Food for thought

[Ron Tamburrini]

Regarding construction and painting sequences .
My general approach is to construct as much as possible prime and paint, all very well till you come to adding things like Sabretache and sword belts that generally have to be coaxed into position.
This is where the problems start as already pre painted parts no longer seem to fit as they did before and if they do collateral damage more than likely occurs

So looking for a suitable primer for metal figures that can be applied with an air brush rather than the beloved Halfords stuff oot a can , that way I can work small sections at a time and add the difficult parts as they come up .

Any thought on this guys .

Ron

 

[DEL]

Fish.

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Fish.

Only on a friday

 

[housecarl]

I use Hycote brushable thinned with cellulose thinner, 500ml has lasted me over 3 years.
Not bad at £6 a pot.

 

[billyturnip]

Paint flats!

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Paint flats!

I had hoped for some sense and sensibility on this one but some things never change

 

[billyturnip]

I had hoped for some sense and sensibility on this one but some things never change

Sabre and sabretache in position without any coaxing, no problem.

 

[Ferris]

For local primer touch ups I use Humbrol light grey (64?), applied by brush.

If there are seperate parts to prime, by can or airbrush, you can use blu tack to keep the contact areas clean.

I hate final assembly, a very stressy job, and try to make everything fit exactly, preferably with some sort of locked joint or pin to which glue can be applied. Never had things not fitting later so far.

An interesting option for attachment of details I learned from Calvin Tan: mini magnets. Not sure if this will work with metal figures though, best for resin.

Hope these are the type of thoughts you were looking for Ron!

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

For local primer touch ups I use Humbrol light grey (64?), applied by brush.

If there are seperate parts to prime, by can or airbrush, you can use blu tack to keep the contact areas clean.

I hate final assembly, a very stressy job, and try to make everything fit exactly, preferably with some sort of locked joint or pin to which glue can be applied. Never had things not fitting later so far.

An interesting option for attachment of details I learned from Calvin Tan: mini magnets. Not sure if this will work with metal figures though, best for resin.

Hope these are the type of thoughts you were looking for Ron!

Cheers,
Adrian

Is the humbrol adhering to bare metal ok Adrian

 

[DEL]

I had hoped for some sense and sensibility on this one but some things never change

You get more and more 'floral' with each passing year

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

You get more and more 'floral' with each passing year

How about some of your vast knowledge here instead of pot shots

 

[theBaron]

I've used Tamiya's flat acrylic Medium Gray (XF-20), as well as Mr Surfacer 1200 as primers, applied with the airbrush. With the Tamiya paint, I use their own proprietary acrylic thinner, because I get the best results with it, but I have heard from others who use lacquer thinner or isopropyl. With Mr Surfacer, I use lacquer thinner, to thin for airbrushing. I hope that helps!

Prosit!
Brad

 

[kagemusha]

Why not decant the halfords....then you can apply by brush or airbrush

 

[DEL]

How about some of your vast knowledge here instead of p ot shots

Never, never, NEVER.
But on a more constructive note it's really little more than pre-planning care and attention.
Attach everything you can, prime, say with Halfords Grey. Turn it upside down and wash German Black Brown acrylic into the recesses and undercuts , it's less stark a contrast than black', then have at it with your chosen undercoats.
Work from the inside out. That is to say paint the difficult to get to areas first before you make any attempt to paint the more visible areas.
Don't reject some of your hooked brushes as they can be invaluable in getting to awkward spaces.
As for Sabretache straps and sword belts attach as firmly as possible then bend carefully away from body and support, paint, remove support and gently bend towards the body until final placement is achieved.
I've never held to the old adage that 'if you can see it you can paint it' but I always try to avoid gluing anything to a 'finished figure.
To end as I started planning, care and attention ...... and making sure you get your paint consistency right.

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Why not decant the halfords....then you can apply by brush or airbrush

Cheers Ron C never tried the decant thing , well I have with Chaos black " DONT DO IT "

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Never, never, NEVER.
But on a more constructive note it's really little more than pre-planning care and attention.
Attach everything you can, prime, say with Halfords Grey. Turn it upside down and wash German Black Brown acrylic into the recesses and undercuts , it's less stark a contrast than black', then have at it with your chosen undercoats.
Work from the inside out. That is to say paint the difficult to get to areas first before you make any attempt to paint the more visible areas.
Don't reject some of your hooked brushes as they can be invaluable in getting to awkward spaces.
As for Sabretache straps and sword belts attach as firmly as possible then bend carefully away from body and support, paint, remove support and gently bend towards the body until final placement is achieved.
' but I always try to avoid gluing anything to a 'finished figure.
To end as I started planning, care and attention ...... and making sure you get your paint consistency right.

That's more like it , look what you can do when you try "got to agree with the if you can see it you can paint it bit " it just don't work

 

[megroot]

Good information. I have the same problems with most of the figures.
It always fit before painting and priming, but never if you finished the paintingproces.

Marc

 

[Ferris]

Is the humbrol adhering to bare metal ok Adrian

Well enough. Probably not as good as a metal primer, but well enough to be an undercoat. Never had an issue with it coming off later anyway.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[skeeterbuck]

Ron, I use this Tamiya primer for my figures. It's lacquer based. I airbrush it on when I first start and then use it with a brush for touch-ups as required. It's also available in white. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Chuck

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Cheers Chuck , Never seen this stuff before but will hunt it down

Ron