Hankinstein,

Glad you joined us. You'll find all the answers you need from the good folks here for sure.

if you have access to a Michael's craft store, there,s a coupon online for 50% off any 1 item in the store. The coupon is good until tomorrow 7/31.. A good time to buy an Air Brush. I got mine there at 40% off , At 50 % off you can get the best gravity feed one they have . Iwata or Badger would be a good choice.

washes are done after a gloss coat.  I spray Testor's gloss coat or a couple of coats of Future Acrylic floor "Wax ".  Also wash with a different kind of paint ie.  if the base coat is enamel, use Acrylic or oil for the wash.   That insures the wash won't eat into the base color. You can find much more detailed suggestions in the painting and air brush sections here on the forums.

hankinstien - welcome to the forums!

First thing - you might want to work on posting photos. Yeah, I know it looks hard to do, but it really isn't. Just take the "Use rich formatting" option, then click the "picture" icon, next to the "film" icon. I see you use Imgur - use it's "Get embed codes" option and copy the second option - looking in your case like this: "http://i.imgur.com/uSGyT7R.jpg" - and paste in the window that opens after pressing the "Picture" icon here in the forums. The results are as follows:

You've got yourself a nice, clean build. The white paint is hard to do and the white paint on your model would be an envy of many modellers here on the forums! What you need is some shading to make the model more interesting. A wash could do it, but you might also try to accent some of the panel lines with a finely sharpened pencil - that works just fine on Navy Hi-Viz camo like this one. An airbrush is a good investment, that's for sure. Good luck with your future builds, I'm looking forward to see the photos - have a nice day

Paweł

Nice job on you first build back, and welcome!

I also notice the white paint job. Pretty darned good.

Looking good!! Glad to see you're back in the hobby. The plane came out great!

 Rudy

Looks like a pretty smooth paint job to me, where did the wash go wrong? All in all very nice model!

Thanks everyone! Glad to have such encouragement! The idea of using a pencil to highlight the lines is a great one, I'll try that!

The wash worked ok in the wheel wells (not great, but not bad) but it really went wrong on the top of the ailerons. You can see the paint there is a bit messy, I had to do some last minute touch up and it got pretty sloppy there on the trailing edge of the wings.

On the other hand, Microsol was a game changer -- when I was a kid, my decals always looked terrible, but microsol really worked wonders!

Very nicely done for your introduction back into the world of model kits.  You did a great job with the white!

Toshi

Well done!

Thats a pretty decent job for a first attempt after 2 decades.  Reminds me of my ESCI A-7 back in the 80s.  First plane model I ever built. And an unqualified disaster.  Yours is far ahead in terms of workmanship.

If you use the same kind of paint/thinner combo for washes as the paint/thinner combo you used for the paint itself (e.g., enamel paint and thinner paint, and enamel paint and thinner wash), chances are it will eat through the base paint.  Some, like me, use acrylics or lacquer paints (this is where your investment for an airbrush comes in) for the base paint, and then oil paint and enamel thinner for the wash. Hasnt reacted ever.

Every time I see an A-7, I think "Basking Shark"!

Welcome back to the hobby. A-7 looks cool!

That reminds more of the X-32 prototype. Even the nose is the same! I'm SO glad the F-35 was chosen instead.

hankenstein,

Re weathering: Try this next time.  I take a #2 lead pencil and create dust by rubbing the point on a piece of 400 grit sandpaper.  A dark pastel chalk would work too, but the pencil is cheaper. Anyway, after you have created the "dust", take a small artist's brush with stiff bristles and rub it in the dust to load it up (don't overdo it).  Then "dry brush" the dust across the panel lines.  This is more art than science, but after a few tries you can get the panel lines to "pop" a little bit.  If you goof, or don't like the results, simply take a soft eraser, clean up the goof and start over. Sometimes I might mix in a little brown or even reddish pastel chalk (hydraulic fluid).  I think washes are probably more suited for gaps in control surfaces, struts, wheels, etc. Panel lines don't really stand out that much on aircraft. It takes a little practice, but the pastels also work good for weathering.  Good luck and welcome back to the world of modeling!