DreamKnight said:
Thanks!
Hmmmm... just out of observations for myself and I would love to hear from anyone else if they got any tips:
1) My dark washes are too dark aren't they? They should be a little more subtle? I'd have more to work with when my pastel sets comes in.
2) I need to work on my airbrushing more. Still not used to double action. I used to use a single action and when I jumped back into the hobby in the past month I purchased a dual action. I find some times when I'm trying to put on some spray subtly I end up pulling back too much because I can hardly see where the paint is hitting at first.
3) I need to keep my canopy mask up until I'm weathering along with the rest of the model. Right now the canopy frames are too shiny and the color is off from the rest of the body.
4) I need to REALLY be patient with it comes to my seam jobs.
5) I think I might have gotten the wrong flat coat. It's still too shiney for my taste. It's coming from out of a can. I went and got some Acrylic Matte Varnish so I can spray the coat through my airbrush. I'm watching some stuff from promodeller and he seems to get a lot of control shooting it through an airbrush.
Anyone else got some tips for me?
Nicely done, DK, and well played on your recovery with the turret gunner!
If I'm not mistaken, this is a nostalgia kit, isn't it? That is, this is an old Revell kit. And if I'm correct, I'm even more impressed. Not that old kits are inherently less worthy than today's kits-I certainly don't believe that, since I'm a nostalgia builder myself. No, I mean that you can really exert yourself and stretch your skills, and build a really nice model with them, without all the aftermarket. What I mean is, you've got a nice Marauder there!
I read your observations, and I think that:
For 1), I don't think they're too dark, but ultimately, I'd have to eyeball it myself, applying the "Looks about right" rule. Your B-26 does look pretty smoky, but that's not necessarily bad, unless you didn't want it to be smoky. But see what you think with the pastels. I use them, too, along with washing, it depends on the application. But I don't think you need to tweak too much.
Can't speak to 2), because I don't yet use an airbrush. I have a Paasche VL but I'm afraid to use it, or better, I'm afraid of all of the work to have to clean the thing after use.
For 3), I agree, I wouldn't remove the masks until absolute last, especially if you have to attach the canopies before painting the entire model. If you can leave them off till the end, like with the small windshields on old open-cockpit aircraft, you could probably remove any masking.
For 4), absolutely! I have to remind myself of this, too. Be careful, take your time, haste makes a pile of scrap styrene. I'm learning, too, to pay more attention and spend more time in test-fitting before ever putting glue to plastic. You can learn to look for potential trouble spots. But if you can minimize the seamage in the construction process, you can reduce the amount of puttying/sanding/re-puttying/re-sanding, etc, once parts are put together.
For 5), you may be right, the upper surfaces do show a little shine in some of the pics. What's the matte coat you used here? I use Testor's DullCote for my matte finishes, and it comes out as "matte as matte can be, you know" (in my best Ed Grimley voice). But you have to find a product that works consistently for you, under your conditions (your shop, with your air circulation/local temperatures/humidity, etc).
I think you'll like the pastels. I use chalks, even for panel shading, depending on the application (white chalk, plain ol' schoolhouse chalk, ground up and maybe cut with some black to make it a little grey). And on a recent build, I used the filter method with dots of oil paint spotted onto the surfaces and then drybrushed away, to help fade panels. It was pretty easy.
I've also used artist's pencils to do panel line shading, that worked pretty nicely, too. I can recommend those, too, Binney & Smith (the Crayola crayon people) make them, but there are other, similar products, too.
But again, well done on this kit, I think you've built a nice-looking model!
Regards,
Brad
I grew up with the movie so it'd be something I'd really love to work on.
