New to the forums here and joined for this thread lol. Have been doing simple OOB panel lining and painting with gundam markers for some time. Wanted to start on painting and this seems like a good place where I can ask for advice so here I am. Have a bunch of them I have kept in mind for the longest time.

First questions that come to mind..

1. Are there any difference in the brush used in handbrushing? Or will any old brush do?
2. Paints. Is thinner absolutely required to thin the paint? I'm thinking of painting my 00 raiser's clear parts with clear paint for example. I'm thinking of tamiya acrylic or enamel paint. Any advice to support or against the idea?
3. Tools to clean up the mess. I read around and found qtips and rubbing alcohol is the common solution but never any steps on how to. Just dab and wipe? Also any suggestions would be welcome.
4. I have read that it's hard to get even layers with spray paint? Just to verify that in case I get overambitious and mess up my Sinaju. =_=

5. Any preparation process for spraying topcoats? I know primer is required for paint but I haven't read anything about pre-topcoating models so another point I would like to verify.
6. How long does topcoat take to set? Ideally I would like to do it at home but space is tight. So I need an idea of the time frame to topcoat the entire model. And is topcoating done piece by piece or just spray the entire model evenly?

Alot of questions at one go so any replies would be appreciated, even if it's to just one of them. Thanks.

Noted. Tamiya brushes go for 3-6 dollars at the hobby shops I frequent, which tend to be limited in tools. Cheaper options are always welcomed.



Nah. 1/144 00 Raiser. The clear part on the rifles clear blue. The body clear parts green, the forehead clear part clear red. For solid colors, the V fin in yellow and grey for the cheeks.



Noted.



Relax man. I just wanted to know if spray paints are hard to use and you validated it nicely.

Slowly working my up way with handbrushing first to gain experience of course.



Is it ok if I just dump the entire runners in soap water before I start the cutting and assembling process..?

And it's greatly appreciated.


@erh_teo: Thanks for the fast reply but you replied in my quote so abit hard to reply you back.

Ya I've read about the thinning ratio in a thread before. 3:7 or 1:1.. I'll go back and check again. Will any type of thinner do? Or is it a must to match the thinner with the paint? Eg aqueous paint with aqueous thinner,nanamel paint with enanamel thinner.

And clean up as in cleaning up hand painting.

Roger that, will go read more how to spray from cans. And I think I didn't phrase my question about topcoating clearly. Can I say just take any model, spray topcoat onto it and the result will be fine?

Haha alright then. Thanks for sharing your experience with me.




Ya painting small parts first. I definitely want to paint all the clear parts of the HG 00 Raiser in clear paints. And maybe gold for the Sinaju's yellow vents. Should be ok for a beginner right?



Ya avoiding those paints first. Planning to use tamiya acrylic and thin with acrylic thinner. Or is water fine too?



Haha I read in one of the links in the building or gallery thread about a spray painted Sinaju so just asked here whether hard to do or not. Turns out it is risky but I had no intention of spray painting my Sinaju's main armour anyway. Screw up will heartbreak sia. x_x

Maybe for a future project ba. HGUC Nu gundam or 1/100 Astraea Type F is what I have in mind.

Oh ya makes sense. Thanks for all the help. Greatly appreciated.

Me again with questions in tow. Thought I would share how my first handpainted job went before I get started.

Started the lazy way, painted the parts while they were on the runner. Started with the red jewel, thought the red paint look faint but decided to wait until it dried. Went on to the clear blue parts for the gn rifle. At first too light. Then smudged it brushstrokes. Wiped with thinner and mixed thicker paint this time. Started on the green parts. This part went thru alot of testing. Sometimes too light or too dark. Until once I tested the mix in clear water then remember it was a good way to get the right color. So got one I thought was good and painted all.

Went back to the red. Still too light so took some red out of the pot and painted the clear part from behind. Looked fantastic after it dried. Went back to light blue then chua tio. Got one oval shape where the paint was very faint. Thought I burned a hole there with too much thinner. Heng I was wrong so just whacked one medium blue mix and forgot about it. Went back to the green and it looked quite dark and uneven. Left it alone and went to paint the V fin in yellow. Not bad but got run over to the white part of the fin. Managed to wipe some but still got smudges. Oh well.

Assembled the 00 raiser over the weekend. Turned out the the red jewel and green orb parts managed to turn out really great when put together with the rest of the model. Yellow V-fin was alittle thin on the left. Alamak forgot to put more layers. But that was ok. Clear blue parts was ok too but the grey stickers in the middle didn't look so great next to the painted parts.

Think i did ok on my first job. Did some well, others not so good. Thanks for the advice given here earlier on. Will be improving my skills gradually. Pictures in the relevant thread when I get my hands on a camera..

So my next questions also on handpainting stuff.

Is it possible to handpaint gloss onto kits? Cos I know glossy surface better for decals to stick on but dun want to spray gloss topcoat twice.

And I'm going to paint the yellow parts of the Sinaju in gold. Is priming required for such a job? Cos I feel small parts don't really need to be primed and no more $$ for a can of primer after buying all the painting tools and stuff. So asking for expert opinion here.


EDIT: One more question I forgot. Any suggestions on how to topcoat circular objects? Example the Sinaju's backpack cylinders and the GNX-III's lance.

This post has been edited by Steiner: Mar 2 2009, 03:54 PM

Heheh. Paiseh. ^^;

I kinda got the grasp of handpainting liao. Have to slowly put thin layer by layer then is the proper way.

Mark settler..gotcha. But dry decals also can use that right?

marker ah. Don't know my laoya hobby shop still got anot. So that means the small parts no need prime?

BTW, whats gundam real touch marker?

And nono not masking. Like I spray the circular object with topcoat liao, how to let it dry? Cant place it down ma otherwise the topcoat sure touch other surface before drying.