Hello Everyone--Hope all is well--I want to get into airbrushing my vehicles and aircraft and was pondering a couple of questions of which I am sure there are a multitude of answers. The questions are as follows:

1.) What is the best way to determine what parts to attach prior to spray painting and the parts that should be attached after spray painting. One of my concerns is that while trying to spray nooks and crannies I might get runs in my paint or other undesirable effects. I realize which obvious parts can be attached--its mainly the little accessories and glass sections on tanks and planes.

2.) If painted prior to application, I assume the paint must be removed prior to gluing onto the body of the model. I use tenax-7r which I think creates the best bond with the least amount of sanding. My concern is that I will create scratches and other marks outside of the object being glued onto the model. What is the best way to cover these up? Use the mixed thinner/paint or is it necessary to make another mix? I was afraid of having differing colors around where the parts are glued on. It may be possible that a wash will cover up any paint color differentials?

I have not been able to find a good article on this process--most articles glance over the small part attachment after spray painting. I have not had the time recently to spend searching on this site for any questions along the same lines. Thanks in advance for any responses.

The best way to figure out what to put together before airbrushing is just using basic sence.. If its the base color I put it on before painting.. if its another color I consider puttin it on and painting it with the rest of the vehicle then hand painting it afterwards... If its something that I want airbrushed another color and it can't be masked off on the vehicle. I attach it to a popsickle stick with masking tape doubled over so that I can put the surface of the part that will glue to the model on the tape and hold it for airbrushing.

If attaching a small part to a painted model I make sure that there is no paint on the small part that is agaist the model and I try to scrape away a small part of the basecoat to reveal some of the plastic but not so much as you will see it after the part is glued on.

I find that using a liquid weld after painting is to imprecise for glueing. I use either a small dot of super glue one o fthe thicker ones that won't run on the paint. or Testors Liquid model cement. the liquiad welds such as plastruct and bondrue and ten x have a tendency to go everywhere instead of staying in the exact spot you want and some of those have adverse affects on paint.