Not Painting

[Martyhh]

I was wondering if there are people out there who build models but don't paint them. I like the building part, but fine the painting takes a lot of time and effort. I live in an apartment so don't have that much space, so no air brush, hood, etc. Just brush painting. Do people skip the painting part?

 

[urumomo]

Welcome to SMA !

to the question at hand , not me , but possibly others here .

 

[Pantherman]

I was wondering if there are people out there who build models but don't paint them. I like the building part, but fine the painting takes a lot of time and effort. I live in an apartment so don't have that much space, so no air brush, hood, etc. Just brush painting. Do people skip the painting part?

Hi and welcome to the forum. If your happy with the non painted finish then that's fine. It's your hobby and you should do what makes it fun for you.

The only downside I can see is if something needs filling, your only choice would be sprue goo. Pantherman

 

[kevin]

Welcome aboard.....
I've never seen anyone not paint their models, but it's your model so there is no wrong answer, just enjoy the experience.
I'm just the opposite, the painting and weathering are my favorite parts of the build. Brush painting obviously takes longer, but good results can be achieved with patience and practice. You don't have to think it's not an option. I hand brushed entire 1/16 scale tanks because I couldn't get my airbrush to function properly.

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

I didn't as a kid around 5, 6, or 7 yrs old in the early 70s. I built snap kits back then, slapped on the decals and called it done.

Now, I always paint my kits. You don't need a hood for airbrush booth. A lot of them can be vented out the window - even homemade ones.

My AB a booth is a convertible type. You can fold it down and put away when done. Although I leave mine up and is vented out the window at every airbrushing session.

 

[airdave]

Haven't painted a single model!:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65936213@N08/albums/

 

[Jim62]

Painting the model is my favorite part of the build. Least favorite is masking canopies but gotta do it to paint.

 

[Martyhh]

Haven't painted a single model!:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65936213@N08/albums/

They look great. They are paper, correct? Are they from a kit? If so, which?

 

[airdave]

They look great. They are paper, correct? Are they from a kit? If so, which?

All paper kits.
In this case. those are all kits I designed and sell.

 

[Motoretrolia]

Started out with ships and airplanes and didn't paint. Then slowly started with bottle paints on trim parts, leaving base colors intact. The I moved to inexpensive store brand, spray paints to Testors and others. I don't air brush as this point. Seems like the final step up although who knows...

 

[Tom Mix]

At 84 I'm still building, I've been building since I was a pre-teen. Up here in Maine the winters keep us inside a lot more so building auto and aircraft models were encouraged. Now I build mostly 1/48 scale aircraft.
Painting my built models is not my most favorite task of modeling. So many choices, brands, etc...
I've mastered the air brush pretty well, but the availability of different paints and thinners is, to me, overwhelming! I'm assuming the paints are accurate or close enough, but what bothers me is what thinner goes with which paint? Simple? I find it's anything but...
USN Gunner...

 

[ohbejuan]

I think it is just fine if you don't paint them. Preferences change over time. I build 1/48 scale aircraft, and I really don't enjoy the interior detailing. I do enjoy the main construction. SO I tend to do the cockpit fairly simply, and then take my time with the rest of the build. I am not planning on entering any contests, so it is fine.

One thing I used to get caught up in is all of these YouTubers who do crazy detailed builds. I am just not that experienced or driven. Do what you enjoy

 

[Dminor9]

When I shop for my next build, I tend to look for the models with the least amount of painting required. I do enjoy doing the detail painting, but do not enjoy painting entire builds. I rarely paint the entire outside of an airplane model. Painting missiles, bombs, landing gear, cockpits, etc. is fine. The only outside painting on a model I do is clear coating after decals. I do not weather or panel line. I have tried both and find it frustrating and not worth the effort for me. This is one of the main reasons I really enjoy building motorcycle models. Very little painting.

 

[TimM63]

I was wondering if there are people out there who build models but don't paint them. I like the building part, but fine the painting takes a lot of time and effort. I live in an apartment so don't have that much space, so no air brush, hood, etc. Just brush painting. Do people skip the painting part?

I have two builds that I did not paint the exterior.
https://www.scalemodeladdict.com/threads/m8-greyhound-completed.15203/

https://www.scalemodeladdict.com/threads/italeri-1-35-armored-recovery-vehicle-completed.15177/

The color of the plastic was close to what I wanted and I wanted to see how they looked "unpainted." I did spary them with a matte clear coat when they were done.

 

[blakeh1]

Kit manufacturers these days seem to have the people who don't like to/or can't for one reason or another paint the models.

Many kits these days are molded in color, or at least pretty close to color. I have had a few kits from Academy now that do this, and of course Bandai kits as well as Meng kits and even the newer AMT/Round 2 kits like the Space 1999 stuff or Razor Crest

When these kits are molded in color, in theory, you could skip painting the base coat. However, they still retain that "plastic" look.
One thing you can do to help alleviate that is to dull coat (or matte varnish) the model and do some basic weathering/wash.
It goes a long way to improving the model

For example, here I just could not seem to find the right color I wanted for these Space Battleship Yamato models at the time, so I simply first sprayed them with Testors Dull Coat to get rid of that plastic "sheen". YOu could instead just spray with a matte varnish, but I like the Dull Coat since it gets it really flat looking
Then I used some oil paint drybrushing and sludge washes plus some Tamiya weathering powders to get some tonal variation and some other hand painting to maybe get some detail parts like the antenna to look metallic. In the end, while not quite as good maybe as if they had been painted due to the natural variation and allowing undercoat to show through etc.., it still turned out nice enough in my opinion

So again, no base coat, simply straight to weathering over dull coated plastic

 

[blakeh1]

The other option if the kit is not molded in color is simply get a spray paint color that is close enough (can be cheap rustloeum even) and just spray the base color before assembling. That will save you the step or sometimes tedious masking around canopies etc...
For glue kit, you will have to scrape away paint from the pins, but that is no big deal. Then just hand paint any details with a regular brush after assembly

 

[ohbejuan]

My first kits were Bandai Star Wars kits in colored plastic, and they were a great way to get started and feel satisfied with the work. I now use and airbrush etc, but I might build this TIE striker I just got without paint