how do you hold your aircraft to paint ?

[burnie43]

so I'm doing some WW2 aircraft....jugs, P51's and Hurricanes mainly
Here's the issue that I'm having....
.I've tried a few different ways of holding these while spraying them but still cause myself problems......upside down ,inside out, lying on the floor, I drop them, mark them, etc etc....jeez am I making it difficult for myself
so I thought that I'd see if any off you learned ones might have a tip or 2 up your sleeve...
How do you hold your aircraft models while spraying them ??
Cheers
Mark

[digger303]

I have seen them with a sprue or a dowel inserted where the propeller goes. That is attached later. Jets at rear. Bi-planes I'm not sure .

[Paul]

Fingers in wheel bays most of the time, paint the bottom first, then the top

[Cymru]

With one of these, (the one on the left)...

https://www.emodels.co.uk/tamiya-spray- ... 74522.html

[Lysus]

Everything said above, it depends on the model. The Tamiya paint stand is fantastic (and for $20-25 USD well worth every penny). If I'm not in a rush paint one side, let it dry then paint the other. You can affix something soft to the wire bridges if you're worried about scrapes.

A 1/72 mustang I did was held by an alligator clamp on the propeller post. For 1/48 that might get heavy and Paul's suggestion to grip by the wheel wells sounds right.

A jet I did was held by some sticks shoved up the tail pipes.

Honestly with acrylics or Mr Color lacquer they can be handled within minutes (carefully) so you don't need to wait too long, but this is partly why I have more than one build going. If I need to wait a bit I just work on another one in the mean time.

[Plopper]

I'm with Lysus. 99% of the time I will use the airbrush to dry the paint on one side, then grab the first bit I painted carefully and paint the other half. I've not had any finger prints in my paintwork. Yet... ... ...

[burnie43]

thanks guys.....yep I think it's that Alclad gloss that's caused me problems.....
cheers
Mark

[Lysus]

Word.

With gloss I usually do half and half; a top half - wait - the bottom half. Top coats I like to be super patient (and I am not a patient person).

[Plopper]

Yep Alclad topcoats except Aqua Gloss leave at least 24 hours, Aqua Gloss almost bullet proof after minutes as long as you only want to handle it, I'd still leave it over night to do anything major with it.

[Lysus]

Yep Alclad topcoats except Aqua Gloss leave at least 24 hours, Aqua Gloss almost bullet proof after minutes as long as you only want to handle it, I'd still leave it over night to do anything major with it.

Yep, 24 hours is my preferred wait time. If I'm in a rush I'll handle it same day to coat the other half--carefully--and then leave it alone. Even then I've had a couple oopsies, so proceed with caution

[wookiee76]

Anything smaller than a 1:48 jet i build with the wheels on which sort of negates the issue, with the larger stuff i paint one side at a time. Once there is paint on it however it always gets put down on clean kitchen roll or a soft cloth to prevent scratches etc.

[burnie43]

thanks guys....I'm off to rub out the finger prints and start again..
M