Techniques Questions

Airbrushing vs. Brush Painting

Having airbrushed the underside of my Hurricane with Humbrol enamels, I am quite pleased with the result which came out matt but I noticed where my masking had been deficient and decided to touch up some overspray from the top side with a brush. This time the paint (same mixing etc.) dried with a satin sheen and being a matt paint I don't understand why?

Masking Technique

I experimented here, using a combination of masking tape, Humbrol Maskol and good old paper masks. That was fairly successful but the masking tape (Betto Tape) left a nasty residue on the painted surfaces which was difficult to remove. The Betto Tape is supposed to be proper low-tack modelling tape but I have noticed that when the sticky side has been exposed to air for even a couple of hours its tackness increases significantly leaving behind a residue on the fingers. What do you guys use for masking tape (bearing in mind I'm in the UK)?

Regards

Reply to
Roger Demming
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For the first - well, you'll be clearcoating for the decals, then flat coating anyway, right? RIGHT? :) That'll even it out (and get rid of the "shininess" of most decals.)

As for the second - depends what I'm modeling. Baremetal Foil for canopies, drafting tape for most everything else.

Reply to
EGMcCann

For masking I've gotten hooked on Tamiya's masking tape. I tried some after hearing raves about it here and have to agree with the positive reviews.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Reply to
Bill Banaszak

Thanks for the suggestion. EGMcCann mentions Drafting Tape - is that similar stuff?

Reply to
Roger Demming

Hi Roger,

I'm also in the UK and IMHO opinion Tamiya tape is the best available, as it is relatively expensive compared to masking tape if I'm masking a large area I use Tamiya tape around the edges and cheaper masking tape for the larger part.

Happy modelling

Ant Phillips

Reply to
Ant Phillips

Hi Roger,

I'm also in the UK and IMHO opinion Tamiya tape is the best available, as it is relatively expensive compared to masking tape if I'm masking a large area I use Tamiya tape around the edges and cheaper masking tape for the larger part.

Happy modelling

Ant Phillips

Reply to
Ant Phillips

Typically, it's caused by using too much thinner. I get good results with a 2:1 paint:thinner ratio for matt Humbrol. But if the mixing really was the same, I wouldn't know. Differences in heat or humidity, maybe?

Reply to
Harro de Jong

That makes a lot of sense, which brings me to another question. What is the difference between the matt, satin and gloss varnishes and mattcote, satincote and glosscote?

I started down that path and it didn't go too well because this is an old Airfix kit done by the dreaded riveter.

Thanks

Reply to
Roger Demming

I've noticed this too; I think it has to do with the volume of paint delivered. The hand-painting delivers more liquid, so it is more likely to have a uniform surface, and thus reflect light a bit more. That's my guess. I've minimized this problem with hand touch-ups by using a dry-brush approach, which can take a while, and it's still not perfect, but given the need for gloss coating for decals and then dull coating afterwards, the actual reflectiveness of the underlying paint ends up pretty uniform.

Mark Schynert

Reply to
Mark Schynert

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