JSDF Light Armor Vehicle by Jack12477 - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1:35 Scale

[Canute]

The surgeries help a ton. Too bad you just can't go to the pharmacy and get some $20 specs and be done with it. But life will look sharper, clearer and more vivid.

[Old Collingwood]

Washes  are our friend  Jack  - they  bring out the subtle details  hidden in the figures  - I wouldn't  be without them now.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

I'm hoping for the best for you, Jack.   

[Jack12477]

I decided to put a coat of paint on the body of the vehicle. First I used Tamiya masking tape to attach all the doors, taping them from the inside, also taped over the opening for future windows since the interior was already paint. This is my first attempt at airbrushing Vallejo  Model Color paints and I can see where I need to do a lot of experimenting with mixture ratios. At first I tried using my Paasch VL airbrush with color cup, didn’twant to work very well.  So I dropped back to my old reliable Badger 200 from my days of using Floquil. 🙃 Worked pretty good with same color cup.

 

Here's the results.

 

 

The color guide calls for Tamiya red brown as the camo color, but I'm not sure I like that look. 

[Old Collingwood]

Looking really nice Jack  - nice  tidy paint finish.

 

OC.

[Jack12477]

This is the camo scheme called out in the instructions

 

 

[Egilman]

Given the RL pics that grey/green is about perfect brother...

[Canute]

Looked at a camo site and they cite FS30051 as the brown. That is AV 71.249 in the Vallejo line, a Model Air color.

[Jack12477]

Update : it now has wheels and a driver. Instructions say to attach his right arm after the shell is attached, so  I guess one door must remain off until then

 

 

Continuing on with the air brushing of the camo pattern I repeatedly hit snags. First the color cup kept falling off spilling paint everywhere. Then the airbrush kept clogging after a few minutes of spraying.  Here's the 1st attempt results

 

⁹

 

For the main coat (green) I used a ratio of 1 part paint to 1 part thinner, adding for every 10 drops of paint 1 drop of flow improver. No clogging problems. For the tan camo coat I repeated the ratio and clogged the airbrush.  This is my setup Badger 200 and 200NH Brush, small  compressor at 40 psi (20 psi wouldn’t move any paint), Badger color cup. I tried the Model Air with no better results. 😌 BTW this is the same setup I used when I was using Floquil brand.  And YES I did strip down and clean all parts of the airbrush BEFORE I started.

 

So what am I missing? Craig @CDW , EG @Egilman ? Anybody using Vallejo paints in an airbrush your advice is needed ! What's the magic formula for Vallejo acrylics? Thanks !

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by Jack12477

[CDW]

Jack

The Vallejo Model Color paints are much thicker than the Vallejo Model Air paints. The model Air paints are designed to go straight from the bottle into the airbrush without any thinner at all, but I usually end up adding a few drops of thinner anyway. The Model Color paints are well suited for brush painting but if you are going to shoot them through the airbrush you will need to experiment with more thinner until you get the right viscosity. I have not used the Model Color range through my airbrush so I cannot say with any confidence exactly how much may be required, but if you started with a 50-50 mix of thinner to paint, just bump it up by measured increments (drops) until you get the results you want. Practice on scrap plastic or even paper. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up with 60% thinner in the Model Color paints. Your mixed paint should move through the airbrush just fine with 20 psi if you have the right ratio of thinner to paint.

[Jack12477]

Thanks Craig. I guess I need to lay in a larger supply/assortment of Model Air to the Model Color stash.  

 

Do you add any of their Flow Improver to the mix ? If so how much? Their bottle label says 1-2 drop for every 10 drops of paint !?!?!?

[CDW]

Just now, Jack12477 said:

Thanks Craig. I guess I need to lay in a larger supply/assortment of Model Air to the Model Color stash.  

 

Do you add any of their Flow Improver to the mix ? If so how much? Their bottle label says 1-2 drop for every 10 drops of paint !?!?!?

A few drops of flow improver in your paint cup will help prevent "tip drying". This is where paint dries on the tip of the airbrush needle and eventually stops the flow of paint. 

Acrylic paints like Vallejo are much friendlier for low odor, but sometimes give me fits through my airbrush. It seems like it's always a battle to get the right mixture of thinner to paint and in general are more difficult to use than the smelly lacquer and enamel paints. That's why you will almost always see me using lacquer, but I know it's not a good option for everyone. Maybe one day I will master acrylic paints but I have not done so yet.

[Old Collingwood]

Jack,    I have  a  very  similar  set up  and also  use the Vallejo  range   both  Model Colour and Air  paints,   what might help  is  to pre mix the model colour with  thinner / flow improver  and  keep  some in a  seperate bottle,  instead of  mixing the thinner/airflow improver  in the  airbrush pot,  this  might  help  to keep a consistant thin  flow  through the needle.

 

That way you could  shake the bottle  before pouring some into the airbrush pot.

 

OC.

Edited October 8, 2022 by Old Collingwood

[Jack12477]

Which brand of lacquer/enamel model paints do you recommend ? 

[CDW]

Just now, Jack12477 said:

Which brand of lacquer/enamel model paints do you recommend ? 

Either Mr Color or Tamiya for lacquer, and Humbrol for enamel. Scalehobbyist dot com carries the full line of Mr Color, Tamiya lacquers, and Humbrol enamels. Great service, low prices, and they don't add sales tax. 

[Jack12477]

42 minutes ago, CDW said:

Scalehobbyist dot com

My favorite go-to supplier. 😊  Thanks 

[Jack12477]

I had to put a respirator mask on even with the Vallejo, fumes from thinner started getting to me.

[Jack12477]

Modeling is on hold till my eyes readjust to cataract surgery.  Right now even with cheaters I can’t see what I'm doing.

[Canute]

We can wait with you, brother. The doc will give you a preliminary reading of your close up vision to figure out what power of glasses you'll need for closeups work. It should all shake out in the next few days.

[mtaylor]

What Ken said Jack.  And for those cheap magnifiers like the one you bought, you get them in various magnifications for different tasks.

[Jack12477]

While waiting for my eyes to heal and settle down, I ordered a resupply of Vallejo paints, thinners etc, and this new kit to add to the stash.

 

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Jack12477

[Jack12477]

I guess when they did my cataract surgery they sucked a few extra brain cells along with the cataract debris. 😉🤔 I was thinking I could avoid taping all the windows by  not installing them till later. But I realized they are installed in their own frames which are then installed in the door frames. So matching the camo patterns across the frames would be a bear. So after coating the clear plastic windows, headlamps, in two coats of Pledge, I glued them into their frames using Gator's Grip Acrylic Hobby Glue, then glued the frames into the doors and windshield, glued the doors, except driver's door, into place (driver's door got taped in place from inside because the drivers right arm has to be glue to his body after the top is glue to chassis.) Then came the tedious task of taping all the windows, headlights, tail lights et al. 

 

Results look like this

 

I think I will re-spray the green coat since it got a little mucked up in the process, then spray the camo coats. And this time I will try the Vallejo Model Air paints. 

 

 Question for all you users of the Tamiya stands shown above: how do you keep them so new looking while spray painting? 🤔 Do you have two stands, one for spray painting and one for decaling etc? 

 

Sorry for the fuzziness in photos, the cellphone camera doesn't focus close and neither do my eyes at the moment. 😁😆

Edited October 22, 2022 by Jack12477

[Jack12477]

Well I finally got around to repainting the entire shell with base green, then the camo pattern. I decided on the desert sand color over the read earth shown in the kit.  Now to let the paint throughly cure before I decal it. 

 

 

I need some more practice with airbrush especially with the Vallejo paints.  

 

[Jack12477]

Finally ! It is finished ! 

 

[Edwardkenway]

Nice!!! The camo looks good, did you do it freehand?

[Jack12477]

2 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

did you do it freehand

Yes !  Had a little trouble getting a narrower spray pattern. 

[Egilman]

It looks the part brother..

 

Well Done!

[king derelict]

Great camo painting. Looks very good

Alan

[Canute]

Nicely done, Jack. 👍

[CDW]

Great model, Jack. Glad to see you get another one done in fine order.