High quality kit with simple paint scheme for noob...

[whomhead]

Hey guys, total noobie here, haven't even ordered my first kit or tool yet. I'm very interested in getting into this hobby and am more interested in cranking out quality work than just gluing together a bunch of plastic. I think I'm willing to invest in a quality beginners airbrush and the necessary tools to maximize this effort. I have already spent hours..and hours...and hours...and hours researching tools and techniques so I won't bore you with "which airbrush should I buy?". Not at all proclaiming to be an expert, but there's so much excellent material on ISM and so many other YouTube channels that I feel like I should be cranking out really good stuff right out of the gate, right??

Which 1/48 aircraft kit would you folks recommend that has excellent fit and finish that also has a simple paint scheme? WWII through today, I'm not picky. This will be a learning exercise for me as opposed to getting my favorite plane built and on the shelf. I would like to be able to focus on making the finish look good as opposed to diving head first into a putty / filler / sanding clinic.

Or am I going about this the wrong way? Should I try and tackle a crappy kit first? What say the experts?

[DikDolan]

First, welcome to ISM=)

I'm about as far from an expert as you're likely to find here, but it seems to me that if you want to do a simple paint scheme, just chose any kit that takes your fancy and ..do a simple paint scheme. It's your kit, and your fun, there's no rules or laws saying you have to follow the kit instructions for paint (or anything else for that matter).
As for actually answering your question; sorry, no idea on decent 1/48 aircraft kits, but from my limited experience (mostly on car and bike kits) you wont go far wrong choosing any Tamiya kit that you like the look of. I'm sure folk with experience will offer more and better advice soon=)

[Lysus]

I agree with the above, maybe don't worry so much about the paint scheme that's called for and pick the design that lights your fire first, and the livery second.

WWII era planes are usually nice at 1/48 in terms of size and complexity, modern jets can have more fiddly bits at that scale (pitots, articulated exhaust nozzles, etc.) I went with a 1/72 Hasegawa F-15J for my return kit, and it gave me some headaches. The kit was fine, but it needed more sanding/filling work than I would have preferred as I really just wanted to dive in with the painting.

Tamiya tends to be the go-to, though I've heard newer Airfix can be quite good as well. You don't seem to be averse to research, so I'd say find a subject you like then check out Scalemates for when it was made. If it's pretty new, then pull the trigger and get to work.

[Stokesy44]

Hey guys, total noobie here, haven't even ordered my first kit or tool yet. I'm very interested in getting into this hobby and am more interested in cranking out quality work than just gluing together a bunch of plastic. I think I'm willing to invest in a quality beginners airbrush and the necessary tools to maximize this effort. I have already spent hours..and hours...and hours...and hours researching tools and techniques so I won't bore you with "which airbrush should I buy?". Not at all proclaiming to be an expert, but there's so much excellent material on ISM and so many other YouTube channels that I feel like I should be cranking out really good stuff right out of the gate, right??

Which 1/48 aircraft kit would you folks recommend that has excellent fit and finish that also has a simple paint scheme? WWII through today, I'm not picky. This will be a learning exercise for me as opposed to getting my favorite plane built and on the shelf. I would like to be able to focus on making the finish look good as opposed to diving head first into a putty / filler / sanding clinic.

Or am I going about this the wrong way? Should I try and tackle a crappy kit first? What say the experts?

Don't do a crappy kit, pick something that goes together well and doesn't fight you.

I would recommend a 1/48 offering from Tamiya or Airfix. They go together well, the detail is good and they're very user friendly. Tamiya do a very nice Spitfire and a couple of P51 Mustangs which are absolute dreams. If you want something a shade bigger they also do a very good Mosquito and Beaufighter. Plenty of nice colour schemes to choose from if you ant to go with the variants in the boxes.

Airfix have been releasing new tool kits in recent years and their Spitfire and Hurricane offerings are top notch. Surface detail is not quite up with Tamiya but they go together nicely and the end product is still pretty cool. They do a PR Spitfire which is all blue - perfect for testing your airbrush skills or there's a Seafire which is navy sea grey on top, sky underneath. If you feel up to the traditional RAF camo, they do several offerings which sport the standard RAF 2 tone camo schemes.

Dive in and have fun. Welcome to ISM and to the hobby

[Zen]

Welcome aboard, whomhead!
Totally agree with DikDolan's words, take it easy as there are no rules in what is just a hobby... unless you wanna go for the gold and glory on shows, that is...
Re the kits, read reviews on the several options for the aircraft you wanna build. Scalemates.com has info on almost every kit out there, and also provides links to kit reviews.
The right tools also help, that's for sure. But remember that, no matter how many days or months you've spent reading articles and watching videos, you'll only learn when you get down to it yourself... and it's probably gonna take a couple of models till you're satisfied... just have fun doing it and you'll be progressing faster than you expected.

[whomhead]

Thanks for the info guys. It's pretty much what I expected to hear, but wanted to have that confirmation from the guys who know what the heck they're talking about.

I guess for me personally it's going to be tough having realistic expectations of the turn out. In my head it will look like what you folks turn out, reality will certainly be something altogether different.

[SteelScooter]

I would recommend a Tamiya kit like the 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero #61103. A low part count and painless build but with high detail. This Zero has a two colour scheme that Tamiya do the exact paints for and it is a very cool and iconic aircraft.

Review by Brett Green:

http://www.hyperscale.com/2008/reviews/ ... ewbg_1.htm

[whomhead]

This Zero has a two colour scheme that Tamiya do the exact paints for and it...

I'm glad you brought up paint. I'm a buy once cry once kinda guy. I don't want to buy Tamiya paint to get started then switch later for a better alternative, especially when the alternatives may perform better and be priced similarly. I've read a lot about paints and it seems Vallejo is more highly regarded as a rule than Tamiya. Am I wrong about this?

[Lysus]

Tamiya is excellent out the airbrush, but not so great off the hair brush--Tamiya needs a little thinning to coax it off the bristles. Vallejo is the opposite (or seems to be), excellent off the hair brush, but not so great out the airbrush. This varies person to person, of course as plenty seem to do fine with Vallejo in the airbrush, but I've found Tamiya to be very forgiving to the beginner. Mix 50/50 with thinner and shoot it. The line is limited in colors, though, and you might end up doing a lot of mixing later.

Myself I keep both, but I only grab Vallejo when I need a specific color for brush touch ups. So it's like a 5:1 ratio of Tamiya to Vallejo paints.

[whomhead]

That makes good sense Lysus. Thank you.

[Augustus]

Hi whomhead,

I'm very much a noob and started off using Tamiya acrylic paints and found them excellent to airbrush. As Lysus says, I just thinned 50:50 with Tamiya's X-20A acrylic thinner. I believe it's a different story when using a handbrush. However, I've found that for small parts which need a paint brush Tamiya acrylics are OK when a little of their paint retarder is added.

I then switched to Ammo/Mig paints which are a bit more fiddly, but that was because I like armour and these had a more varied and suitable range.

[Stokesy44]

Tamiya is great for spraying, Mr Hobby is even better. I use Tamiya when I can but I also like Vallejo model air because of the variety of colours and that they come in bottles with dropper tops which help for accurate mixing. I also like the fact that Vallejo come in sets like WW2 Luftwaffe etc. something Tamiya doesn't do.

As for brush painting I cant speak as to large areas as I AB 100% of my kits. When it comes to detail painting I find the Vallejo stuff is good for brush painting but I avoid Tamiya like the plague if I have to get the old hairy stick out. The advantages of having paint in bottles (like Vallejo, AK etc.) means you can squeeze a few drops onto a pallet and close the bottle while you work, thus protecting its contents.

Also, enamels are the spawn of the devil - just my opinion

[RicRodrigues]

About the kits, You cannot go wrong with Tamyia. Built a P51D Mustang as my first proper build ( http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=18357 ), the kit itself was almost perfect, just needed some touch ups of filler, nothing special. It's not an elaborate paint scheme and you can start to play with natural metal finishes. But still, practice will be your best tool. Happy modelling and welcome to ISM.

[1975GinjaNinja]

I am very much a noob as well. Only on my second model at the moment. First one with an airbrush. I have started with tamiya paints as they are sold at my local shop but they are limited in colours and you will need to do a bit of research and a lot of mixing. I am just in the process of buying some Mr hobby paints as they have a larger colour range and ate meant to be good or better than tamiya foe airbrushing.

For a nice kit to start try the airfix 1:48 Messerschmitt Bf109 that paul did his 13 part tutorial on. Goes together like a dream.

Good luck with it all and welcome to the forum.

Nige.

[whomhead]

I would like to start out with Mr Hobby paints, but availability here in the US seems weak. Is there an online vendor for them I'm missing? The Acqueous line from them is where it's at, am I right?

[whomhead]

One thing that's obvious to me at this point, working with the advice and knowledge from groups like this the initial results will certainly be a lot better than just winging it!

[chalkyw]

Another 'newbie' here giving a recommendation for Tamiya models as great starters, aside from aircraft their armour range fits together like a dream and if you want to be adventurous then there are loads of phot etch kits to add extra detail when you want to move to the next level

[Nevillez]

Another Noob of sorts here. Welcome to the fun

I would steer clear of Vallejo Model Colour for the airbrush, as I found to my cost. However, I have managed to get this through an airbrush eventually with a lot of experimentation. You'll pick things up as you mess about and recognise what works and what doesn't. Tamiya and Mr Hobby Aqueous seem to be very forgiving. I'm sorry it's not so easy for you to get Mr Hobby over there as it's great, and it's shame the Tamiya colour range is not a good as it could be, because it's so much more available.

As for brush painting Tamiya, it's a bit of a labour of love, but it is possible. You just have to thin it (I did an approximate 50/50 with Ultimate thinner) and build up in very thin coats. I don't add a retarder as I like the fact it dries really quickly as it allows me to recoat and not have to stop all the time. Once the second coat is on, it's all much easier.

As for the model, not in a position to say though I agree with the previous poster that the Airfix Me109 that Paul featured in his step by step build seemed to go together pretty well. That series was the reason I got back into modelling if I'm honest!

Kits to avoid would be the Avro Vulcan (I'm building one at the mo........filing, sanding and filling is the order of the day with this.....it is a 1983 mould though to be fair) and some of the older airfix ones. I've heard that most of the 'new tool' airfix stuff is pretty decent, but that's just heresay, they are a bit cheaper than other brands too.

Chris

[GangsterNo1]

As someone who went through the noob curve over the last 18 months, there's just a couple of things I'd add to the above. Practice your airbrushing, try different paint brands and try out new techniques on a neutral subject. You can do this very cheaply and without kits. Here are some of the things I've done:

1. Before you recycle a plastic tub, bottle, etc. Prime it, mask it and practice a colour scheme or painting technique like pre-shading, modulation, etc. I've even used instant coffee cans that are now my paintbrush holders. The smaller Kenco Millicano ones in the UK, and their foil tops are great for scratch building rifle slings, straps, etc.

2. When doing the above, grab a few different makes of paint. Thin them and then have a go with them, see which brands you get on with and get used to spraying them without using your beloved kit as a guinea pig.

3. Again using the test subject, go through the processes of gloss coating, decaling, washes, weathering etc. Gluing other bits of waste plastic to the container to give raised detail, scoring lines to simulate panel lines, etc. You can basically do all the stuff you would do to a model on a waste piece of plastic.

Then sit back and admire your WWII Spitfire themed margarine tub or fizzy drink bottle

[whomhead]

Great suggestions guys...never thought of practicing airbrushing on something other than a kit. Such a simple idea but it never crossed my mind!

I guess once the primer's down the paint doesn't care what the substrate is, eh?

[Lysus]

Great suggestions guys...never thought of practicing airbrushing on something other than a kit. Such a simple idea but it never crossed my mind!

I guess once the primer's down the paint doesn't care what the substrate is, eh?

Pretty much.

Myself I grabbed some plastic spoons from the grocery and primed a grip of them to practice on when I feel the need. Spoons are nice because they have some curve and trenches to look at when you've painted it.

I also recommend grabbing a cheap kit you don't care much about and getting it somewhat put together if you want to see what happens on the subject you're going to model. It's called a "bench mule" and they can be pretty handy.

The spoons are great for just seeing what happens with paint, but the benefit of the mule is you can see what it looks like on a plane or armor or whatev. And you can top coat it, decal it, strip it, etc.

[whomhead]

Bench mule eh? I think I'm going to pick up the 109 from Paul's video series, I suppose it's as good as anything right?

[Stokesy44]

Bench mule eh? I think I'm going to pick up the 109 from Paul's video series, I suppose it's as good as anything right?

Its actually a nice little kit so I reckon you'll love it.