by robertmelvin » Tue Aug 21, 2012 9:30 am
I usually do a mix of painting on the sprue and doing up smaller assemblies and then painting. It all depends on the build order I'm following. I tend to paint the smaller, more easily lost parts on the sprue and then clean them up and touch up before assembly. But, if the parts are going into a sub assembly that I can paint once assembled I will use that approach. I almost always pre-paint the PE on the fret unless the camo scheme I'm using makes this impractical, which is not usually the case. You just need to think it out before you paint to try to plan ahead and get a sense of what will work best for your particular situation. On that note, one thing I find very helpful is to carefully review the instructions before I ever begin to build, even making notes on them, to see how I actually want to build the kit. Sometimes following the instructions to the letter (a good example is Trumpeter's standard instruction to attach the completed deck and superstructure as one of the latter steps) does not result in the best build sequence. I find that spending time fully familiarizing myself with the instructions and deciding when to follow them and when to deviate saves me a lot of grief during the actual build process.
On the question of compressors, don't rule out sources like Wal-Mart, Harbor Freight, etc.. I picked up a very nice Campbell Hausfeld compressor from Wal-Mart for well under $100.00 that does all I need it to do. Has enough power for both bottom feed as well as gravity feed airbrushes. Only down side is that it is relatively noisy, but that is seldom an issue for me. In my experience you'll pay a lot more for "hobby specific" compressors than you will for an equally good, or better, compressor from another source. I'd shop around.
Hope this is at least somewhat helpful to you,
Bob M
I usually do a mix of painting on the sprue and doing up smaller assemblies and then painting. It all depends on the build order I'm following. I tend to paint the smaller, more easily lost parts on the sprue and then clean them up and touch up before assembly. But, if the parts are going into a sub assembly that I can paint once assembled I will use that approach. I almost always pre-paint the PE on the fret unless the camo scheme I'm using makes this impractical, which is not usually the case. You just need to think it out before you paint to try to plan ahead and get a sense of what will work best for your particular situation. On that note, one thing I find very helpful is to carefully review the instructions before I ever begin to build, even making notes on them, to see how I actually want to build the kit. Sometimes following the instructions to the letter (a good example is Trumpeter's standard instruction to attach the completed deck and superstructure as one of the latter steps) does not result in the best build sequence. I find that spending time fully familiarizing myself with the instructions and deciding when to follow them and when to deviate saves me a lot of grief during the actual build process.
On the question of compressors, don't rule out sources like Wal-Mart, Harbor Freight, etc.. I picked up a very nice Campbell Hausfeld compressor from Wal-Mart for well under $100.00 that does all I need it to do. Has enough power for both bottom feed as well as gravity feed airbrushes. Only down side is that it is relatively noisy, but that is seldom an issue for me. In my experience you'll pay a lot more for "hobby specific" compressors than you will for an equally good, or better, compressor from another source. I'd shop around.
Hope this is at least somewhat helpful to you,
Bob M