Hints and Tips

Hints and tips for model makers of all ages, shapes and sizes, will appear on this page...

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Here are some tips provided by Earley Riser Ed Pinniger: 

Holding things

Masking tape is great for holding together hard-to-clamp parts like fuselage halves whilst the glue dries. Cheap, heavy-duty tape from a hardware shop works better than Tamiya masking tape, and is more economical!

Cocktail sticks/toothpicks make useful holders for wheels (for both aircraft and land vehicles, in any scale) when brush-painting the wheel rims or tyres. The stick can be held in a clamp whilst the paint dries.

Cocktail sticks/toothpicks make useful holders for wheels (for both aircraft and land vehicles, in any scale) when brush-painting the wheel rims or tyres. The stick can be held in a clamp whilst the paint dries.

Miniature wooden clothes-pegs (available from some craft/hobby shops and dolls-house suppliers) make great mini-clamps both for clamping glued parts together and holding small parts for painting or gluing.

Cleaning things

Methylated spirits is very effective at cleaning dried acrylic paint from brushes. It will completely remove buildups of dried paint from around the base of the brush if it's left to soak for a few minutes, and can also be used to remove paint marks from the brush handle.

Methylated spirits can also be used to strip acrylic paint (I haven't tried it with enamels, but it may work) from model parts - useful if you're renovating an old or second-hand model. Just leave the parts to soak in a jar for a day or so, then scrub with a toothbrush and the paint should easily come off.

To support tiny parts while airbrushing (such as 1/350 scale ship fittings and anti-aircraft guns) put some double-sided sticky tape on a piece of scrap card or styrene sheet. The tape should be sticky enough to hold even the smallest parts in place with only a small contact area.

Painting and dusting things

Acrylic craft paints - from brands such as "Anita's Acrylics", sold in fairly large plastic bottles - have an ideal consistency for drybrushing. They're particularly good for painting wood grain on plastic parts as they're available in many different shades of brown, and are also very good for mud weathering on military vehicles.

"Graphite" acrylic craft paint also produces a very effective gunmetal effect when drybrushed over a base coat of matt black - no need to grind up pencil leads!

To give a realistic look to the "planked wood" decks of a plastic ship model, first paint the deck with a base coat of a medium grey-brown (Revell "Earth Brown" is ideal) then, when dry, heavily drybrush a light yellowish-grey colour (I use Revell "Stone Grey") over this, following the direction of the planking. This works best in larger scales such as 1/72, 1/96 and 1/200. If the plank seams are engraved, a black or dark brown oil wash can be used to represent the caulking between the planks.

If you have an air compressor, an airbrush (without paint in!) is very handy for removing dust from intricate models, such as ships and rigged biplanes, without damage.