Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part IV

Once upon the time, by now I would be mixing my paints, sticking out the tongue and putting the paint on one brush stroke at the time directly on bare plastic. Yes I know- pure heresy! Well, this time around, having read all there is to know about the "proper way" to do things, I've decided to give the concept of primer a go. Little Spitfire got one coat of Vallejo Grey primer yesterday night and another complementary dusting this morning. I've got to admit, maybe they're on to something with this primer thingie - after about an hour, the model was smooth as a baby's arse and it was enough to just look at it that paint would stick to the surface like white to rice.

An hour or so ago, it was time to try yet another concept that is rather new to me - preshading. At this time I may just as well tell the story about my experiences with airbrushes up to this point. Just like every teenager interested in modeling, an airbrush and compressor were the holy Grail items that would turn me into master modeller in a blink of an eye. With limited budget, I managed at one time to scrounge enough cash to buy a Chinese knockoff and canned air - it goes without saying that the results of that experiment were rather discouraging. Couple of years later, I've gotten a proper compressor and one of those Testor airbrushes with exchangeable nozzles; an Aztek 470, if I'm not mistaken. I know that some people swear by them, but could never get over the flimsy plastic it was made of. Also, the bloody thing can hardly push any paint out, unless you go to 20-30 PSI of pressure, which makes any detailed painting (at least for me) almost impossible.

So, driven by my newly rekindled interest in modelling, I decided that a proper airbrush was one of priority items to acquire. I won't bother you with my selection process (well, maybe I will, but that's a topic for another post), but in the end I've gotten a Badger 150 with a set of three needles. It's a  different animal from the Aztek - in my opinion at least it's a lot more pleasant to use. Of course a quick glance at the pictures below is enough to confirm that it's not the tool that makes a craftsman. As you can see, even this simple job couldn't be done without a lot of spatter and oversprays. Also, there is a lot to be left to wish for in regard of steadiness of my hand and consistency of my work. I have a lot to learn about airbrushing, but it can take as long as necessary, as long as I enjoy the process. After all, I do it for fun and Rome wasn't built in one day. :-)

Oh yes, one last thing. In case you don't know what preshading is - the idea is to spray either black, dark grey or dark brown paint into all recesses and over all panel lines. Next, when the 'correct' paint is sprayed, those dark outlines are supposed to be left slightly visible, thus giving an illusion of shade and variation in color tone that is supposed to be more realistic.