The Little World

It seems like just this morning I went out to the Little Workshop with a cup of coffee and looked at the bare grey plastic of the latest Airfix kit. Then I started to do this and that and suddenly it was 9:00 at night and there it was in camouflage. It shows the value of retirement and a good set of morals…

The experiment this time involves the Tamiya lacquer thinner as a diluent for their acrylic paint. I’ve got a bottle of it for thinning their modelling putty – and that was the state of play at 9:00 AM this morning. It does a reasonable job of this but I am going to try Milliput one day to see if it is easier to apply – in the meantime a number of YouTube videos from England have suggested that you can dilute the basic paint with it for a faster drying time.

Note: In Perth, Western Australia in the summer time, speed of drying is not a problem. Indeed, when it hits 40º Celsius in the workshop everything dries up, including enthusiasm. You need to find something to slow the drying time, and Tamiya make a fluid that will do that. But with winter approaching and temperatures dropping, a switch to a faster spray may be a good idea.

The basic Tamiya undercoats seem to dry pretty rapidly no matter what – they come in white, grey, and red oxide. I could wish for a  green one but that’s just being picky – the range is enough to suit most top coats. They are rattle cans of lacquer so they are nearly always successful. I assess the state of curing by smell – a half hour after I cannot pick up any odour from the undercoat means it is ready for the next shot.

The overall colour for this Naval Nakajima was IJN Grey with about 7 drops of Buff added. This matches a commercial die-cast IJN ‘ Zeke ‘ and I think it is as good an assessment of the original as I am likely to be able to do. I’ve mixed a big pot of it so that if I can find a model of a ‘ Val ‘ I’ll have enough for a matched appearance. The camouflage dark green was ” What I Had ” which is perfectly authentic…

The basic behaviour of the IJN Grey with Tamiya lacquer thinner was not noticeably different from other occasions when I used their alcohol diluent. I think it did dry faster, though, and was ready for the camo a lot quicker than on other occasions. No unpleasant runs or blockages.

The airbrush was cleaned with some of the lacquer thinner to start with, and then finally flushed through with meths. If I go with this idea, I’ll get a cheaper form of thinner from automotive accessory shops or the hardware store – the Tamiya stuff is too expensive to be flushing through every colour change every time.

The big grey blanks on the wings? Well, the Airfix painting diagram shows the hinomaru emblem free of the green camo by a small, but even, margin. I cut some masking tape circles and placed them where I’ll ultimately have the red insignia. I was a little concerned about the masking tape so I deactivated the stickum on the back with a little finger oil before I set it in place.

Tomorrow sees the gloss coat, then the decals, then the satin coat. I can’t praise Airfix enough for such a pleasant kit to build.