3 Focus Areas

I shall look on with interest. Whats the airbrush you picked out?

First, the airbrush.  After much personal debate and reading the forums, I decided to buy the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS gravity load (cup on top).  I also got a Central Pneumatic oilless airbrush compressor (40 max working PSI; 1/8 running HP) from Harbor Freight.  I was very fortunate to have a 40% off coupon from Hobby Lobby for the airbrush and the compressor was just silly cheap.  Both have been working great (or you be the judge).  Anyway, for those of you who saw my first post on my '55 Chevy, which I painted via brush, the airbrush is amazing.  I started out with model masters acrylic, then moved on to Tamiya.

First I put together the cockpit.  I sprayed the base with Testors olive drab.  I then decided to use this area to try my dry brush painting.  I painted the electronic parts black, then dry brushed white paint to highlight the dials and switches.

In the pics it looks blue, but it is really white (camera skills).  I was amazed at how easy this process was.  Just loaded the brush with color, wiped it almost dry on paper towel, then lightly brushed over the areas on the electronics.  The raised areas picked up the color almost immediately -- trick is to use VERY little paint.

I also tried to do some weathering with aluminum enamel on the sides of the cockpit.  Thought I maybe did too much -- easy to fix with some base color. (I actually prefer now to use enamel for dry brushing -- seems to hold the brush better and transfer better with very little paint on the brush versus acrylic.

Ok, for first attempt.  Now, I put the body together and here the fun really began.  First off, I had some serious seams to deal with.  Second, I just couldn't resist airbrushing the body -- should have dealt with the seams first.

I airbrushed the body with Testors acrylic olive drab. Several light coats.  Then I went over it with Tamiya olive drab -- much darker -- it allowed me to create a very subtle mottled look which I am trying to use to my advantage in certain areas of the heli.  Here are a couple of pics of how it looks so far.

Numan

I actually prefer now to use enamel for dry brushing -- seems to hold the brush better and transfer better with very little paint on the brush versus acrylic.

Enamels are preferred over acrylics for drybrushing as acrylics have a tendency to dry too quickly (usually on the brush) when used for this purpose. Acrylics do not dry brush as well as enamels do.

Now the seams.  Ugh!  Did I say Ugh!  I tried the zap-a-gap with Baking Soda.  Worked great -- laid up like cement.  Should have just tried the zap first, then sanded.  With the Baking Soda mixture, I sanded, and sanded -- what I ended up with I thought was so smooth and ready for another coat of paint via the airbrush.  Well, when I painted it, it looked horrible -- raised up and rippled.  See what I mean.

Egad.  That is horrible!  What to do?

So I sat in my big comfy chair with a set of metal file, nail files, and various grades of sandpaper.  I sanded and sanded, trying to round out the edges.  I thought I was good, so I airbrushed again.  Still didn't look right....Back to sanding.  I think it was much harder than it might have been if I had just used the zap -- a couple of areas where I only used zap were much easier to sand smooth.  Anyway, after another round of sanding, I airbrushed it and I think it looks pretty good...not perfect, but pretty good for a first attempt.  Here you go.

A few more pics.

This is really bad before I fixed it.

On to some more dry brushing.  On the swash plate area on top of the heli there is some fine detail that I wanted to bring out.  First, as airbrushed.

Then, I applied a dry brush of aluminum.

It brought out the detail, but I think it looked too stark (and fakey), so I tried to "dull" it down a little with some brown (for rust) -- I think it looks better, but am not sure I am happy with it.  What do you guys think?

I'll stop for now and let everyone catch up.  Please give me your honest feedback on what I am doing.  I am really enjoying learning and practicing some new skills, and the airbrush is absolutely fabulous for sure.  Look forward to your feedback, and I'll post some more pics.

ScorpioMikey, hope you find my journey interesting.  Please feel free to give me your unbridled opinion.

PhilH -- yeah, I realize that now.  The Acrylic is just too thin, and as you say, it dries out on the brush.  I do think that perhaps I should use an acrylic wash over the swashplate -- perhaps black, to bring out more detail, but I just don't know what the right combination is to bring out the detail on the top of the heli without it looking fake.  Perhaps I should add some mottled color on the rotor blades -- everything on top is just too uniform.

Zap-a-gap (CA?) and baking soda? never heard of that. would you care to explain?

Scorpiomikey,

It's a fairly well known technique for filling in large gaps.  You put a bead of CA Zap and then sprinkle Baking Soda over the glue -- it forms an almost cement like material that can be sanded down.  You can search it on this site and find out the particulars,  It does take a lot of sanding to get it smooth in my experience, but for large gaps it is very useful.  

You prefer it over a filler? (Such as tamiya grey filler or squadron green putty)