The Little World

I had no idea when I was building model kits as a youngster that there would be a need to plug up cockpits, bomb bays, wheel wells, and every blessed hole in a fuselage. That was well before spray paint cans and any thought of an airbrush.

Plain old manual brushes were the go – and I cannot ever remember owning a good one. The ones used were small enough, but none of them were ever expensive. Chances are they came from watercolour sets and tended to get better as time went on by virtue of their bristles falling off.

Now it’s a matter of preparing myself as I spray undercoats and colour coats – if I leave any opening for the paint it flies in and spoils the completed interior.

The first thing I tried to do was tape off cockpits. Fine if the edges of the fuselage are wide, as in 1:32 kit. Not fun and not effective when you’re working in 1:72.

Then I tried masking the canopies and sealing the thing on with PVA glue. it is fine, but the masking is a right pain. And I still occasionally get a leak of paint into the clear parts.

Then I tried foam plugs – cut from cosmetic sponges. These were very effective when the cockpit had no delicate control columns or levers that might get damaged. I took to cutting slots and hollows inside the foam for the seats and controls.

Finally I hit on the ideal – a combo of the foam for big areas and artist’s gum rubber eraser for the smaller gaps. This is a Faber-Castell product from Jacksons Art Supplies – cheap in small coloured blocks. Think of it as a softer BluTack with much less adhesion. You can stuff it into places and then retrieve it much more easily. When you get it back covered in paint you just knead it and the paint seems to disappear into the body of the gum – you keep on using it.