The Little World

And they talk to each other in different voices. If only I could get some of them to start contributing towards paying the electricity bill…

The current debate centers around painting the frames of aircraft canopies in 1/72 scale. I’ve tried a number of different ways of doing this and not yet found the ideal solution:

a. Freehand painting – tiny paintbrush, eyeglasses off, a hand rest to steady the process…and in some cases it works well.

b. Masking tape masks – useful for canopies with straight lines. Some difficulty in extremely curved situations.

c. Liquid masking. Works around some complex curves but never seems to have the neat finish I expect.

I’ve also tried out hand brush as well as airbrush painting – matte and gloss paints. The airbrush seems to win out for precision if the masking stays put, but subsequent gloss or satin coats seem to make for blobby results.

I do appreciate good crisp lines moulded on the canopies and in this respect I think the Chinese models are better than Airfix. At least better than older Airfix kits. Some of the results are disappointing after the main camouflage paint has gone so well.

Oddly enough, I think that his would be one of the few occasions when a felt-tip marker pen with paint inside it would be a good thing to try. I’ve used them before in larger scales to make window framing and they really do a nice job – unfortunately there are so many odd paint colours that you need for aircraft building that you couldn’t stock all the markers.

Perhaps this is a case of getting a suitable fine fibre or wood strip and coupling it with a purpose-built homemade paint reservoir. Nothing to stop some experimenting along this line – I’ve got plenty of cheap perspex sheeting to draw on. Anything’s got to be better than some of the painting I’ve done so far.

Addendum: Horrified with the results of masking an older Airfix kit’s clear parts, I shuddered and reached for the bottle of methylated spirits.  A vigorous scrubbing removed the masked and painted frame lines and I set out on a warm morning with a 3.0 brush to paint the things freehand. They are not perfect, but they are 124% better than the masked and sprayed attempt. In the future I shall reserve the masking tape for canopies that have straight panels and trust to my eye and the mercy of the universe for the ones that curve about. I should succeed – I do not drink in the mornings.