Bob Cleek

I picked up a set of three tweezers, 8", 10", and 12", from eBay the other day, They were an impulse buy prompted by my favorite 8" pair of dressing tweezers having "gone walkabout" and, of course, everybody swears they never touched them.   The price was $8.35 with free shipping or "make an offer." I offered $6.75 to see what would happen and they accepted the offer. That comes to $3.25 a piece, which is a great deal. They came promptly and I found them to be of surprising quality, considering the price. 
 
These long-reach tweezers come in really handy for rigging work where they can get in close without hitting other delicate work. They are also very handy for retrieving little parts that are dropped and which, through some mysterious quirk of physics, are always drawn into an open hatch and into the hull below.
 
3 Pcs Tweezers Thumb Dressing Forceps Set ( 8",10", 12" ) | eBay

I picked up a set of three tweezers, 8", 10", and 12", from eBay the other day, They were an impulse buy prompted by my favorite 8" pair of dressing tweezers having "gone walkabout" and, of course, everybody swears they never touched them.   The price was $8.35 with free shipping or "make an offer." I offered $6.75 to see what would happen and they accepted the offer. That comes to $3.25 a piece, which is a great deal. They came promptly and I found them to be of surprising quality, considering the price. 
 
These long-reach tweezers come in really handy for rigging work where they can get in close without hitting other delicate work. They are also very handy for retrieving little parts that are dropped and which, through some mysterious quirk of physics, are always drawn into an open hatch and into the hull below.
 
3 Pcs Tweezers Thumb Dressing Forceps Set ( 8",10", 12" ) | eBay

This idea is quite sound…… and was actually the case on sailing vessels.   When the sail was being drawn down, it’s rigging came down with it, such as stun sails and jibs.  On my Glory of the Seas I opted to retain the haul yard and down haul and simply connect their shackles.     You can see this on the mizzenmast top gallant stay.    All my sails are dressed tightly on their yards, as would be typical in port.   
 
Rob

I think you are basically asking how to paint, because once basic painting is mastered, spray painting is just another way of putting the paint on the piece you want to paint. Total mastery of painting is a broad subject well beyond the scope of a single response on an internet forum. I'll just offer some general advice I've found helpful. No doubt others will chime in to disagree and then you'll be more confused than ever before!  
 
You have to learn to walk before you can run. Spray painting requires a command of basic painting techniques to do well. None of the common challenges and problems encountered spray painting can be overcome without a basic understanding of coatings and their applications. The most important thing to master with spray painting is control over the amount of paint you are applying to the surface. Too much paint will result in runs, sags, and "curtains," which will ruin the job, require wiping off the uncured coating with solvent and re-prepping the surface or waiting until the paint is fully cured and then resanding to perfect fairness.
 
First, I would not advise that any serious modeler use rattle can spray paint for much of anything, except perhaps a sanding basecoat. The quality of the nozzles on rattle can paints, while remarkably good considering the manufacturing tolerances required, aren't good enough for the finish perfection scale modeling requires and are primarily designed for spraying large areas, not small ones. Besides, if you need just a small amount of paint, you're stuck buying the whole rattle can which, like as not, will "die on the shelf" before you get around to using it again. They are also an expensive way to buy paint. If you are interested in spraying paint, the sooner you acquire an airbrush and learn to operate it, the better. It's not rocket science and the cost of a basic quality airbrush and small compressor will be quickly amortized in paint cost savings. If you can't afford an air brush, then learn to paint with a quality bristle brush. An experienced painter can achieve the same results with either application method. (The airbrush is more forgiving in covering large surfaces, but others may have found otherwise.)
 
It is essential to learn how to properly "condition" your paint to achieve perfect finishes. This is done with thinners, "retarders" (that slow drying and so permit brush strokes to "lay down"), and "accellerators" (which speed drying to prevent runs or "curtains.") There are also additives that will achieve the finish desired from high gloss to dead flat and anywhere in between. The consistency of the coating is a major determinative of the quality of the job. Learning to condition paint is a process of acquiring "hands on experience." If you know someone who knows how to paint, getting some one-on-one instruction would be helpful.)
 
Learn how to work with the medium you choose, be it solvent/oil-based paint or water-based acrylics. Learn to use sealers (shellac, etc.), sanding base coats, and finish or "top" coats. Learn how to mix colors from a basic pallet. (Study the "color wheel.") There are hundreds of pre-mixed colors available in tiny bottles with high prices. Use these if you wish, but realize that tubed paste artists oils or acrylics are the basic building blocks of all those pre-mixed colors and if you "roll your own" you will save a lot of money and rarely find yourself running from hobby shop to hobby shop (often far and few between) or waiting days for the arrival of an internet purchase to find more of that particular color you just ran out of which may or may not be still available.
 
Remember that painting anything is 90% preparation and 10% application. Especially in modeling, surfaces should be perfectly smooth (or textured as required) and perfectly clean before the paint is applied. And if you use brushes, learn how to clean and care for them so they don't become "dust applicators" that ruin what otherwise would have been a perfect job. Cleanliness is essential. Store masking tape in zip lock bags and never lay a roll of masking tape down on its side. The side of the tape roll will pick up every bit of dust it contacts and ruin the tape for producing the perfect razor-sharp lines sought in modeling. (Buy quality 3M "fine line" tape or Tamiya masking tape. These tapes will produce the sharp lines required for modeling. Household "painter's tape" is not suitable.) Use a "tack cloth" to remove sanding dust from a piece before painting it. Store your tack cloth in a zip lock plastic bag, too. Try to paint in a dust-free area. While often easier said than done, painting on a dusty  workbench where you've just sanded the piece in a room with dust hanging in the air is not advisable. 
 
Unless you are completely familiar with the coating material you are using, (meaning you used it recently,) always, always, always test your materials and surfaces before committing to painting the workpiece. Paint can thicken or even lose its ability to "dry" while sitting on your shelf. (The modern synthetic coatings can be quite finicky in this respect.) Colors will often appear different when "dry" than when applied. Sometimes coatings are incompatible and disasters will result when they come in contact with each other. By making a test strip using the same surface, including undercoats, to be painted and the paint you want to apply to it, you can determine what the results will be. Failure to do so can result in a hull that is coated with a dirty, fingerprinted, sticky mess that refuses to dry and must be laboriously stripped off down to bare wood before another attempt can be made. 
 
 

Many excellent examples have been shown, illustrating the many ways sails may be handled and operational states ships may be in.
 
There is one other consideration - much of the running rigging is not aloft if the sail is not aloft (flying or furled). But the running rigging makes up a majority of the lines in the rigging. So if you don't put sails on the model the rigging can look pretty sparse.
 
An option is to place the running rigging aloft, but bring together the ends of the lines that normally attach to the sails. For example, the jib halliard (hoists the sail) can be brought down and hooked to the jib downhaul (pulls the sail down) so the lines are rigged and waiting for the sail to be brought up and attached. So the sail is not in the way of viewing your handiwork but most of the rigging is in place. A lot of the running rigging can be modeled this way.
 
It just depends on what you want to see. If sails and rigging are not your cup of tea you may want to just model the hull with minimal or no masts and rigging.

I was lucky some weeks ago when co-workers of my Admiral were moving to Nevada this leaving a large portable A/C unit behind for a fraction of original cost.
Now I cool my workshop area during the short hot season. I do have windows facing south and west.

To build a great model, I believe that the builder needs to have an artistic vision of what the the finished model is going to look like before he/she starts.  These can run the gamut from formal presentations with brass pedestals and a polished wood plinth to dioramas with the Ship in a natural setting.
 
IMHO, billowing sails do not enhance the appearance of a ship model in a formal presentation.  Furled sails are a better choice and “bare poles” are the best.  On the other hand, there are some very attractive models with full sails shown in a diorama setting.
 
Roger
 
 

The base plates are different sizes, but appear somewhat the same in their advertising pictures. One comes with four arms and has a 6"x 9" baseplate. The one with five arms has an 8" X 11" baseplate.  The different length arms can be purchased separately, as well, but there doesn't seem to be any savings there, since they are more expensive  when bought separately than together with a baseplate. https://www.quadhands.com/collections/all/products/quadhands-deluxe-workbench

Brute force nailing has worked for a long time in full size construction.  This is usually done with softwood that has enough air space to mostly accommodate the increase in volume.  This strictly friction hold is probably not wise with hardwood at full size and a totally bad idea at miniature scale.
I suggest first drilling a hole with a diameter just slightly less than the diameter of the brass nail.  A test will determine just how much less. 
If the receptor is plywood, it is likely end grain is involved.  End grain makes for a very poor bond. 
With plywood molds, the outer edge may act more reliably if it is seriously primed with PVA ( with no excess ) a few days before anything else is done to it.
If the tool applying force requires serious force from you, the receptor hole is too small.
If the nail wants to bend, the receptor hole is too small.
If an electrical hammer tool is anything but overkill, the receptor hole is too small.
The cylinder type push tool is a poor choice. 
The MM plyer   push pin tool is a better choice. 
A good quality curved Kelly hemostat is a better choice. 
If the nail is to remain,  dipping the nail in 90% PVA - for hardwood or 100% PVA - for plywood may work in your favor.

Nails are not needed if the planks are properly pre-shaped.  Consider studying the planking tutorial by David Antscherl in the Articles data base here at MSW and watch the four videos that Chuck Passaro made on proper planking techniques.
Allan

The base plates are different sizes, but appear somewhat the same in their advertising pictures. One comes with four arms and has a 6"x 9" baseplate. The one with five arms has an 8" X 11" baseplate.  The different length arms can be purchased separately, as well, but there doesn't seem to be any savings there, since they are more expensive  when bought separately than together with a baseplate. https://www.quadhands.com/collections/all/products/quadhands-deluxe-workbench

Many good advices by Oldsalt, Glomar. Airbrushing is about a certain discipline. It's not overly hard to learn, but you have to train a lot, to get decent results. Try everything on paper or an old model first. Keep the airbrush clean at all times and care for your needle. A bent needle will result in bad spraying. 
One thing can't be emphasized enough, the mixing ratio. Almost all colors have to be thinned. The rule of thumb calls for a milk like mix to spray. Again, this has to be tested. To thick mixes will clog in the airbrush to thin mixes run under masking and don't cover. 
Try to get adjusted to the medium you spray, acrylics, enamels or whatever. Use the appropriate thinner for the color.
When you have found the possibly correct mix of color and thinner, experiment with the air pressure, until you have the right balance.
When you spray, try to avoid start spraying onto the model surface, start before and stop, when moved over the area completely.
If there is dotting, you may have color clogged on the needle. This can be easy cleaned off, but can be a sign of a to thick mix or to high air pressure, specially with high pigmented colors.
Airbrushing is 80% preparations, masking and cleaning and at max 20% of spraying. Be patient and analyze what you achieve.
 
One word about masking, there are several possibilities, the one I like most is yellow Kabuki tape, which you can purchase from different producers. It's thin, adheres well and can be cut very precise. Sometimes you will need liquid masks or flexible masks for achieving contours.

Do yourself a favor and wear a respirator mask and rubber gloves, when airbrushing. Almost all mediums you spray are poisonous or dangerous.
 
If you have more specific questions, I will answer you for sure and don't forget, airbrushing is fun and a great technique to have mastered.
 
Cheers Rob

In the US, it seems the jewelers call it "electroforming' (as opposed to the similar "electroplating.") There are many tutorials about the process, most for jewelers, on YouTube. 
 
 

I think you are basically asking how to paint, because once basic painting is mastered, spray painting is just another way of putting the paint on the piece you want to paint. Total mastery of painting is a broad subject well beyond the scope of a single response on an internet forum. I'll just offer some general advice I've found helpful. No doubt others will chime in to disagree and then you'll be more confused than ever before!  
 
You have to learn to walk before you can run. Spray painting requires a command of basic painting techniques to do well. None of the common challenges and problems encountered spray painting can be overcome without a basic understanding of coatings and their applications. The most important thing to master with spray painting is control over the amount of paint you are applying to the surface. Too much paint will result in runs, sags, and "curtains," which will ruin the job, require wiping off the uncured coating with solvent and re-prepping the surface or waiting until the paint is fully cured and then resanding to perfect fairness.
 
First, I would not advise that any serious modeler use rattle can spray paint for much of anything, except perhaps a sanding basecoat. The quality of the nozzles on rattle can paints, while remarkably good considering the manufacturing tolerances required, aren't good enough for the finish perfection scale modeling requires and are primarily designed for spraying large areas, not small ones. Besides, if you need just a small amount of paint, you're stuck buying the whole rattle can which, like as not, will "die on the shelf" before you get around to using it again. They are also an expensive way to buy paint. If you are interested in spraying paint, the sooner you acquire an airbrush and learn to operate it, the better. It's not rocket science and the cost of a basic quality airbrush and small compressor will be quickly amortized in paint cost savings. If you can't afford an air brush, then learn to paint with a quality bristle brush. An experienced painter can achieve the same results with either application method. (The airbrush is more forgiving in covering large surfaces, but others may have found otherwise.)
 
It is essential to learn how to properly "condition" your paint to achieve perfect finishes. This is done with thinners, "retarders" (that slow drying and so permit brush strokes to "lay down"), and "accellerators" (which speed drying to prevent runs or "curtains.") There are also additives that will achieve the finish desired from high gloss to dead flat and anywhere in between. The consistency of the coating is a major determinative of the quality of the job. Learning to condition paint is a process of acquiring "hands on experience." If you know someone who knows how to paint, getting some one-on-one instruction would be helpful.)
 
Learn how to work with the medium you choose, be it solvent/oil-based paint or water-based acrylics. Learn to use sealers (shellac, etc.), sanding base coats, and finish or "top" coats. Learn how to mix colors from a basic pallet. (Study the "color wheel.") There are hundreds of pre-mixed colors available in tiny bottles with high prices. Use these if you wish, but realize that tubed paste artists oils or acrylics are the basic building blocks of all those pre-mixed colors and if you "roll your own" you will save a lot of money and rarely find yourself running from hobby shop to hobby shop (often far and few between) or waiting days for the arrival of an internet purchase to find more of that particular color you just ran out of which may or may not be still available.
 
Remember that painting anything is 90% preparation and 10% application. Especially in modeling, surfaces should be perfectly smooth (or textured as required) and perfectly clean before the paint is applied. And if you use brushes, learn how to clean and care for them so they don't become "dust applicators" that ruin what otherwise would have been a perfect job. Cleanliness is essential. Store masking tape in zip lock bags and never lay a roll of masking tape down on its side. The side of the tape roll will pick up every bit of dust it contacts and ruin the tape for producing the perfect razor-sharp lines sought in modeling. (Buy quality 3M "fine line" tape or Tamiya masking tape. These tapes will produce the sharp lines required for modeling. Household "painter's tape" is not suitable.) Use a "tack cloth" to remove sanding dust from a piece before painting it. Store your tack cloth in a zip lock plastic bag, too. Try to paint in a dust-free area. While often easier said than done, painting on a dusty  workbench where you've just sanded the piece in a room with dust hanging in the air is not advisable. 
 
Unless you are completely familiar with the coating material you are using, (meaning you used it recently,) always, always, always test your materials and surfaces before committing to painting the workpiece. Paint can thicken or even lose its ability to "dry" while sitting on your shelf. (The modern synthetic coatings can be quite finicky in this respect.) Colors will often appear different when "dry" than when applied. Sometimes coatings are incompatible and disasters will result when they come in contact with each other. By making a test strip using the same surface, including undercoats, to be painted and the paint you want to apply to it, you can determine what the results will be. Failure to do so can result in a hull that is coated with a dirty, fingerprinted, sticky mess that refuses to dry and must be laboriously stripped off down to bare wood before another attempt can be made. 
 
 

I think you are basically asking how to paint, because once basic painting is mastered, spray painting is just another way of putting the paint on the piece you want to paint. Total mastery of painting is a broad subject well beyond the scope of a single response on an internet forum. I'll just offer some general advice I've found helpful. No doubt others will chime in to disagree and then you'll be more confused than ever before!  
 
You have to learn to walk before you can run. Spray painting requires a command of basic painting techniques to do well. None of the common challenges and problems encountered spray painting can be overcome without a basic understanding of coatings and their applications. The most important thing to master with spray painting is control over the amount of paint you are applying to the surface. Too much paint will result in runs, sags, and "curtains," which will ruin the job, require wiping off the uncured coating with solvent and re-prepping the surface or waiting until the paint is fully cured and then resanding to perfect fairness.
 
First, I would not advise that any serious modeler use rattle can spray paint for much of anything, except perhaps a sanding basecoat. The quality of the nozzles on rattle can paints, while remarkably good considering the manufacturing tolerances required, aren't good enough for the finish perfection scale modeling requires and are primarily designed for spraying large areas, not small ones. Besides, if you need just a small amount of paint, you're stuck buying the whole rattle can which, like as not, will "die on the shelf" before you get around to using it again. They are also an expensive way to buy paint. If you are interested in spraying paint, the sooner you acquire an airbrush and learn to operate it, the better. It's not rocket science and the cost of a basic quality airbrush and small compressor will be quickly amortized in paint cost savings. If you can't afford an air brush, then learn to paint with a quality bristle brush. An experienced painter can achieve the same results with either application method. (The airbrush is more forgiving in covering large surfaces, but others may have found otherwise.)
 
It is essential to learn how to properly "condition" your paint to achieve perfect finishes. This is done with thinners, "retarders" (that slow drying and so permit brush strokes to "lay down"), and "accellerators" (which speed drying to prevent runs or "curtains.") There are also additives that will achieve the finish desired from high gloss to dead flat and anywhere in between. The consistency of the coating is a major determinative of the quality of the job. Learning to condition paint is a process of acquiring "hands on experience." If you know someone who knows how to paint, getting some one-on-one instruction would be helpful.)
 
Learn how to work with the medium you choose, be it solvent/oil-based paint or water-based acrylics. Learn to use sealers (shellac, etc.), sanding base coats, and finish or "top" coats. Learn how to mix colors from a basic pallet. (Study the "color wheel.") There are hundreds of pre-mixed colors available in tiny bottles with high prices. Use these if you wish, but realize that tubed paste artists oils or acrylics are the basic building blocks of all those pre-mixed colors and if you "roll your own" you will save a lot of money and rarely find yourself running from hobby shop to hobby shop (often far and few between) or waiting days for the arrival of an internet purchase to find more of that particular color you just ran out of which may or may not be still available.
 
Remember that painting anything is 90% preparation and 10% application. Especially in modeling, surfaces should be perfectly smooth (or textured as required) and perfectly clean before the paint is applied. And if you use brushes, learn how to clean and care for them so they don't become "dust applicators" that ruin what otherwise would have been a perfect job. Cleanliness is essential. Store masking tape in zip lock bags and never lay a roll of masking tape down on its side. The side of the tape roll will pick up every bit of dust it contacts and ruin the tape for producing the perfect razor-sharp lines sought in modeling. (Buy quality 3M "fine line" tape or Tamiya masking tape. These tapes will produce the sharp lines required for modeling. Household "painter's tape" is not suitable.) Use a "tack cloth" to remove sanding dust from a piece before painting it. Store your tack cloth in a zip lock plastic bag, too. Try to paint in a dust-free area. While often easier said than done, painting on a dusty  workbench where you've just sanded the piece in a room with dust hanging in the air is not advisable. 
 
Unless you are completely familiar with the coating material you are using, (meaning you used it recently,) always, always, always test your materials and surfaces before committing to painting the workpiece. Paint can thicken or even lose its ability to "dry" while sitting on your shelf. (The modern synthetic coatings can be quite finicky in this respect.) Colors will often appear different when "dry" than when applied. Sometimes coatings are incompatible and disasters will result when they come in contact with each other. By making a test strip using the same surface, including undercoats, to be painted and the paint you want to apply to it, you can determine what the results will be. Failure to do so can result in a hull that is coated with a dirty, fingerprinted, sticky mess that refuses to dry and must be laboriously stripped off down to bare wood before another attempt can be made. 
 
 

I think you are basically asking how to paint, because once basic painting is mastered, spray painting is just another way of putting the paint on the piece you want to paint. Total mastery of painting is a broad subject well beyond the scope of a single response on an internet forum. I'll just offer some general advice I've found helpful. No doubt others will chime in to disagree and then you'll be more confused than ever before!  
 
You have to learn to walk before you can run. Spray painting requires a command of basic painting techniques to do well. None of the common challenges and problems encountered spray painting can be overcome without a basic understanding of coatings and their applications. The most important thing to master with spray painting is control over the amount of paint you are applying to the surface. Too much paint will result in runs, sags, and "curtains," which will ruin the job, require wiping off the uncured coating with solvent and re-prepping the surface or waiting until the paint is fully cured and then resanding to perfect fairness.
 
First, I would not advise that any serious modeler use rattle can spray paint for much of anything, except perhaps a sanding basecoat. The quality of the nozzles on rattle can paints, while remarkably good considering the manufacturing tolerances required, aren't good enough for the finish perfection scale modeling requires and are primarily designed for spraying large areas, not small ones. Besides, if you need just a small amount of paint, you're stuck buying the whole rattle can which, like as not, will "die on the shelf" before you get around to using it again. They are also an expensive way to buy paint. If you are interested in spraying paint, the sooner you acquire an airbrush and learn to operate it, the better. It's not rocket science and the cost of a basic quality airbrush and small compressor will be quickly amortized in paint cost savings. If you can't afford an air brush, then learn to paint with a quality bristle brush. An experienced painter can achieve the same results with either application method. (The airbrush is more forgiving in covering large surfaces, but others may have found otherwise.)
 
It is essential to learn how to properly "condition" your paint to achieve perfect finishes. This is done with thinners, "retarders" (that slow drying and so permit brush strokes to "lay down"), and "accellerators" (which speed drying to prevent runs or "curtains.") There are also additives that will achieve the finish desired from high gloss to dead flat and anywhere in between. The consistency of the coating is a major determinative of the quality of the job. Learning to condition paint is a process of acquiring "hands on experience." If you know someone who knows how to paint, getting some one-on-one instruction would be helpful.)
 
Learn how to work with the medium you choose, be it solvent/oil-based paint or water-based acrylics. Learn to use sealers (shellac, etc.), sanding base coats, and finish or "top" coats. Learn how to mix colors from a basic pallet. (Study the "color wheel.") There are hundreds of pre-mixed colors available in tiny bottles with high prices. Use these if you wish, but realize that tubed paste artists oils or acrylics are the basic building blocks of all those pre-mixed colors and if you "roll your own" you will save a lot of money and rarely find yourself running from hobby shop to hobby shop (often far and few between) or waiting days for the arrival of an internet purchase to find more of that particular color you just ran out of which may or may not be still available.
 
Remember that painting anything is 90% preparation and 10% application. Especially in modeling, surfaces should be perfectly smooth (or textured as required) and perfectly clean before the paint is applied. And if you use brushes, learn how to clean and care for them so they don't become "dust applicators" that ruin what otherwise would have been a perfect job. Cleanliness is essential. Store masking tape in zip lock bags and never lay a roll of masking tape down on its side. The side of the tape roll will pick up every bit of dust it contacts and ruin the tape for producing the perfect razor-sharp lines sought in modeling. (Buy quality 3M "fine line" tape or Tamiya masking tape. These tapes will produce the sharp lines required for modeling. Household "painter's tape" is not suitable.) Use a "tack cloth" to remove sanding dust from a piece before painting it. Store your tack cloth in a zip lock plastic bag, too. Try to paint in a dust-free area. While often easier said than done, painting on a dusty  workbench where you've just sanded the piece in a room with dust hanging in the air is not advisable. 
 
Unless you are completely familiar with the coating material you are using, (meaning you used it recently,) always, always, always test your materials and surfaces before committing to painting the workpiece. Paint can thicken or even lose its ability to "dry" while sitting on your shelf. (The modern synthetic coatings can be quite finicky in this respect.) Colors will often appear different when "dry" than when applied. Sometimes coatings are incompatible and disasters will result when they come in contact with each other. By making a test strip using the same surface, including undercoats, to be painted and the paint you want to apply to it, you can determine what the results will be. Failure to do so can result in a hull that is coated with a dirty, fingerprinted, sticky mess that refuses to dry and must be laboriously stripped off down to bare wood before another attempt can be made. 
 
 

I think you are basically asking how to paint, because once basic painting is mastered, spray painting is just another way of putting the paint on the piece you want to paint. Total mastery of painting is a broad subject well beyond the scope of a single response on an internet forum. I'll just offer some general advice I've found helpful. No doubt others will chime in to disagree and then you'll be more confused than ever before!  
 
You have to learn to walk before you can run. Spray painting requires a command of basic painting techniques to do well. None of the common challenges and problems encountered spray painting can be overcome without a basic understanding of coatings and their applications. The most important thing to master with spray painting is control over the amount of paint you are applying to the surface. Too much paint will result in runs, sags, and "curtains," which will ruin the job, require wiping off the uncured coating with solvent and re-prepping the surface or waiting until the paint is fully cured and then resanding to perfect fairness.
 
First, I would not advise that any serious modeler use rattle can spray paint for much of anything, except perhaps a sanding basecoat. The quality of the nozzles on rattle can paints, while remarkably good considering the manufacturing tolerances required, aren't good enough for the finish perfection scale modeling requires and are primarily designed for spraying large areas, not small ones. Besides, if you need just a small amount of paint, you're stuck buying the whole rattle can which, like as not, will "die on the shelf" before you get around to using it again. They are also an expensive way to buy paint. If you are interested in spraying paint, the sooner you acquire an airbrush and learn to operate it, the better. It's not rocket science and the cost of a basic quality airbrush and small compressor will be quickly amortized in paint cost savings. If you can't afford an air brush, then learn to paint with a quality bristle brush. An experienced painter can achieve the same results with either application method. (The airbrush is more forgiving in covering large surfaces, but others may have found otherwise.)
 
It is essential to learn how to properly "condition" your paint to achieve perfect finishes. This is done with thinners, "retarders" (that slow drying and so permit brush strokes to "lay down"), and "accellerators" (which speed drying to prevent runs or "curtains.") There are also additives that will achieve the finish desired from high gloss to dead flat and anywhere in between. The consistency of the coating is a major determinative of the quality of the job. Learning to condition paint is a process of acquiring "hands on experience." If you know someone who knows how to paint, getting some one-on-one instruction would be helpful.)
 
Learn how to work with the medium you choose, be it solvent/oil-based paint or water-based acrylics. Learn to use sealers (shellac, etc.), sanding base coats, and finish or "top" coats. Learn how to mix colors from a basic pallet. (Study the "color wheel.") There are hundreds of pre-mixed colors available in tiny bottles with high prices. Use these if you wish, but realize that tubed paste artists oils or acrylics are the basic building blocks of all those pre-mixed colors and if you "roll your own" you will save a lot of money and rarely find yourself running from hobby shop to hobby shop (often far and few between) or waiting days for the arrival of an internet purchase to find more of that particular color you just ran out of which may or may not be still available.
 
Remember that painting anything is 90% preparation and 10% application. Especially in modeling, surfaces should be perfectly smooth (or textured as required) and perfectly clean before the paint is applied. And if you use brushes, learn how to clean and care for them so they don't become "dust applicators" that ruin what otherwise would have been a perfect job. Cleanliness is essential. Store masking tape in zip lock bags and never lay a roll of masking tape down on its side. The side of the tape roll will pick up every bit of dust it contacts and ruin the tape for producing the perfect razor-sharp lines sought in modeling. (Buy quality 3M "fine line" tape or Tamiya masking tape. These tapes will produce the sharp lines required for modeling. Household "painter's tape" is not suitable.) Use a "tack cloth" to remove sanding dust from a piece before painting it. Store your tack cloth in a zip lock plastic bag, too. Try to paint in a dust-free area. While often easier said than done, painting on a dusty  workbench where you've just sanded the piece in a room with dust hanging in the air is not advisable. 
 
Unless you are completely familiar with the coating material you are using, (meaning you used it recently,) always, always, always test your materials and surfaces before committing to painting the workpiece. Paint can thicken or even lose its ability to "dry" while sitting on your shelf. (The modern synthetic coatings can be quite finicky in this respect.) Colors will often appear different when "dry" than when applied. Sometimes coatings are incompatible and disasters will result when they come in contact with each other. By making a test strip using the same surface, including undercoats, to be painted and the paint you want to apply to it, you can determine what the results will be. Failure to do so can result in a hull that is coated with a dirty, fingerprinted, sticky mess that refuses to dry and must be laboriously stripped off down to bare wood before another attempt can be made. 
 
 

Make sure the surfaces are clean and dust free, use a tack cloth to clean. Just press the edge of the tape firmly against the surface of the hull no need to put anything under the tape edge. Use a good quality masking take. and don't leave it on the hull too long. Test your spray pattern and air pressure on a piece of scrap. It will also allow you to determine how far away from the surface you need to be. Start spraying before the area you want to paint, and let up on the paint after you have cleared the end of the area to be painted. Less paint per pass is better than too much. It will take a few tries before you get everything dialed in and can actually start laying paint on the hull. I was an aircraft finishing painter for Fairchild-Republic and that is what I learned . 

Just what Thunder said. Today's bottled modeling paints, particularly the acrylic "water based" types, are the result of complex chemistry and there is a lot that can go wrong with them, especially when they are combined with other types and brands. Acrylic water based paint often does not adhere well, if at all, over oil based paints, while oil based paints will adhere to acrylics. Under coats are sometimes incompatible with finish coats. While dried pigment generally appears darker than wet pigment, colors may, upon drying, appear different in unanticipated ways. If paint ages in the bottle, it sometimes won't perform as expected. Using the wrong thinner or conditioner, which works for one brand and not another can cause problems, too.  A common malfunction occurs when paint doesn't dry, or in the case of acrylics, "cure" fully and remains tacky to the touch. The only cure for this problem is to remove the paint completely and start over. That's a terrible, nasty, messy job. You don't want to have to go there ever. 
 
So, the moral of the story, at least until you are completely certain and comfortable with a particular coating, is to test it first on a piece of scrap material or, as the professional painters call them, a "chip." That "paint chip" gives you a preview of how that paint will perform. If it doesn't perform as you require on the chip, you've lost nothing. On the model, it's another matter entirely. These chips are also worth saving, with any helpful information written on the back with a Sharpie pen, such as the brand and color and they type of thinner and/or conditioner used. Other colors can be applied over a section of a chip as well, and this will provide information on how well that color "covers" and what it will look like when dried on top of the earlier coat. This practice comes in very handy if and when you graduate to painting with an airbrush, which is more demanding of properly conditioned paint than brushes are.
 
I'll pass on writing an entire dissertation here on conditioning paint, but suffice it to say that it is a rare bottle of paint that contains paint ready for use "right out of the bottle" or can. Environmental factors such as temperature and humidity affect the behavior of paint to greater or lesser degrees depending upon the paint, oil or water based. (You will probably end up preferring one or the other. I prefer oil based paints and often use fine arts artists' oil paints sold in "toothpaste" tubes from art supply stores, which I condition to my own taste. Your mileage may vary. "Dance with the gal ya brought.") These conditioners create the characteristics of the paint. Thinners simply are solvents (or water or alcohol with water based acrylics) that make the paint thinner. Thinners can also contribute to the "flattening" of glossy paint, a desired effect for models, which should not be finished glossy because gloss is out of scale. "Flatteners" will also flatten glossy paint. The more you add, the flatter the paint gets. Other conditioners will improve the "flow" of the paint, basically slowing its drying time, so a brush won't "drag" and a "wet edge" can be maintained more easily. Paint that "flows" well will also "lay down" easily and brush strokes will disappear as the paint "levels." Too much, on the other hand, can cause paint to sag and create drips and "curtains." Driers, often sold as "Japan Drier" in the case of oil paints, contain heavy metals which speed the drying of the paint, the opposite of conditioners that improve flow. On hot days with low humidity, you will add conditioners to slow the rate of drying, while on cold days with high humidity, you'll add conditioners to speed up drying. These skills become even more important when airbrushing and spray painting because the atomized sprayed paint has to hit the piece before the solvents kick off, and then lay down before drying to achieve a perfectly smooth finish, yet not be so thin or retarded (slowed down) that they run or "curtain" after being sprayed. (And if you are of a mind to spray paint, forget the rattle cans and go for an airbrush. It will pay for itself over the rattle cans, which always seem to crap out while they're half full and never really give the same control or results.)
 
You need to also remember that wood has to be sealed before painting so the paint won't soak into the wood and produce an uneven coating. I use shellac for this because it is easy to work with, dries fast, is economical, soaks into the bare wood well, is compatible with all other coatings when dry, and sands very nicely to a very fine smooth finish. 
 
This may all sound a bit overwhelming at first, but it's not rocket science. If you're lucky, you'll find somebody who can show you how it's done and you'll be on your way. It's a lot easier to learn by watching somebody do it than it is to learn it out of a book. Experiment a little and get the hang of it, but, most importantly, practice and learn on scrap pieces before starting to slap paint on a model you've spent a lot of time on. That will save you a lot of grief. 
 
This fellow seems to have a pretty good video on the subject.painting miniatures. 
 
 

I would expect that it wouldn't be worth the effort. I think the spray paint filter is going to be much finer than would a sawdust filter and the sawdust would clog it up pretty quickly, meaning you'd be stopping all the time to clean the filter. The best sawdust collection device is a good vacuum attached to a sander that is intended to have a sanding vacuum attached, but in a small apartment that isn't always effective enough because the exhaust air has to be clean enough that it isn't just sucking up sawdust and just spraying fine sawdust all over everything.. Even with something like a shop vacuum, you'll still get a fair amount of airborne sanding dust in your work area. I have found the best approach is to sand outside whenever possible. A large fan directed over the working area blows must of the sawdust away. Working indoors on small projects, it's often quite effective to set up a fan that simply blows across the work area towards an open window. 
 
In terms of reducing the amount of sawdust, the less one can use powered saws and sanding machines, the less sawdust will end up in the shop or work area. If one uses a sharp knife as much as possible for cutting, a good scraper for fairing, and chisels for shaping, the resultant waste is shavings and chips, which, being larger, don't hang in the air, aren't inhaled, and are easy to clean up with a bench brush and pan. In the days before electric motorized sanders, grinders, and saws, there was a lot less dust in woodworking shops. Learning to sharpen good edge tools will eliminate a lot of sawdust and save on the purchase of a lot of sandpaper, too.
 
 

That's true. I was hoping somebody wasn't using a Stradivarius as a paddle!
If anybody in the world would know the back story on that paddle, it would be Ab Hoving.

The guy with the violin seems oddly out of place. There had to be a story there.  

I would expect that it wouldn't be worth the effort. I think the spray paint filter is going to be much finer than would a sawdust filter and the sawdust would clog it up pretty quickly, meaning you'd be stopping all the time to clean the filter. The best sawdust collection device is a good vacuum attached to a sander that is intended to have a sanding vacuum attached, but in a small apartment that isn't always effective enough because the exhaust air has to be clean enough that it isn't just sucking up sawdust and just spraying fine sawdust all over everything.. Even with something like a shop vacuum, you'll still get a fair amount of airborne sanding dust in your work area. I have found the best approach is to sand outside whenever possible. A large fan directed over the working area blows must of the sawdust away. Working indoors on small projects, it's often quite effective to set up a fan that simply blows across the work area towards an open window. 
 
In terms of reducing the amount of sawdust, the less one can use powered saws and sanding machines, the less sawdust will end up in the shop or work area. If one uses a sharp knife as much as possible for cutting, a good scraper for fairing, and chisels for shaping, the resultant waste is shavings and chips, which, being larger, don't hang in the air, aren't inhaled, and are easy to clean up with a bench brush and pan. In the days before electric motorized sanders, grinders, and saws, there was a lot less dust in woodworking shops. Learning to sharpen good edge tools will eliminate a lot of sawdust and save on the purchase of a lot of sandpaper, too.
 
 

I have a similar situation. No workshop, and do my work in a corner under the stairs. I try to avoid sanding and sawing as much as possible. Instead I use cutting tools, planes etc whenever possible. I also try to use scrapers to get smooth surfaces.

I would expect that it wouldn't be worth the effort. I think the spray paint filter is going to be much finer than would a sawdust filter and the sawdust would clog it up pretty quickly, meaning you'd be stopping all the time to clean the filter. The best sawdust collection device is a good vacuum attached to a sander that is intended to have a sanding vacuum attached, but in a small apartment that isn't always effective enough because the exhaust air has to be clean enough that it isn't just sucking up sawdust and just spraying fine sawdust all over everything.. Even with something like a shop vacuum, you'll still get a fair amount of airborne sanding dust in your work area. I have found the best approach is to sand outside whenever possible. A large fan directed over the working area blows must of the sawdust away. Working indoors on small projects, it's often quite effective to set up a fan that simply blows across the work area towards an open window. 
 
In terms of reducing the amount of sawdust, the less one can use powered saws and sanding machines, the less sawdust will end up in the shop or work area. If one uses a sharp knife as much as possible for cutting, a good scraper for fairing, and chisels for shaping, the resultant waste is shavings and chips, which, being larger, don't hang in the air, aren't inhaled, and are easy to clean up with a bench brush and pan. In the days before electric motorized sanders, grinders, and saws, there was a lot less dust in woodworking shops. Learning to sharpen good edge tools will eliminate a lot of sawdust and save on the purchase of a lot of sandpaper, too.