How do you hold it?......its not what you think....

I have one of those round green styrofoam pieces from the floral section at the crafts store... I take bits of extra sprue that fit the contour of the model I am building, stick them into the styrofoam. and put the model on that... that allows me 180 deg access to the sides and access to the top. When it is dry I turn it over and do the bottom. No fingers touch the body, I turn the styrofoam piece. When it gets too caked up I get out $2 and go get another piece of styrofoam...

I saw another modeler in a GB who had a very good idea, he buids his paint stands from legos. That way each body can have a unique stand for it. One large square piece on the bottom and the little blocks make up the rest. I am thinking of doing something like that myself...

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 I have one of those round green styrofoam pieces from the floral section at the crafts store... I take bits of extra sprue that fit the contour of the model I am building, stick them into the styrofoam. and put the model on that... that allows me 180 deg access to the sides and access to the top. When it is dry I turn it over and do the bottom. No fingers touch the body, I turn the styrofoam piece. When it gets too caked up I get out $2 and go get another piece of styrofoam... I saw another modeler in a GB who had a very good idea, he buids his paint stands from legos. That way each body can have a unique stand for it. One large square piece on the bottom and the little blocks make up the rest. I am thinking of doing something like that myself...

Thanks alot Tom !

Tho's ideas are good. I'm gonna try those. The way I hold em is usually like a popsickle method or the tail wing method Popsicle method you just put a stick in an opening and tape it somehow.

It's funny, the last time I used the tail wing method. I painted the whole plane except the tail wing and it looked good. Problem was I didn't prepare anything to set it down and I did'nt want to set it down while it was still wet. I must have been holding the plane for what seemed like an hour before I just leaned it against a box. Later went back and pained the tail and it was fine.

I got a turntable for use in a microwave oven at Walmart. I think it cost about $2 in the housewares section. It's what I use for most of my painting because I can easily rotate parts to spray all sides.

I set the model on empty paint bottles and use a turntable (lazy Susan?)I picked up at Linen N things and rotate that as I paint.

well not good for aircraft, anybody who needs to know how to hold their armor, I glue a wooden dowel to the bottom, wait for it to dry, the spray away.

For a 1/72 scale fighter, you could leave off the spinner and insert a round toothpick where the spinner's shaft would go. I recenty did that with a Tamiya 1/72 Spitfire, and it worked like a champ.

Ditto on the "down the propshaft" approach or if a jet "up the tailpipe". I would use a longer piece of piano wire however and this can be held in a vice very successfully for both painting and paint drying. Blue tac prevents rotation. My vice has a swivel base which whilst not as versatile as a "lazy susan" is adequate. I don't have a booth so it does depend upon your situation. One potential benefit of holding the model vertically for painting is it is easier to apply paint at 90' to the model surface. Small spring clamps will hold jets with twin pipes and these in turn can again be held in a vice.
Oh I've just gone upmar... aftermarket! I hope my modelling will do the same as quickly.