popeye the sailor

here is the link I was referring to: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13831-my-airbrushes/ getting back to airbrushing has made painting easier for me.......a lot more control than the rattle can. I hope you find something useful

I am a born again user of the airbrush. I tried one in my younger days, but hung it up because of it needing so much attention......cleaning and such. not to mention......I was building plastic kits......mostly small tasks to do.....it just didn't seem worth it. getting back into modeling..........and finding a new love, building wooden ships. I found a huge need to get back into it....those huge hulls were a pain to paint with a brush. a friend of mine sent me one of his old ones..... this is a siphon feed......it has a port for an external paint cup. the paint is brought into the chamber, aerated, and sprayed internally through the nozzle. there is a cap connector for a compressed air can. I never got a chance to try it out though. I was in the local Hobby Lobby and I saw a kit, put out by testor's....the "Amazing Air" airbrush kit. http://www.testors.com/product-catalog/testors-brands/testors/airbrush/external-mix this is a different type of siphon feed......it is external. the science behind it is simple........it duplicates the act of blowing across the top of a bottle. air enters the ported top, pushes the paint up via a feed tube, aerates with the air stream that emits from the nozzle. Testor's also carries the EZ airbrush......which is nothing more than the airbrush itself, without the kit. the kit comes in many forms: auto paint enamels, acrylic paints, and camo paints........all boxed in the same size packaging format. it comes with a can of compressed air, but I adapted mine to run of of my Craftsman 25 gal compressor. it uses the 1/4 oz bottles......Testor's, Humbrol, and Pactra all have pretty much the same bottles.......any one of them can be used. http://www.testors.com/category/136949/Airbrushes I'm not trying to promote Testor's products or the company. these are just pages that I have bookmarked. I gather many sites that I find useful..... sites like this one: https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/home I've known Don for quite some time, and he put together this review of god knows how many types of airbrushes. if you have a problem.....or a question...you may find an answer here. I do have two more outfits......to be honest, I haven't tried or used them yet. I did use the compressor from this one for a short time....has some tell tale paint spatters on it, to prove it. this is a Spraycraft outfit..........this particular one is a gravity feed. paint is put in the cup on the top, aerated in the chamber, and out through the nozzle. I have never tried a gravity feed before.......should be very interesting when I do get 'round to use it. ....and I also have this little gem......an Aztek A320.... if I told you how I came by it.....you wouldn't believe it. it is a kit........complete, with many added and extra parts. I am not sure how many nozzles come with it.......but I have several I found another nozzle in the box..........color coded as for what they do. it is a siphon feed, but this one is an internal mix........paint is introduced into the chamber, and sprayed out the nozzle. there are complete instructions and DVD's to accompany it. I have been using the EZ airbrushes since 2010.........quite an accomplishment for a $35.00 airbrush. one of these days, they will wear out {what they call a handle has already broken off one of them}, and when they do, it's nice to know that I'll have a back up. what worries me, is will I need to alter my style of painting, to use them?!?! these are what I have for airbrushes....I hope that anyone reading this found some useful info. know that you don't need the most up to date airbrush outfit.......you only need one that works. thanks for looking in

thanks Tom and Nenad for the kind comments........and to all the likes. it's working out well.....the build is almost caught up to the Jingle Belle. a group shot of these boats is going to look strange now........I saw the thread about builds in progress. I should snap a picture and post it there. even crazier, what if I took a picture of them all? sick! thanks Tom....yesterday was a nail biter that went down the tubes once the rain drops started to fall. good thing I wasn't using lacquer. I wouldn't have painted anything that week either........too cool..........slow drying. thanks Nenad.......I remember my younger days, first try with the airbrush. I hated brushes because of the streaks it left behind......so I bought one. it wasn't long before I hung it up.......too much of a pain to clean it. I went many years after that working on brush techniques.....some good.....some bad. I was going to post it here........but I think I'd get in trouble for it......but I have a few different airbrushes. I believe there is a thread about airbrushes here somewhere....I'll find it and post it there. for folks looking to get into an airbrush of their own, I think they will find it interesting. I'll post a link when I post it.

thanks for the good comments Rob and Mark....also, thanks for all the likes I know what your say'in Rob.......I can be at times, but not so much with this one. it's a work boat.......can't have it look'in pristine now, can we? some of the minor stuff, I'm not going to sweat....in fact, I'm rather glad that all I have is matte paint........it will add to the detail when I get around to doing the trim. "who does camo with gloss paint?" I appreciate your kind words............thank you:) thanks Mark..........didn't get much further than this........the sky opened up then the air was like soup! I gathered some material together for the next steps.......hopefully another update will come of it. thanks for the good word.

that's what happens to projects like this.......they have a habit to snowball well.......I guess.......there's your 'snow' Piet! are you going to add a building or two?

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ON WITH THE PAINT /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ mixing up half of the bottle, the first light coat was laid down. mixing up the rest of the paint, I put two caps of thinner in the mixing bottle and poured it into the original paint bottle. the mixing bottle was cleaned out to use again, and clean thinner was run through the siphon cap to clean it out. never let it set for too long. the second spray was the final coat.....I have just enough to do touch ups. it's a common color....I'll get some more later. as mentioned, there are a few minor imperfections, but I can live with them the stand was brought out too........and given a coat of gray primer. so far, the rain has held off.......we are now well in the after noon. I let the paint set for a short time, and then removed the masking. the darn thing was almost dry to the touch. time is shortened due to the temps....I think we are in the low 90's. the masking is now removed.......... I brought the stand in and put felt buttons on the bottom corners........I will line the boat contacts with felt strips that I have cut already, but haven't put on. once they are on to protect the paint, I can bring the boat back in the house......she's still out in the garage. the bottom paint I will leave the gray. trim and the windshield will be the next things I tackle

back out in the garage...........changes were happening. the hull got some sanding to clean up the imperfections.....later I found, that I didn't get them all. I'll see how the process goes.......perhaps I can clean a few of the more obvious ones later or cover them with trim work. it's a work boat........ bringing all my stuff up from the cellar, I even brought up the two cans of white primer. they were empty......go figure! I wasn't going to use the red primer........looking around, I noticed that my son had a can of gray primer in his basket. so I grabbed it and shot the hull....completely. OK.........that it for the spray can....... the second phase and everything else, will be done with airbrush. first order of business was to get the hull masked up. after waiting a while for the primer to dry, the task was done. being in the garage again, I can use the Craftsman 25 gal compressor........I had to set up the airbrush, since I had removed the nipple hook up. I've shown what I use in a few of my logs.......for anyone who hasn't viewed one of my builds, this is a Testor's EZ airbrush. there are kits sold in most hobby and craft shops, under the name "Amazing Air" airbrush kit. they come with a compressed air can, but I've adapted mine to work with my compressor. I bought another one {clearance, cuz someone returned it....mucked up} and I use it with a Starcraft mini compressor. darn thing is about the size of a fish tank aerator. it is a siphon feed........comes also with the caps and feed tubes. Testor, Humbrol, and Pactra 1/4 oz bottles will work with this outfit. sometimes clean bottles can be found.......but if none can be found, I buy the 1/4 oz bottles of thinner and I dump the contents in the larger can that I also purchase. I used one bottle of paint for this {1/4 oz}. one bottle is the mixing bottle....another bottle has clean thinner to clean the cap, or if it happens to get plugged. the larger can has a small cap plug, which works well as a measuring cup for the thinner. I had tossed around to the admiral a bunch of color combos. she chose the colors as shown in the pictures. since all I have on hand is matte white.........a matte scheme it is!

oh......nutz!!!!! I had a picture of the bow.....I took it this morning while it was sitting on the table. better late than never!

thanks Patrick and Bob,,,,,,and those who hit the like button. changes are happening......I'm also keeping an eye to the sky. s'pose to be storms today. haven't seen but a few very short sprinkles so far. at the moment......it's a drying process.........next, well.........you'll see very soon I wasn't taken any chances Bob.........didn't like what happened to me the last time

you should have had a taste of that weather in your neck 'o the wood...........terrible........very un-summer like very nice job on the dead eyes! nice detail for the hull too

hull looks great Bob...........really spot on!

say it isn't so..........I do agree though, you've made some really nice progress. the carvings look fantastic.........and I guess I'll have to wait to see what you do with the bow. I'll hope that there's more, but if not......then I will wait Sam. you have a great imagination. .........but what of the other hull frame ?

sounds like your moving right along. I wonder if copper or gold leaf paper will work? I can get it at my local craft store? I've seen folks use it on plastic models. {I call it paper because that's how thin it is}.

super paint! it looks like your finished no....really Patrick..........she looks great!

thanks all for the kind comments and the likes! I ended up leaving the hull out there for most of the afternoon. I've got that kind of luck, where I'll go and hit the sandpaper, only to find that it wasn't ready.....and we all know what that does. had to laugh though.........the admiral love the finish! today, I'll bring her back out there.......I need to redo the cabin. I started with the bottom, and by the time I got to the cabin, the resin was starting to get globby, so the cabin is kinda rough to the touch. the bottom looks like glass, with just a couple of areas that will need attention. I'll see how far I can go today thanks Rob........kinda looks that way there are a few factors why I'm trying this.......sealing......smoother finish.......and yea, you can say I'm stick'in a big toe in the water. our last 'baby bird' will be leaving the nest very soon {it's in the works}, and I'm trying to hint at a lake or a pond if we plan a move to a smaller place. can't be too small though, with all the models I have thanks Patrick....yes......I feel much better about this hull. I also have a couple of ideas for outfitting her.....enough to keep the balance between fishing boat and the subject. it will be a good platform for paint......but I gotta keep with the same formula. as I did with the Andrea Gail, I thinned the paint down just enough to reduce the sheen down to a semi gloss. I have a few builds, where the paint is very shiny.......it's nice, but for fishing boats, the sheen factor needs to be reduced.......even a flat is livable. I'm not wearing my boots right now {it's getting deep} I'll get into more later thanks Mobbsie.........no headaches....! I held my breath.......only taking a breath when it was safe it went on though just like I thought it would. you might be onto something with the catamaran.....that would be something cool to see I commend you John for your perseverance Actually, the major accomplishment of this whole log was the Andrea Gail. I think now that adding the fore deck blew the other hull out of contention as well. true, this log isn't as long, as others on the site, but the subject is a very wide field. I've done my best to keep it on track, but I keep losing hulls. so I'm down to these two........the other boat is waiting for a paint scheme, as well as a subject name. chances are, it will remain here.......can't see myself creating another log just for a little bit of work. I welcome you to the log.........my trilogy, and I hope you enjoyed it. there's still more to go, so I hope you'll follow along. thanks for taking the time to look in

I posted a while ago.........must have forgot to hit the post button again.......dough! really looks super............very well done

look what I done to my boat.............ma! well.........it is done.....the hull has now been resinized! after I blew the dust out of the admiral's vacuum filter, and then the table I'll be doing it on. as you saw from the last pictures, the hull hasn't been sanded yet from the second wave of filler. this was done first thing.........I'd say that a good 90% of the filler was removed. I brought it down even more from the first time. bad thing is, that I didn't think to use a finer sandpaper on the transom. I'll see later if I'll have to run paper over it.......I'll have to do it anyway. what I'm using is a fiberglass resin, which requires a hardener to activate it. this is a bit after the fact.......the tell-tale brush and can pan. I used a brush to apply it.......as soon as I mixed in the hardener, the clock started ticking. I have the two windows and the garage door open, with a slight breeze.....ambient temp is around 90 degrees. had I done this in the AM....I would have had more time. the next time I do this, I will include a fan...........smelled the high heavens! I will need to pay a little attention to this area. I will also find out if my theory was right........that this stuff should fill in any minor imperfections. we shall see....... I know I will have to give it a light sanding.......brush marks and such. I was amazed at the color change......it really shows too, just how much filler I left on there. I even did the cabin. the areas I did not do are the aft sheer tops and the cockpit bucket. after I was done.......I got right out of there........I was glad to get in the fresh air {I was holding my breath half the time}. I though to get the picture of the resin, so I went back out. I guess it was 15 mins or so......got the picture and passed by the hull. I put a finger on it to see how it felt.....it was barely tacky....somewhat dry to the touch. I figure that I'll leave it out there for an hour or so, making sure that it's good 'n dry before I bring it into the house. I'm not real sure if it's OK to paint....I'd probably need to give it a few more hours.

thanks Nils.......and thank you Mr. cool for the likes I finally did it.......I went down into the cobweb infested cellar and got all my paint stuff. it's a very nice day........hot enough to do some painting maybe I may just curb what I'm doing at the moment and go on out there. update soon!

must have taken you quite a while for all the riveting.......really looks super!

I know.......I just found Piet's log today. splendid! as for Igor's work........I follow Daniel's and his work as well.......their ability to instill as much detail, as they do, is awe inspiring! the only two mediums {that I know of} that have touched the entire scale gambet, is model trains and ships....I haven't seen too many car or aircraft kits that go below 1:144. tip 'o the hat! no disrespect.

this week has proved to be a bit better.........hectic, but left me in a better frame of mind. I got some table time in yesterday, and did something I was going to put off till after the hull was done. I still have a tiny bit more to do in the adjustment of the windshield......but the frames I installed a while ago are screaming to be altered. along with this aspect, I want to add a pair of decorative side shields to box in the cabin / helm bulkhead. taking a piece of 1/32 flat stock, the dimensions of the cabin bulkhead was traced out......part of it anyway......... then from a piece of 1/8 flat stock, the shields were cut out. some trimming done on the bulkhead cover.......the bottom area of it. starting with the port side, the bottom part of the shield was cemented in place. the area that will be cut off was marked on the frame. the top part of the side shield was cemented in place.....once sanded, it come out looking alright. there was a small oopsie at the bottom.......it was filled with CA and sawdust. the same thing was done on the starboard side......it came out a little better though... .....and with the shield in place...... more cutting was done to the bulkhead cover....I ended up having to make a couple of adjustments to it. I might not use it. I will use it though to plan out the bulkhead layout.....starting with the cabin door. I will work on this more.......show you how that bulkhead cover looks in place.......the wings on the sides don't fully cover behind the shields....I dunno...............I'll do something

yes it does Rob..........one of these days......perhaps I can retire, and then........look out! when I began building wooden ship back in 2009, I never thought for a moment, that I'd be sitting here today with several projects on the go. makes me wish I was bolder in my younger day, to give it a try. thanks for popping in.......feel free to follow long

you've been a busy beaver Mark..........love the plaque. if I ever need one, I'll be putting in my order nice to see your finally getting some work done on the inside........quite a lot of work you have planned. looking forward in seeing more

She looks better than before! you did a spank'in good job of bringing her back to snuff! I was going to go with the Lilliput angle........but I see someone beat me to it she looks awesome Patrick.........you have a couple of pictures there that really show her beauty. you've done well....I'm really impressed with the work you've done on her but I think caution must be taken........your work here is starting to affect other folks......and pretty soon, we're all going to have to don optivisors just to view the site >just kidding< now .........no more heart stopping moments.....OK!?!?!?!? awesome work!

it's some good food for thought........I have the Sergal Thermopylae @1:124 scale. I'm holding off on it for the time being, gathering small things for it as I go along. so far, I've found a photo etch set for some of the deck detail.......hopefully, I will find more stuff for it. they show the bottom as painted copper. granted I have enough copper paint to choke a horse.......but it would be nice to show some copper detail, and plating it might be the way I'll go. I enjoy the ideas..........