kuma

Hi again, @ Han: sorry, I missed the fact that you already have bought a camera. have fun with it

Hi Han! I assume, you also (or mainly) would like to take pictures of your models. In this area you have to face 3 challenges: light, depth of focus and the (small) distance between lens and object (macro photography). For lighting you need the opportunity to use one or more adjustable flashes controlled by the camera, which therefore need a standard adapter-shoe for the master flash. For depth of focus you need to have manual settings for shutter speed and aperture and a mounting for a stable tripod. For macro-photography you need a lens which allows you to move very close to your model.

I had Alclad II coming off with the masking tape when I omitted the primer, but never with a layer of primer (whatever type) under it. Strange, really strange. I have absolutely no clue.

I normally use a cardboard box lined with white cardboard and an indirect flash (Canon System) pointed to a white styrofoam board. The camera is a I am a spammer....please report this post. 300D with a shutter setting to 1/60 and an aperture of 32 and set to ISO 100. Pictures are taken in RAW-Mode. The trick is to slightly over-expose the pic to keep the shadows down and soft. The overexposure is reduced in an image editing software, which is able to handle camera-RAW files. JPEG's are not a quarter as good to control.

Hi folks, @ all: thx for your enthusiastic reactions. @ Collin: I used various shades of Alclad II, polished and uncoated. @ Tbolt: You are right, the stencils are decals, since they are too small for masking. But I kept the stencilling to a minimum to avoid a gloss overspray over the Alclad and thus spoiling the finish. The panellines appear to be quite prominent on the pics, but are less pronounced on the model itself. At first I did not shade them at all, but it looked rather boring and dull. Thx for the info on the magneto, I wasn't aware of that. Alas, it's to late to change it. But t

Hi folks, after a long time away from the forum I wanted to show you my newest bird. It is a Thunderbolt II from the 42 Sqn RAF in Meiktila, Burma, Juli 1945. The kit is from Tamiya and was enhanced with the Eduard etched brass set. I did not use any decals, all markings were airbrushed. Next are some details: 1. the engine 2. the cockpit without the seat 3. the throttle quadrant to show you what Eduard is capable of so now keeep the criticism coming Martin

Really nice, congratulations. How did you do the wooden effects?

Hi George! I never tried Future under Alclad II, because if I must use a primer (since I hate priming if I'm not forced to) , I like to have a double use: a key for the colour and a check for blemishes of the surface. And the latter works best with an opaque primer. You are right with the use of acrylics under polished aluminium. I just forgot about those extremely bright shines, since I used it only once. But it worked to my liking. I think I used Gunze gloss black for a primer, but I'm not certain. AFAIK you could also use Alcad's gloss black proprietory primer. I haven't tried it yet

Wow, that's a beauty! Congratulations! :D :lol: Could you please give us details on your weathering technique? Was it preshaded? and how did you achieve the subtle sheen on the surface?

Hi Marcin! Excellentely done, really. :D I especially like the silver finish. What did you use for?

Hi! I used the stencils on my Airfix Lightning and they worked rather well. The reaction to microsol/set was as expected. No problems encountered here.

Hi! Alclad II is a pure laquer based paint. So the fumes can be hazardous and wearing a proper respirator could help. But this does not prevent the heavy odor in the room. This can be overcome by a paint booth which extricates the fumes to the outside. Since it is a laquer it should be applied first. This goes after the old LEA rule: Laquers first, then Enamels and Acrylics last. If you are careful and the colours are really cured (not only dry to the touch) and the next coat is applied lightly at first, one can also reverse the rule. But this does not work always. Alclad II can be used ove

Hi Sukhoipilot! I cannot tell you what went wrong as I don't have a clue. I always use pastel washes about 1 hour after applying the future. My pastel mixture consists of a small heap of pastels, 2-3 drops of dishwashing fluid and 1 drop of destilled water. This is applied to and around any panel lines and crevices in a rather sloppy manner. I wait a few minutes until the sludge turns completely flat. Then most of it is removed with Q-tips. While I wipe away the dried sludge I rotate the Q-tip constantly so that I always use a fresh section. As soon as I notice that the cotton leaves smea

Hi! I mix paints (mostly Gunze Acrylics, Tamiya, Xtracolour) for airbrushing to a ration of 1:1 using small graduated pipettes. They are extremely cheap (3-5 €-Cents) if you buy them as bulkware (500 pieces) online in medical supply stores. I just use them once, then discard them. They also come on handy for mixing paints to the desired shade. I just have to remember the exact ratios and can remix the colour for retouching work weeks later (I'm a slow builder). To ease airbrushing with acrylics I also add just one drop of "Golden" acrylic retarder, which makes the colour "smoother" and th

Hi Bob! I sometimes use Hansa Airbrush colours for postshading, even after NMF. They are more an ink than an acrylic, although they are real acrylics but with extremely fine ground pigment and therefore they are not opaque. Postshading is rather easy with those colours, since you can really build up fine layers of colour. I thin them with destilled water to a ratio of 1 part colour to 10-15 parts water. It's sort of tinted water. The first passes with the airbrush show virtually nothing but it leaves a hint of colour which sometimes is enough for shading. You can see the results in the pic