Battle For Germany 45 GB Starts Now - 08 May 06

Darren - I opted for the WWII German pack by Vallejo, here is the description from Colorado Miniatures where I oredered them:

. Specially formulated for airbrushing.

Pack Includes: VA-011 "Tank Green", VA-020 "German Green", VA-025 "Dark Yellow", VA-037 "Mud Brown", VA-041 "Tank Brown", & VA-052 "German Grey" Panzer Starter Pack. Six 17ml eyedropper bottles of Model Air acrylic paint. Specially formulated for airbrushing.

The entire pack was a lot more colors, I believe 16 bottles total, it had everything from German grey to sandgelb on to the ambush colors, it also included the interior colors for the tanks as well...

So I take it you liked the Vallejo?

I have heard some good thngs about the Vallejo paints too.  My LHS carrys them but I have never sparyed an acrylic in my life. 

If one was to make a switch from enamels to acrylics...what adjustemts in techinques woud be expected to be made? Sepcial thinners?  Retarders?  Higher AB pressure?  Lower pressure?  Mix ratios...   OH will it ever end?

Thanks Tom that confirms my research and I've just placed the order for those same colors with Hobby Easy and yes you can take that I like the Vallejo very much.  Thanks a bunch for the tip .

Marc and Jules I am making the switch to acrylics because I was getting bad headaches while I was spraying and cleaning the AB.  I have a lot of MM enamel paints but I don't care, my health is more important.  From now on I am going to use acrylics as my main paint going back to enamel only when necessary.
Jules I order mine mostly from Hobby Easy in Hong Kong.  It's not exactly the LHS but they are cheap quick and the service is good.
Marc The only change I have made is that I make sure that I prime the model, apart from that I use the same air pressure and mixing ratios as I have always used.

Cheers

tho9900 wrote:

I also have had success at brushing it.. it takes several coats but it is flat with no brush marks when it is covered...

I think it was the best thing for my modeling I could have done (besides take it back up again!) ..

Someone else on here mentioned it so I asked about it at the LHS... I talked to a guy there that showed me some of his models painted with it and my eyes nearly fell out of my head!!!  they were some of the most beautiful things I had seen!  I got me a couple of bottles, enough to do the kit I was planning on working on and was sold!  In fact that was before the last BoB GB and I still am using out of those original bottles.  It goers a long way when you can measure drop for drop how much paint is going to be used, and even adding a few drops to the cup while airbrushing instead of mixing a separate batch in a little bottle and pouring it in and not using a 1/4 of it and wasting it.

Now I probably have about 20 or so bottles of it and still adding.  Originally I was getting "Aircraft Colors" by Color of Eagles (made for subcontract by Vallejo) but now I am getting into the Model Air colors under the vallejo brand.  I wish I had the money to buy the dispay cart with every paint they make (about $300.00)  then I'd never have to go to the LHS again!!!

Marc - I missed the rest of your question earlier, buy just as Darren said... priming is the only thing I do different, just plain old Krylon white does the trick for me.  I don't worry about priming things like interior pieces because those won't be touched or knocked about.  Just the fusealge and exterior pieces.

Thansk all for the tips on acrylics... i may give them a try.

when you use the Krylon primer... Do you "decant" it like swanny does with the black for Alclad? If so... does it have to rest to get bubbles out?

Hey all-seems like the Me-262 has come to a grinding halt.  Finally got around to attaching the jet engines, a little masking and spraying the RLM76.  Minor disaster.  Tried to compensate for a 'funky' air pressure regulator by adding another one down stream, with a narrower range guage.  Didn't work.  Not sure why but had a fit trying to get the a/b to function properly.  Could have been something else (bad paint, too thin, etc.) but I think it was the dual regulators. Removed the second regulator and licked my wounds.  Think I can salvage the plane by letting it cure a day or two and then re-applying.  btw-I'm using MM acrylic with Tamiya thinner.  Not had problems like this prior. Worst case would be an airbrush shower in Windex or Simple Green.

Also, the gaps that I have incured are much worse than I would have liked.  As it goes, I'll blame it on the pair of boxing gloves I was wearing while assembling on the kit... 

Will definatly try this kit again...so many choices for camo schemes.  Still haven't decided the paint scheme I'm going to take yet.....

Marc - no, I just spray it out straight fro the can, it is thin enough and dries slowly enough to level itself out before it sets.  I imagine you could decant it but I've never had to.  I don't primer till it's white, just until it has decent coverage, usually gray still shows through the primer.

Jimmy - if you do decide to try the Vallejo it comes in two flavors.  Model Color for brushing or thinning and airbrushing.  And Model Air for airbrushing, which I brush but like I said it takes more coats because it is thinner. They do have some different colors in one that they don't in the other... the hardest thing is finding out that Vallejo name matches the FS name.  i.e. Tank Green transposes to Panzer Olivgrun etc..

tho9900 wrote:

Jimmy - if you do decide to try the Vallejo it comes in two flavors.  Model Color for brushing or thinning and airbrushing.  And Model Air for airbrushing, which I brush but like I said it takes more coats because it is thinner. They do have some different colors in one that they don't in the other... the hardest thing is finding out that Vallejo name matches the FS name.  i.e. Tank Green transposes to Panzer Olivgrun etc..

I know what you mean Tom, I have a spreadsheet that I fill out and cross reference whenever I place an order for Vallejo colors.  It has the Vallejo name, FS #, RLM # or RAL #  as well as the common name for each of the Vallejo colors that I have.  Another little feature which I am still getting used too is that there is a different numbering system for the Model Air and Model Art ranges.

:::Progress Update:::

After doing a fair bit of happy modeling on the weekend (on three different kits) I have come to the conclusion that the 1/32 262 is going to be a long term project for me and that with the other GBs that I’ve put my name down for the chances of me finishing it by May are remote.

So, as of now my build for this GB is a Tamiya 1/72 FW-190 D9 with a maybe 1/48 Tamiya Jagdpather Late version.  It’s a cop out I know but hey stuff happens.

Cheers

Here's my progress so far just got started today

Chris - thanks!  I'll go check it out... I bet it is a good sized bird!  Revell DE has some good stuff for the most part...

Darren - hmmm..  I'll have to start doing the same thing, then we can send each other our finds and help each other fill out the chart faster.  Previously for aircraft I have been using Aircraft Colors by Color of Eagles (bottled by Vallejo) and they used the RLM and standard names on the paint.  Now I am being forced to go outside that line since I am doing armor and ships as well..

Robert - looks good!  the instructions look a little crazy though! 

Bob - go for it!  I've had similar happen to me... I just blame my wife for it.. If she wouldn't do things like stick her head in the door and ask "are you going to come eat"  yeah... that's it, it's HER fault...   she made me jump and I messed it up!

Chris/Tom, hate to be the wet blanket, but the Revell 1/48 B-26 is basically a re-box of the old Monogram kit.  All come from the same tools.

Smoking,  Looks like some good progress being made.

Regards,  Rick

darson wrote:

Good looking progress Robert.  I take it from the instructions that you are building the DML kit? Cheers

 Yep shure is darson and its bugger this is the first DML kit ive built.

tho9900 yes the instruction a little confusing

Richard - I am building a Dragon kit right now (if my paint ever gets here) and they look the same haha.. nothing but arrows and two sets of numbers, one for paint one for part number.

Darren - look what I lucked into today!

http://www.ttfxmedia.com/vallejo/cgi-bin/_modelis_info.asp?p1=ing&p2=modelair

Now you can fill in the rest of your Excel sheet.  I was happy to see this.. I'll still have to reference the FS number or the Gunze or Tamiya numbers to see what it really is... but all the same I am happy!

Just a quick progress report.  The Fw190 is now decaled, weathered as much as I'm gonna, & most final assembly is done.  Just a few fiddly bits & antennae wires to add.  Should be done in a day or two.  Also started some work on my second build, the DML/Dragon 1/48 Me-163B-1.  Only some base painting & PE done so far.

Regards,  Rick 

Ok heres some more progress on the DML 88mm Flak 36 once you get used to the directions it go's pretty good the only goof i made was the gear that lets the gun tilt up and down acedently glued it so looks like ill be duck hunting. The main gun is complete amd starting tommarow ill start on the pedistal

tho9900 wrote:

Darren - look what I lucked into today! http://www.ttfxmedia.com/vallejo/cgi-bin/_modelis_info.asp?p1=ing&p2=modelair Now you can fill in the rest of your Excel sheet.  I was happy to see this.. I'll still have to reference the FS number or the Gunze or Tamiya numbers to see what it really is... but all the same I am happy!

Thanks a heap Tom that's certainly put a smile on my dial for the day.  The only other piece of information that I use and find very handy is the generic or common name.   I know the spreadsheet is a little nerdy but I find it really helps, especially when you start building up a large number of paints.

Cheers Darren

OK now rhat Photobuckets back up here some progress pics

Robert – That looks real nice.  Looks like a nice kit. 

Rick – Can’t wait to see it.

Tom – great chart that will come in very handy if I make the switch over to acrylics.

Progress report – Airframe is all together…and OMG is it big… everything getting detail has gotten it and it will be time for paint when I get the nerve to start.  My recent painting problems have me a bit nervous.  If you missed this thread and want to throw some ideas my way… I am all ears.  Odd that I can’t find Krylon primer but I did find some Rustoleum “made for Plastic” primer that I am going to try on some of the spare part from the kit. 

Markings are still a problem since there is no AM stuff for this and I don’t know how to use a graphics program well enough to make them on a PC so I may have to cut and mask.  I did find a Hobby Decal dry transfer sheet for stenciling, which as extremely sparse on the kit’s decal sheet.

Just spent the last 1/2 hour reading posts.

Really do miss out on alot over a week!

Dave, Tom, Smokin great builds so far guys!! Like the 262 Dave, brave man for trying the camo in 1/72, worked out well I reckon! 190 looks good Tom, hope you get to finish it, seem a shame to put it back in the cupboard.

Well, I was almost finished the Spit, and while my neice was here I thought I'd sneak in a night of modeling and moved all my stuff to the dining room (my neice commandeered my hobby room).

Unfortunately in the cats hast to grab a moth mid flight the Spit had a rather unruley landing on the tiles and broke off both wheel struts and canons, cracked the left wing root, lost an aileron and snapped the canopy off.

It's all fixable, but in my bad temper I put it away and  left the wash on to long and while trying to remove it I inadvertantly rubbed the camo paint off to!!

So basically the whole thing is a total do over, so I decided to shelve it for now and make a start on the FW190.

This is my first Dragon kit and doesn't look to bad.

Won't take much to back date it from a G-3 to an A-6, but Dragon instructions aren't as great as the Hasegawa kits I'm used to.

Can't seem to get my head around the instructions telling me to mix X% of one colour with X% of another.

Hows everyone else fairing??