I've been on a bit of a roll at the workbench lately, and I was trying to make progress through the backlog. Well, the two 1/72 scale airplanes got finished. I am making good progress on the StuG, and have even started to think about squirting some primer on that Monogram 1996 NASCAR Monte Carlo. But I decided to concentrate my efforts on one of those "Not for me" projects--Monogram's 1/48 scale A-10A. I've told you that I plan to paint it as one of the two 18TFS A-10's from Eilson AFB, AK that was painted in arctic camouflage for Cool Snow Hog in 1982. Basically, what was done was that the airplane "repaint" was merely taking white paint and covering the areas that were originally FS34102 in the Euro 1 scheme. Easy enough, right? Well...
White paint and I have a love/hate relationship. My first attempt was to first shoot the white and carefully cut in the other two colors (FS34092 and 36081). I should have known I was in for a long haul when I started with the green. Merrily spraying away, it wasn't until I was about done that I came to the realization that I was spraying green the areas that should have been gray. Oh, bother. Well, no biggie--just overspray the green with gray. Easy enough. Back for more green paint. I got most of the areas done fairly well, but there's always the issue of overspray...
In 1:1 scale, the T.O. tells you that you can have between 6" and 9" of overspray, which equates to about 1/8" in 1/48 scale. But you're overspraying onto white, and you're dealing with full scale overspray. It just doesn't look right. Here's a few photos of the actual airplane:
DOD Photo. See how the white has some fairly large margins? Also note that the original Euro 1 scheme was a bit worn...
DOD Photo. Now, from a distance. See how sharp those paint margins look?
I wanted to get something in scale, and I can usually do that with the airbrush. And I was darn close. But a critical examination of the paint job yielded some sketchy results. There were some areas of "dry paint"--you know, those areas that look like sandpaper. There were a few areas of heavy paint--not heavy enough to run, but they were definitely thicker than adjacent areas. And there were the areas that were going to require touch up in any case. So, I cleaned the airbrush, set everything aside, and stopped for the night.
The next evening, I took another look. It didn't seem so bad, so I took a worn piece of 600 wet or dry and knocked down the fuzz and thinned out the heavy areas. After a quick wipe down to remove the sanding dust, I re-shot the white areas, and moved on to the green patches. Once again, areas of rough paint popped up, like magic. Well, that was what told me no matter what I tried, the best results weren't going to happen unless I took the model back to the original plastic surface.
If you have never stripped a model, there are several ways to do it. My favorite method is to use Castrol's Super Clean degreaser, the stuff in the purple jug. (I believe that it is no longer a Castrol product, though--Amazon shows it as being available from Midway, but I don't know if it is the same stuff. Shame if it isn't...) A trip to the garage, and an hour or so later (and some scrubbing with a toothbrush), I had all but a few stubborn areas stripped clean. Those few traces of paint will come off with some light persuasion from the tip of the good old #11 blade. Of course, the stripping operations also caused the Canopy Glue to soften, so the canopy is now separate again. And during the scrubbing, I managed to crack the port wing root seam. And the main struts were dislodged.
So, I now have a relatively fresh canvas. But I have to re-work some stuff before I'm ready for a re-try. But that's probably a good thing, since I'll be able to think alternative plans through before I start squirting paint again.
Why the issues? Well, part of it is the way the 1:1 A-10 is assembled. There are a lot of nooks, crannies, and 90 degree angles. Airbrushing creates turbulence in those areas, and the paint mist swirls around before settling, semi-dry, on the surface. That's what causes the rough paint. White, too, is an issue. I laid down three or four thin coats of white, and got fairly good coverage. But the roughness gets magnified under additional paint coats, which is why the more white (and later, green) I laid on, the worse it got. The key here, I think, is to add Future to the mix (I shoot acrylics, and Future added to the mix allows the paint to flow out better) and either lower my pressure or thin the paint some more. You can bet, too, that I'll put in some extra practice sessions before I go back to painting the model. Also, I'm seriously thinking of doing what the guys in Alaska did and cover the FS34102 areas with white rather that trying to substitute white for the 34102--I'll paint the full Euro 1 scheme, including the FS34102, and then carefully spray those areas white. I may have to come up with some soft masks, but that's not a big deal. And that might just be the ticket...
The other alternative is to use Tamiya's Superfine White primer from the spray can and go from there. I can clean up goofs with a towel and some Isopropyl without bothering the white base coat. I do like Tamiya's primer, but I'd like to try and avoid it in this case, since touch ups would have to be done with the airbrush and the primer white and other whites aren't exactly the same whites...
The moral of the story? When I teach airbrushing, I tell students that there isn't a whole lot you can do that can't be undone in some way, shape, or form. This is simply reinforcing those thoughts. I also tell them patience is key, and it certainly has been so far with this project. I could build another kit--but Monogram's A-10 wasn't the best fitting kit when it was new, and the later issues that have been molded in China and sold under the Revell labels aren't as crisp and sharp as the originals. There's more vinyl to the mix, I'm sure, since Monogram's semi-hard and shiny plastic has given way to semi-matte, softish plastic in the newer Revell issues of Monogram's classic kits. Buildable? Sure, they're buildable. But you might want to try and get one of the original issues of these kits, since the plastic is better, the parts are crisper, and the fit issues haven't been magnified. But that's another story for another time.
Plus, I am not prepared to admit defeat. I have only trashed three models in my "serious" modeling career--a 90% complete Hasegawa 1/200 scale 737-200 that got broken in transit from my college apartment to the house when it slipped under a desk and was crushed; a Hasegawa 1/48 scale Learjet 35 that corkscrewed into the ground when it slipped out of the wire I had hooked in the main gear attachment points to allow the paint to dry, splitting--nay, tearing, quite roughly I might add--the fuselage seam from tip of the radome to the engine pylon area; and a Monogram 1/48 scale F-84F for reasons that I cannot recall, as I recounted in my Thundering Jets post. I will work through problems if they are correctable, I will save models if I can, and I can save this one.
And, before you ask, no, I didn't take any pictures. You'd think that now I have a nice point and shoot that does decent pictures for the web, I'd be able to take a few snaps as I built. You'd think so, at least...
I'll do better in the future...
Be good to one another--and be patient. It does pay off in the end, I promise. I bid you Peace.
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