Hello Everyone,

I am curious about a few things as I am getting warm to this hobby again and quite seriously this time around. I got my entire new setup just about done and delivered (don't you just love package deliveries for you) so now I am starting to build and even start some paint preparation.

a) Do you prefer a moisture trap at the start of your connect on your compressor or on the end of your line near your airbrush? Or do you attach a hose to your compressor then to the moisture trap and another hose to your brush?

b) Are water based varnish acrylics safe for spray and is there any special cleanup needed afterwards?

c) I bought Tamiya Fine Surface L Grey Primer, should I decant this and airbrush it on when its ready? Or would you just spray this on with the can it comes in?

d) When it comes to filling gaps & seams in small areas such as interior of a vehicle on a 1/35 scale is there a easy method to sanding or smoothing out the putty?

e) Is the painting process for you after you build or while? If you could explain how you deal with small multicolored detail work if you paint after your build. Or if you paint while your building how do you typically find your process.

f) Do you always follow instructions in order, strictly?

g) By using a matt or satin even a gloss varnish can I avoid buying pledge to protect my canopies or better said my clear plastic parts? How exactly is the process different if I am using a varnish and is there one preferred method over the other?

h) If you had to tell someone you most commonly made mistake when starting out with modeling or painting your models what would that be?

Alrighty that covers my questions, so I lied a bit more than a few.. But I really appreciate the answers and they will be helpful for me and I bet many others in my shoes. I'm sure I can come up more but right now these seem to cover my biggest concerns going back into modeling.

p.s..
If anyone has some books on modeling they are willing to sell preferably the Static Model Manuals let me know.. I would be interested in buying some used books to save some money and get a wealth of knowledge from them.

Thanks for reading once again love this place thanks for existing!

- Isaac K.

Ill touch on a few of these.
Air trap. the air comes out of the compressor quite hot. the cooler it gets, as in into and out of a storage tank or through a long length of hose, the more it cools off, the more it cools off the more moisture will condense out. therefor, to maximize moisture removal, the trap should be as far from the compressor as possible.

airbrushing acrylics. of course you can airbrush acrylics, no toxic fumes, clean up with water! that's the best part!

Tamiya surface primer - an excellent product. i suppose you could decant it, but i always just use the provided spray can.

gap filling - thats an art form. artists make it look easy. the rest of us mortals struggle.

painting - you should find some build blog treads on here, there are many, many of them, where extremely talented modelers show every step of their build process and answer questions.

thats enought to get started.

good luck. look forward to seeing your stuff.

I'll answer a few more:

A. I have my water trap at the compressor. I wouldn't want any bulky thing near my hand or the model. But that's me.

F. Sometimes the build order in the directions make no sense. Sometimes it does. Then too, if you plan on doing a diorama, you have to consider what on your model will be affected by the dio.

G. Matte and satin finishes have more surface tension and a rougher structure than a gloss finish like Pledge or Future. This will make your clear parts look rough or foggy. Pledge or Future will fill minor faults, or even faults you can see with the naked eye, improving the glass-like look.

H. My most common mistake is not looking for and fixing injector pin marks before I paint. I'll be cruising along on a build and discover injector pin marks, let out a string of expletives, then fix the offending part.

Best wishes,

Gary

Hi,
Let me answer as far as I can...


I have mine connected to the compressor, I am not sure if it affects or not but most often I have seen it that way.



Yes, they are safe. Clean up depends you... from spraying water to completely disassemble the airbrush and clean with airbrush cleaner, use an ultrasound cleaner...



If you use the airbrush you have more control,although personally I find a mess to decant sprays.
Tamiya primer is a good product, but in the future you may want to test AK, Ammo or Vallejo primers.



If you detect it as you build, interior should not be much different from exterior. Anyway, for difficult areas you can wrap the sandpaper over a stick, or get the trumpeter sand paper grips, or (carefully) use fiber-glass pens



Depends on personal preferences and kit...I prefer painting everything with the model fully built, however the interiors are hardly accessible so I have to paint them before closing the hull.Others like to paint tools and glue them in place afterwards... Try and see what works best for you.



No. Sometimes you find easier to change the order. Dry fit all parts before gluing and ensure the proposed sequence is the best. You can also work in parallel, while awaiting for parts to dry or if you get stuck, jump to a different section.



That's for aircraft guys. But from what I have heard, do not use varnish on clear parts other than gloss. Pledge acts as a good & cheap gloss varnish



Thinking something will not be noticeable after painted and weathered. At the end it always shows up. And at the origin of this is the haste for finishing models... something to avoid if you want a good result :-(

Hope this helps a bit, but feel free to keep asking what you need!

A. I'd say you want your moisture trap as close to the AB as you can get it.

B. Like others said, safe to AB and easy clean up with water.

C. I have the same primer and I use it from the can.

D. I use a tiny spatula tool to push the putty into the seam I want it in, clean the extra away, let it dry and sand smooth using progressively finer sanding pads.

E. I haven't built any interiors or things like that. So I build the entire model first and then paint a base coat and then camo. Then I paint the details on, like tow cables, tools and stuff of that nature.

F. Yes and No. I usually build road wheels and tracks last. Most instructions have you do this first, but I have done them first and it really doesn't matter. It's your choice honestly.

G. I would really use the Pledge for your clear parts. And to spray a clear coat on your model befor you do any weathering and decals. It works amazingly.

H. Ill tell you my big mistake, I can't speak for others, but this is what messed me up. Let your paints an finishes cure 24/48 hours before moving onto further steps of painting weathering. When painting acrylics, it's not as necessary. Let your primer cure 24 hours. And then you won't have to wait as long between rounds of base coat and camo. Once your done with base coat, camo and tools and your ready to spray a clear coat, wait 24 hours. Once you spray your clear, let that cure for 24/48 hours before you start any weathering. Once your weathering is done, let it cure for 24/48 hours before you spray another coat of clear.

I didn't wait to let my finishes cure. And it did a number on my Tiger 1.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Dustin

Many thanks everyone for replying everyones answer made it much easier to make some decisions. Time to start getting my hands dirty now looking forward to taking some shots with my old camera soon as it comes in the mail!

I'm sure I will be with some more questions soon thanks again everyone!