The Little World

Some modelers keep a stash of unbuilt kits  in closets – these probably reassure them, much like a giant hoard of gold comforts the dragon Fafner in Wagner’s Ring cycle. I can see a few of the curled around them huffing fire…

I, too, have a modest stash but I am working like Siegfried to slay the monster. I’ve vowed not to do two kits at once but I do find that I can get a satisfying build done in a little over a week. Unsatisfying ones take longer and drag the psyche down but we’ll not go into that. In my case, the dragon stash seems to be paint.

I think it was getting that first airbrush in Metro Hobbies in Melbourne and the feeling that as I had worked up the courage to buy it, I had better learn to use it. That learning curve is still going, but the process has not been anywhere near as difficult as my mind had set it out to be. I’m probably not using the brushes to their optimum, but I discover new things as I go and I’m not afraid to try new shoots.

But the paints. Oh Dear Lord, the paints. I am at the mercy of the makers and every trip to the hobby shop seems to bring fresh options. I quail before the top shelf at Hobbytech because it contains competing and exclusive systems of thinners, modifiers, retarders, varnishes and coats. I know that some of them are just different maker’s take on the same thing, but there is little consistency in how they refer to themselves.

Up until now, I’ve only shot acrylics through the guns. My friend Warren initiated me in how to clean the brush during and after the painting sessions and since I found out that methylated spirit was the solvent and field-stripped both guns repeatedly, I’m comfortable with them. A few mistakes and a couple of times when I had to meth off a badly applied coat of paint, but generally good.

I shoot Mr Hobby and Tamiya interchangeably as the thinner is compatible. I have a small supply of old Humbrol, and have just recently bought enough new enamel to paint one Anson trainer. I want to see if it is a better alternative to acrylic.

But what was I guilty about? Well think about it…as an artist I should be able to make all the shades I need from three or four basic hues plus black and white. I know colour theory. I can figure out how to flat paint – they refer to modellers doing this all the time in older publications. But no – I just go out and sneak down the paint aisle and snatch a couple more jars off the racks. And then I use some and the rest goes hard and lumpy in the jars.

Then I wash out the jars and save them for some reason…Perhaps I am planning to make dollies’ jams and preserves..

Good Lord – if I switch over to Humbrol I’ll find myself saving those darling little tins…

Dollies’ baked beans?