Any good hints or tips?

Gladiator · Post by **Gladiator** » 12 Jan 2003 14:43

Hello all,

After a few years out in the dark i've decided to give modelling a go again, I made a 1:76 model Elephant,and a 1:72 model Panther just to get rolling.

Although These were fairly straight forward to make, there were a few tricky parts and it would be nice to hear some trade secrets.

I got a 1/350th scale model (by Revell) of the USS Missouri for christmas, that i cant bear to touch it before i fine tune my skills on a few littlier(and more expendable) projects first and get a little more hints and tips from some veteran modellers

Main problems was getting those fiddly little parts to stay exactly where i want them too, lamps, hooks, MGs etc. I was using a Pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass for these, put still didnt get it perfect (close but not quite there). Another was getting the tracks in place, It looked oh so simple in the diagram, but no matter what i tryed those tracks just refused to stay in place.

Plus I'm about to start painting, I've looked up a few sites on painting models, and seen that all the go is using an airbrush, just wondering what you's might be able to tell me the painnting side of things, to give it that professional appeal.

Any help(or good Web sites) will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Galahad · Post by **Galahad** » 12 Jan 2003 21:29

One help for getting parts to stay in place is to apply the glue to the part, then wait for it to become tacky before you put it in place. Then it'll bond faster and that will support the part while the bonding takes place.

Try some tests to get an idea of how long it takes the glue you use to become tacky, so you'll know the right amount of time to let pass before you put the part in place.

1939 · Post by **1939** » 12 Jan 2003 22:12

Check this place

http://www.maketorama.co.yu/6_a.htm

sniper · Post by **sniper** » 23 Jan 2003 22:46

What I use with small parts is super glue, it's very easy since it works really fast, even though you have to be sure to put the piece in place the first time. I use tweezers too but the ones with flat wide "arms" not the sharp ones. I've never made tanks so I can't help you with the tracks.

For the professional look of models I'd say an airbrush is the only way to get it, or to have extraordinary skills with a hair brush and a good kind of paint, even though you'll always gonna have brush marks out of scale, after painting them, before adding glosscote I use pastel crayon's dust in every line of the model, using a darker color depending on the scheme, I don't like clean parts because models are supossed to be real copies so they have to be dirty and used, it depends on you how much to use.

I'll post a pic of an unfinished model to show you if you're interested, it'll be a plane tho....