Large areas with brush - how?

You talk about brushing on the paint and maybe getting a A/B latter on. Why not for now get some spray cans to get the job done ?

Just a thought

Bud

I'd have to side with Bud, why not a few spray cans of paint?

IMHO:
If you have to ask how to get a smooth brushed finish, it won't happen right away, especially on a car body. But a few tips - use a good quality brush, keep the brush wet, long smooth strokes, and hopefully the paint will level out. More than likely, followed by lot's of careful wet sanding and rubbing out.

A cheap airbrush? Well, I would suggest an inexpensive AB but of good guality. As far as an air supply, I would really consider other alternatives to the canned air as they can effect your spraying.

I think what you should do is consider how much modeling you plan to do. Start with some spray cans and get used to the feel of spraying. Some very nice finishes can be accomplished with spray cans. Do some searching here on the forum for such info as AB's and air supplies (i.e. - canned air, compressors, CO2 tanks, air tanks, etc...). Armed with that information you can decide on an AB which you can get for as cheap as $40.00 and still be of good quality (I just bought one for $20.00 on sale). If you can't afford a compressor or CO2 tank right away, you could get one of those air tanks meant for filling tires. That just means a trip to the corner gas station (or wherever has an air pump/compressor) for refilling.

Just my 

Give the rattlecans a shot. I did at first and worked my way to the AB. Much better than hand brush.

 

Andy

Thank's for your answers! Well I had few spray cans and the result with them was awful. So I bought Aztek A470 airbrush and a little compressor. Hopefully this works out... Back to practicing =D

Skipwankman, let us know how you make out.

Bud

This is way harder than I thought After my first try on the Corvette's bodywork I had to give it a quick bath and scrub out that crappy paintjob... Luckily I was using water based paint

Second time things went a little better. Overall quality was pretty smooth. Though I had some difficulties finding the right distance and pressure/feed. Also I think I used too thin paint mix, about 40% water and since I was painting with yellow that might not have been the best idea...

When I was almost finished I started to have problems with water mixing into compressed air since I don't have moisture trap yet. So next time I go to my hardware store I gotta get one

But since this was my first time ever using airbrush I'm quite happy with the result! I was expecting something much, much, much worse...

EDIT: Oh yea, I also need to fix that tube coming out of the compressor. Damn thing popped out just before I had the chance to turn the compressor off...

Btw, should I undercoat parts before using AB? For example car body, is is necessary to undercoat it first or does the AB do the trick? What I'm trying to say here is that should I AB the body with really thin coat and then let it dry for a longer period of time before giving it another coat or is the result as good if I just start laying several coats on eachother while they're still a bit wet?

Really appreciate your help guys. Just getting started with this AB thing

As for all the miss haps you had NP we ALL had them. Get a Mos Trap. and Yes I would spray an under coat.

Lets see some pics too :)

Bud

Pics?! Er...

Maybe some day.. when it's finished perhaps... 

That's cool, But want to see some

Bud

Well here's some pics as you requested... They show mainly two things, I don't know how to paint nor how to take good pics

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g199/Skipwankman/89240027.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g199/Skipwankman/6fd733e9.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g199/Skipwankman/3d47a7fa.jpg

Keep it up, looks good so for

Bud

In General good brushes like Windsor and Newton purchased at an art store are a must for the serious modeler. Pearl Paint is where I get mine. If you go and spend fifty bucks on quality brushes yopu will never regret it, and they will last, as well.

jhande posted this the other day. I dug it up because I think it's exactly what you're looking for. Hope it helps you. :)

http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?TutorialID=12&CurPage=1http:/

Wow! That's an excellent page! It had some good techniques that will surely help me with my model.

Thanks Max!

I just experimented with using a brush and an emery board to simulate a caste texture... it looks pretty good, but my crappy camera isn't good enough to show the detail.  I don't think they caste Corvette fenders.

one nice item to have is a clean primed PLASTIC MILK JUG ( HUH you say is this guy WHACKO? ) A plastic milk jug is a great item to practice technique on so you're not blasting away on a model g\saying "Hmmmm I wonder if THIS will work. Nope SCRUB SCRUB SCRUB"

yup!  me and my milkjug are on a first name basis!  I just use a can of Krylon primer and primer over it when it is full.  Anytime I come across something new I haven't tried yet, I do it on the milk jug first... get it right, then put it on the model!!!

A word of caution regarding the milk jug for practicing on.

Wait until the family is done drinking the milk. 

My kids thought it was cool, the wife on the other hand...