Painting Top and Bottom of Model

You could, but I usually make a stand out of a wire clothes hanger. Insert it in the holes for the prop, landing gear, etc.

Curt

What you want to do, is make the stand, make sure you have access to all areas to be painted. Then you start painting the lighter colors first, progressing to the darkerst color last. This is for camoflage schemes, detail painting you do when it is the easist to paint, and or mask off.

You want to go light to dark particulary when freehand airbrushing camo schemes, as the overspray from the dark paint does not show up as easilly on light colored paint, as light colors do over dark. For a finer feathered edge, use tape, and make sure that the edge is peeled back slightly, then airbrush at 90 deg to tape, or at a slight angle to it.

The 3M Longmask tape (blue low tack tape) is one of the better one's to use in masking. You can get it almost anywhere. Tamiya makes good masking tape as well for hard edges. Quite flexiable, and available in very narrow widths.

"Only a Gentleman can insult me, and a true Gentleman never will..."

You could do it, but in the meanwhile the paint would be drying on the tip of your airbrush. I prefer to paint everything in one go - heck, I even group almost finished kits by camouflage so once I've mixed Caucasian Sky Blue (winter version) or Olive Drab Faded by the Mideastern Sun in a Dusty Environment, it's mixed once and for all - and a brush handle inserted in the engine exhaust (for jets) or a wire into the propeller's shaft slot (for prop aircrafts) make good handles. I've seen jury-rigged 'undercarriages' holding up the model, attached to the wheel wells with candlewax, but I'm a bit wary of this approach.

HTH Bonehammer

I generally paint the bottom first, but that's just me, and I suppose it could depend on the color sheme when you get down to it. Anyway, one side at a time is the way I go.

I have stands made from packing foam that I use to hold the kit while painting.

in article 0G2Fc.9784$wY5.7682@attbi_s54, Rufus at snipped-for-privacy@mchsi.com wrote on 7/1/04 8:14 PM:

I usually paint the bottom first because I start with the light color and then work my way up the spectrum.

MB

Yep. That's what I meant by "depends on the color scheme".

Though I seem to recall reading in the Monogram Painting Guide that the Luftwaffe used to laydown the light colors last, and that's one of the factors that make the schemes look like they do...I need to look that up.

Please do look that, would be interesting.

Interesting in that somewhere around here, I have abook on 109's that goes into factory painting, and IIRC the RLM 76 went on first, than the other colors. Later in the war the parts/subassemblies were painted at the respective places of manufacture, and then assembled, and fisish painting (ie mkg's etc) happened at the squadron level.

"Only a Gentleman can insult me, and a true Gentleman never will..."

This is especially true with the nightfighter schemes as they left the factory in Farbton 75 topsides and were given a spray pattern of Farbton 76 later giving them an inkspot appearance. hth

The Keeper (of too much crap)