Modeling thoughts

I've had the luck (and the pleasure) of having met Bob Bethea, a local and amazing figure painter, at my local club meeting. Bob has been incredibly kind and generous with his time as he teaches me the fine art of figuring painting. I recently republished an article Bob had written for our local club newsletter sharing some of his tips on getting start with figuring painting, and if you haven't read it, it's well worth the time. I thought I'd also share the newbie viewpoint on what I've learned. Often, the things that screw up the newbies don't even registered on the minds of the experienced folks. So in no particular order, here's a few of my tips. And remember, this only applies to acrylic paints! Wet palette Don't use the paint trays with small recesses, buy or make a wet palette. Google it for more info, but basically, a [...]

I've been back in the hobby for a couple years now, but am only recently starting to turn out enough final model product to be able to enter in contests. I'd gotten stuck in an unhealthy mindset about whether I'd participate. Largely, I suffered from two issues: "I'm not good enough" - My work, while improving, is still not award winning. I was really worried that people would wonder "Why is he bringing this crap?" "Why bother?" - I've too focused on the end prize of 1st place. If I don't have a real chance of winning, what's the point of entering? When I was a kid in high school building models, I took them to shows at least 3 or 4 times a year. I was blessed living in Southern California - a few hours drive in any particular direction would get you to a new contest. You didn't have to [...]

My buddy Bob is an amazingly good figure painter. His house is full of amazing creations, the likes of which I can only hope to achieve. He told me once a while back that the only primer he uses is Touch ’n Tone Primer, available at auto parts stores. For some reason, that recommendation went in one ear and out the other. I was probably thinking “Hey, the small, expensive spray can of Tamiya primer just has to be the best…right??" During a figure painting lesson recently, he repeated this recommendation. By now, I’ve learned to listen to Bob, so I ordered a can off Amazon (link). It showed up a few days ago, and I headed out to the garage tonight to test it out. Wow. For half the cost and three times the quantity, this stuff is great! Lays down very smooth, no problems with spray control or pebbling, and looks [...]

I've been less than impressed with my cheap paint brush carousel lately. Plus, it creates a ton of visual clutter and moves the brushes out of (easy) reach. Add to that the fact that I'm spending more time switching between various brush types (oils, acrylics, enamels, putty, drybrush, pigments, etc.), and I needed a better way to organize. So I headed to Lowes and spent some time on the PVC pipe aisle. I've been surprised how many times I think "I need to do something" and the solution reveals itself in the combination of various shapes and configurations of PVC pipe fittings. After a few minutes, the solution revealed itself. This holder is made up of the following parts: 1.5" Y fittings (x2) - these are the main "holders" 1" pipe caps (x2) - these are stuck in the bottom to close up the Y fittings L-bracket (x2) - these are [...]

For Father's Day, my wife and daughter gave me a 1:72 scale Dragon Sd. Kfz. 263. It's a WWII German armored vehicle, so I was excited to start building it. I build exclusively 1:35 scale, so stepping out of my comfort zone was going to be fun experiment. Plus, I've been reading many articles about cool new 1:72 releases lately. In particular, I really want to build the Opel Omnibus, and since it's only produced in 1:72 scale right now, I had to dig in and learn something new. You know how sometimes a great theory turns out to be a frustrating reality? Yeah, I don't think I'm a 1:72 scale (also affectionally known as "braille scale") modeler. I was about halfway through this fun experiment when I realized that I wanted to turn in my xacto knife! The parts were small and lacked detail, the small part build was incredibly [...]

I'm deep in the midst of my first super detail project. I've recently returned to scale modeling after a 20+ year break…and back when I was doing it 20 years ago, I didn't have the money to afford, nor was there as many options for resin and photo etch and the rest. So you can imagine my amusement this weekend as I began reflecting on the build process for my first super detail, a Steyr 1500/A Radio Truck conversion, and realized I have no less than four aftermarket detail kits at work here. No wonder it's taken so long! As a newbie to this fine art, I thought I'd capture a few things I've learned along the way. Maybe they'll help others as they get started. Drum roll, please…. and in no particular order, here's my random list of tips. I'm going to divide into categories to make it easier to [...]