First model in 20 years, 100% hand painted

The only models I had paint are WW1 aircraft (smaller scale), and old ships.  The big problem is brush marks.  WW1 aircraft were hand painted, and no one worried about quality of the finish.  Flat paint does not show brushmarks as much as gloss paint.

The secret of good brush paint jobs are proper thinning ratio, and practice, practice and....

An intermediate step is the use of spray cans for larger surfaces where brush marks are more noticable.

The secret to painting a model by hand is to thin the paint as much as you can.  I learned this while painting figures, and saw the technique in action looking at Maschinen Krieger and other sci-fi builds, hand-painted using lacquers.  Very thin coats.  If you think about it, that's how you paint with an airbrush, too-you apply thin coats.

Everything else is the same, from prepping the kit for assembly (cleaning the sprues to remove grease and oil), to priming it (priming helps your color coats adhere), and eventually sealing it.

As you've seen in your own build, you can get a really great finish, applying the color coats by hand.

And as with anything else-practice, practice, practice!

Use a flat brush. Thin way down. Don't assume that brush marks will ever level themselves. Try different paints. There's a huge range of "brushability".

That is a very nice first effort and I like your decision to display the model in flight. Planes look best when they’re doing what they were designed to do: fly. I echo all of the above regarding brush painting. Although Model Master Acryl doesn’t get much love on various modeling forums I’ve had excellent results brush painting with it and have never had a problem with brush marks. Using a primer is key and I like Tamiya fine white. I thin the paint just a little (it’s already pretty thin) and always apply 2 coats, never going back over a painted area until it’s completely dry. 

MB13

Thanks a lot guys for the tips and yes I will practice and practice to try and achieve even better results! My next one is the Hasegawa F-22 and is already on the bench, I hope I will be able to do the camo as real as possible but sure will be a huge challenge!!

 

Its a pretty complicated kit,but well engineered,goes together great.I really enjoyed it.Have fun.

Good to know it is well engineered because it is pretty intimidating when you open the box loll.. So far so good the cockpit is beginning to take shape!!

Wow, that's very impressive!  

Nice job after the long layoff.

For filling seams I like Perfect Plastic Putty.  Can take off excess with a water dampened Qtip , even after it dries, with no loss of detail.  If you have to sand, it works easier than most of the other putties out there.

goldhammer

Nice job after the long layoff.

For filling seams I like Perfect Plastic Putty.  Can take off excess with a water dampened Qtip , even after it dries, with no loss of detail.  If you have to sand, it works easier than most of the other putties out there.

 

Thanks mate!

I just bought Vallejo's putty wich can also be taken off with a moistened q-tip. I will try it on my next model should be better than Tamiya's wich I didn't like much. Also bought mr.surfacer 1000 for the very small seams.

Mopar Madness

Wow, that's very impressive!  

 

Thank you very much!! :)

arbit

I had the same reaction when I got back into modelling. The quality of the tools and paints makes the hobby easier. Very nice hand brush work. I've got zoomed in on my widescreen TV and it looks great. Very interested to know what quality you used to get 20 years ago with the hand painting.

 

Sorry if my words sounded like the results where better 20 years ago but man my models where horrible back in those days loll this one is better by a mile thats for sure!