The Little World

Are we ever ready for the undercoat in our lives? Probably not…but when we make model kits there comes a time when we are definitely going to have to reach for the spray.

I say that as an airbrush user, but I think the rattle can people are in much the same boat. I have no idea whether some modellers brush-paint an undercoat, but given the fact that it frequently has to be renewed as one finds cracks and flaws, it would not be impossible. I do patch the undercoat by hand occasionally.

Once it was just a standard grey from a Tamiya rattle can. Then I branched out to a white can and lately I am using the Mr. Hobby surfacers and primers in the trigger airbrush. They are way cheaper as a solution than the cans – if a little more time to spray. The grip it gives between plastic and paint is invaluable.

That’s white primer mixed with the remains of a grey surfacer jar. It seems to have done all I could want. I am frugal in combining similar materials to eke them out and in finding household items to supplement the hobby shop ones. The fuselage and wheel well spaces are plugged with foam from domestic packing and seem to be able to withstand the blasts of lacquer pretty well.

You may note that I have not mounted the turrets. That’s not an error – I checked that they could roll in from the side of the fuselage after the entire thing was closed up. This way I can prepare them with all the small painting details and not have to worry about masking them in situ. They are not good turrets – over engineered solutions to a simple task – but I have to make the best of them.