother and I were long gone when my parents got divorced and sold the old homestead. I never thought about it at the time but my brother and I got together one time and realized that all his trains, my trains, Aurora road racing tracks, everything from our childhood just WENT AWAY!!! I guess they sold it all or threw it away. It boggles the mind!!
Yeah, well my Mom gave all my stuff away when I went in the navy - my slot cars, my telescope, a bunch of other stuff. When I came home after 4 years I said "Geez, Mom, I didn't die, I just went in the Navy for a while!"
Sorta makes you wish your parents were hoarders, don't it?
walrus
walrus
When I ran a record store, we had a customer, a retired engineer, who had a chronic ailment that made his arms and hands shake uncontrollably. His fine motor skills were so bad that his wife wrote his check and then held his arm steady so he could sign it. He had spent 30 years collecting scale models to do in his retirement, but was unable to do them. Don't wait, you never know what will happen.
wileypickett
Enlightened Member
Cars?! Airplanes?!
For me it was the Aurora monster model collection that made life worth living as a 10-year-old. Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, the Wolfman, etc., etc. Bought every one of them as they came on market.
For me it was the Aurora monster model collection that made life worth living as a 10-year-old. Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, the Wolfman, etc., etc. Bought every one of them as they came on market.
I was on the road playing music for many years. I carried a small model tool kit and started putting together HO train kits: locomotives, rolling stock. Great way to pass the hours. I swore I would have a layout one of these days. Now I finally own a small house but have not constructed a layout though I watch YT vids that are inspiring me! My house is full of stuff (including Guilds) so the only place left is on the walled-in back porch.
I'd go with N gauge now, though, because of space limitations. Anyone else here a model railroader?
I'd go with N gauge now, though, because of space limitations. Anyone else here a model railroader?
Nuuska
Enlightened Member
I used to be rep for LGB garden rairoads for more the ten years before Märklin took over them. they are built on 1:22,5 scale - or G-scale. At one fair a man approached me - he asked if he could come behind the table to study the truck of one locomotive. After a while he said - "Not too shabby for mass product!" - Then he showed me what he was carrying - a model of DC-3 motor in near perfect reproduction. He also told me that he had crept hours after houers on a DC-3 with a caliper measuring distances between bolts . . . !!!
After he finished his model with literally thousands hours of work he tried to insure it for some realistic money - he was offered maybe 2000€
STEELMAN - I used to have a 60 meter - 200ft - long garden track with two "dogbones" and three trains running automatically plus one driven separately - those days are gone - I still have a less than 5 hours used LGB-ASTER Beyer Garrat . . .
Plus another LGB special . . .
Quite pretty
After he finished his model with literally thousands hours of work he tried to insure it for some realistic money - he was offered maybe 2000€
STEELMAN - I used to have a 60 meter - 200ft - long garden track with two "dogbones" and three trains running automatically plus one driven separately - those days are gone - I still have a less than 5 hours used LGB-ASTER Beyer Garrat . . .
Plus another LGB special . . .
Quite pretty
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