Need help with beginning steps of painting and clear coating

I have another follow up question to what we were talking about before. So I think I've figured out the cockpit, but now I'm wonder a couple of other things.

1. I'm noticing that there is quite a mix of gloss and flat painted parts. This makes me wonder if you have these mixed parts, then you clear coat with Future you now have all gloss parts. You do your washes and then put on a dull coat. So now the big question is, how do you maintain the orginal mix of gloss and flat parts when you have to dull coat? This might be ok on the body of the plane, but there are a lot of mix coats in the cockpit and motor area. Sometimes the landing gear has a mix as well. Does the gloss still come through after you've put on your final flat clear coat? Almost makes me wonder why we even paint in gloss or flat when we are just going to seal it up with the oposite clear coat.
2. I'm working on some of the engine parts and am wondering if this area is supposed to get a clear coat or not? Is it worth doing a wash in this area? This kind of leads back to my first question because there is some metallic paint on some parts and then some flat paints on others. You would think you would want to keep these differences, but now I'm really confused with applying clear coats.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Burt

At 1/72 scale the inside of the cowl that will actually be visible past the prop and engine will be so small it's not worth worrying about, at least not at this stage of your first steps into the hobby. 

If you really feel like you want to weather the inside of the cowl, then wait till you Future the rest of the aircraft exterior.  It's inevitable that the Future coat will find it's way inside anyway as you spray the exterior.  Don't install the propellor so it won't be in the way.  Use a small brush and wash the inside as best you can.

As you noted in your first paragraph, it's an experiment to see what works and what doesn't.  Each person usually finds their own tried and true methodology for detailing.  Good luck!

Thanks a bunch arki30. This is making more sense and was exeactly what I was looking for. I will have to experiment a little with washing and dry brushing the cockpit, but it sounds like if I'm using acrylic wash on acrylic base I might be able to get away with no Future coat, but most likely will put one on to protect my work.

Sounds like I can just focus on the cockpit and worry about the wheel wells later. I'm just afraid  of washing the wells when it's put together and not being able to clean the excess off because it's now enclosed within the wing. I'm also concerned about the cowl because I've painted the inside, but know that I have to weather it before putting the prop in place. Because of this I would need to clear coat it. Because it's such a small spot to spray into (1/72 scale) I know that I will get Future on the outside of the cowl. Will this mess up the paint that I spray on the outside? 

Ok, got it.  Now I think I understand where your confusion is coming from.  All three of these links are discussing washes on the exterior of the aircraft.  If you are doing something like a sludge wash (as detailed on Swanny's site), an oil wash, watercolor wash, etc. on the exterior of an aircraft it does help (or is necessary) to have a clear gloss coat down in order to remove the wash from the areas you are not intending to highlight.  Panel lines are a great example.  Most people can't apply a wash dead-nuts on the panel lines.  Hence you need to be able to remove the excess.  

If you are doing something like an oil wash, you'll be removing the excess with an "hot" thinner.  In this case the gloss coat can protect the underlying paint from being removed by the thinner.  Do your research though!  Since you are using acrylic washes, this shouldn't be an issue.

For interior spaces as you originally discuss, meh.  A clear gloss coat can help, but you'll find a lot of guys just slap the wash on the interior spaces and let it go.  Primarily because it's harder to see and the additional wash can add to the shadowy effect of the interior spaces.  Unless of course you happen to be using a "hot" paint or thinner that could remove the underlying paint.  

Regardless if you gloss coat the interior or not, it shouldn't have any effect on your sequence of construction.  For cockpits, I paint the individual pieces, assemble and then detail with washes or what have you before installing in the fuselage.  I usually wash wheel wells with the rest of the exterior of the plane, which is after I've Futured and decaled the aircraft.  By default the wheel wells will be Futured also, which is nice as I often clean up the wash in the wells so it doesn't look too messy.

When finished with the cockpit, install in the fuselage as directed.  You can protect the finished cockpit with either the masked canopy or mask the opening in various ways.  Once you finish painting the airframe, then Future the entire aircraft in prep for decaling.  After decaling apply the exterior wash to highlight the panel lines as Swanny or your other references indicate.  

Make sense?

arki30 wrote:

Wait, back up a sec.  All of your confusion is generated by your desire to Future before detailing.  Where did you read that Future is required before detailing?  Future is good to apply before decaling and for clear parts, but isn't usually necessary for washes and the like, unless perhaps you are using a "hot" paint or thinner.   What are you using for your washes?  Watercolors?  Acrylics?  Enamels?  Pastel chalk?  Phil Flory's Promodeller wash?   Do a search in the forum for washes and you will find a ton of good info.  Also, check out swannysmodels.com for some great tips, particularly for the use of Future.

Thanks for the reply. You can see how someone just starting out could become greatly confused. I've done a ton of research. Including Swanny's stuff. Here are my resources for thinking that I have to Future coat before washes and weathering. And I am using all Tamiya Acrylics to do my washes on top of Tamiya Acrylic paint base. Possibly thinned with water or 91% alcohol.

Whichever type of wash you use, make sure to seal the surface first with a gloss coat (e.g. Future acrylic). Found this here: http://www.world-war-2-airplane-model.com/washes.html

Current issue of Fine Scale Magazine. Page 27 by Aaron Skinner and I quote "No matter what you plan for a wash, first apply a clear gloss coat over the model."

Swanny himself says: surface sealed with a good clear coat such as Future Floor Polish Found this here: http://www.swannysmodels.com/Weathering.html

I could go on and on, but I think you can understand my confussion when all of these sources are sealing first. Again, I'm really not looking for how to weather, but more about the process from painting the parts to washes/weathering. I'm stuck trying to figure out how to wash one side of the model before the other side. Am I making sense? Sorry if I'm not explaining well enough. I've done my research as you can see, I just need peoples experience in telling me their process.

Thanks so much.

Burt 

Wait, back up a sec.  All of your confusion is generated by your desire to Future before detailing.  Where did you read that Future is required before detailing?  Future is good to apply before decaling and for clear parts, but isn't usually necessary for washes and the like, unless perhaps you are using a "hot" paint or thinner.  

What are you using for your washes?  Watercolors?  Acrylics?  Enamels?  Pastel chalk?  Phil Flory's Promodeller wash?  

Do a search in the forum for washes and you will find a ton of good info.  Also, check out swannysmodels.com for some great tips, particularly for the use of Future.  

I haven't even put the cockpit together yet. Everything is still in parts and individually painted. From what I have read I need to spray a coat of Future down before I start to do my washes and weathering and so I'm just trying to figure out the correct steps. For example, the inside of the fuselage is painted for my cockpit detailing. For me to do a wash isn't it correct that I spray that with Future first? I'm using all Tamiay Acrylics. My concern is that I spray these areas, but I still have the outside to be conerned with. Or there is the wheel bay covers that are painted green on the inside, but haven't painted the other side because I have gotten to the exterior paint yet. Is it ok to paint one side of something, clearn coat it, wash it and then save the other side for later on? Am just trying to figure out some effective ways of doing this.

Thanks 

Future is used to clear coat clear glass such as canopies and windshields. I dip and dry those parts right out of the box as additional protection before I do anything else.

Most people paint and detail the cockpit before placing them inside the fuselage, but if you have already done so, just mask off the outside and proceed.

Many of us also clear coat with Future before applying decals, and some (including me) add Tamiya X-22 Flat Base to Future for dull coats after the decals have been snugged down.