Designing a shadowbox diorama

[Hauk]

Its been an awful long time since I used the airbrush, and I have never really learned to use it. So I was reluctant to start painting the 3D printed parts as I felt that failure was definitely an option. But I also realized that I could not paint absolutely everything in the workshop diorama with Tamiya fine surface primer from a rattle can.
The main problem is that I have not worked out a solid workflow, I have jumped around from brand to brand and trying all sorts of exotic thinnners.

Finally I just did what I should have done a long time ago. From my rather extensive modelling library I got out a book by one of the best military model painters I know of, Michael Ronaldo. The idea was that I would just copy his choice of materials and follow his techniques as best as I could. The book of choice was «Single Model No.02», a depth study of how to paint and weather a S-65 city tractor (it actually looks more like a bulldozer than a tractor in my book). Luckily his paint of choice is Tamiya acrylics thinned with their «yellow cap» laquer thinner. Tamiya paint is easy to get hold of here in Norway. Paint and thinners are hard to buy online these days, and it is nice to use products that I can get at my unfriendly (no, that's no typo, but It's a story for another time) local hobby shop.
But most important, it works like a charm following his recommendations to the letter. 50-50 paint thinner, 18 psi and off you go. Embarrassingly basic stuff, but a important little boost to transform all those 3D printed parts into finished models. And for the first time ever I  actually enjoyed airbrushing.

[Stuart]

These look great Hauk.  Like you, I have fussed around with different paints and have discovered that Tamiya acrylics work best for my projects.  Sorry about your unfriendly hobby shop, however.

Stuart

[EZnKY]

I'm on my own painting journey Hauk, and I've had great results with Tamiya acrylics as well.  I'm also working with Vallejo acrylics, but they behave a bit differently compared to the Tamiya paints.

[Hauk]

I'm on my own painting journey Hauk, and I've had great results with Tamiya acrylics as well.  I'm also working with Vallejo acrylics, but they behave a bit differently compared to the Tamiya paints.

I have had very little success with airbrushing Vallejo. Even if I am very happy with the Tamaiya paints, it would be interesting to hear how to use them successfully.

[finescalerr]

Your initial results are perfect. Now the "fun" begins .... -- Russ

[Krusty]

Whatever you do, just don't try weathering over Tamiya with IPA washes. Tends not to go well.....

Mike Rinaldi's books are excellent. And after six-or-so years of promises it sounds like his chipping and oil paint weathering books might finally see the light of day.

[Peter_T1958]

Its been an awful long time since I used the airbrush, and I have never really learned to use it. So I was reluctant to start painting the 3D printed parts as I felt that failure was definitely an option. But I also realized that I could not paint absolutely everything in the workshop diorama with Tamiya fine surface primer from a rattle can.
The main problem is that I have not worked out a solid workflow, I have jumped around from brand to brand and trying all sorts of exotic thinnners.

I am well versed in this problems too! To be honest, every single effect on my models are more or less just coincidence (so it seems to me). At least I can't repeated an effect several times. I believe this is because of the long period of building time at each of my projects. In the meantime a lot of knowledge in this context get lost again.

[Hauk]

I am well versed in this problems too! To be honest, every single effect on my models are more or less just coincidence (so it seems to me). At least I can't repeated an effect several times. I believe this is because of the long period of building time at each of my projects. In the meantime a lot of knowledge in this context get lost again.

This is one of my reasons for posting even the most trivial stuff on forums. I very often find myself going back to my posts to see how I actually did things!

[Hauk]

Mike Rinaldi's books are excellent. And after six-or-so years of promises it sounds like his chipping and oil paint weathering books might finally see the light of day.

Wow, I have almost forgotten about my preorder for those books! Even paid in advance...

[Hauk]

Assembled the radial drill tonight, and I have to admit that I am pretty happy about the way the little bugger is coming along. On the extreme closeup you can see some pretty nasty layering lines, but when you see the complete machine I don't think it is very noticeable. But ofcourse, I am discussing matters with my printer... The Color is Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey, by the way. The ways on the outrigger is buffed up with some Tamiya «wonderstuff» that I am pretty sure is eye shadow. I think a 6B pencil would have worked just as well, maybe better.

[Lawrence@NZFinescale]

I have had very little success with airbrushing Vallejo. Even if I am very happy with the Tamaiya paints, it would be interesting to hear how to use them successfully.

Quite a while ago now I watched a video on spraying Vallejo model colour and I haven't looked back:

https://youtu.be/vJXmo0lHwv8?si=VIpFHvthkAYdsMmu

The short story is to use the right thinner: 2 water: 1 isopropanol with 0.5% glycerin(e) added.  This DIY thinner is inexpensive and I use it for most Vallejo thinning. I tend to buy 'model colour' rather than 'model air' as it's more economic and model air is a bit thin to brush.

I do find Vallejo is soft though - certainly not as quickly resistant to subsequent handling as Tamiya, so varnish is a good idea.  I'm currently using VMS.  The glygerine is a drying retarder and may well be part of the soft paint issue (though I find brush painted Vallejo without retarder a bit soft as well). It's not a huge problem though - just something to be aware and cautious of. Vallejo is also the hardest paint to clean from the airbrush in my experience, which becomes a factor if you are doing something with a number of colour changes.

I feel Vallejo needs a thicker film to achieve the same opacity as Tamiya. Not ideal if you want to keep detail sharp in small scales, but not all bad if you have print lines to hide.

I find Tamiya dead flat - unnaturally so. Vallejo not so much.  On the other hand after weathering, varnish etc, the base gloss level is hardly relevant.

A friend tells me if I use Gunze (Mr Hobby) paint I'll never go back to Tamiya or Vallejo - but it's not stocked locally.

There are probably as many opinions on this stuff as there are modellers. Doing what works for you is the important thing.

[EZnKY]

I've heard the same thing about Mr. Hobby paints, and I'm planning on trying them on my next project.  I've also found the key to airbrushing Vallejo paints is thinning them correctly, and I'm using the branded Vallejo air brush thinner.  And rather than using glycerin, I've been adding some Vallejo's airbrush flow improver.  I think it's doing the same king of thing to the mix.

[Lawrence@NZFinescale]

I've heard the same thing about Mr. Hobby paints, and I'm planning on trying them on my next project.  I've also found the key to airbrushing Vallejo paints is thinning them correctly, and I'm using the branded Vallejo air brush thinner.  And rather than using glycerin, I've been adding some Vallejo's airbrush flow improver.  I think it's doing the same king of thing to the mix.

Very likely.  I'm allergic to buying expensive branded products that are simply a mix of simple and cheap chemicals (Note that the major component in the the thinner is water). I've gone through litres of thinner, so I'm saving quite a bit. However, I would agree that if you don't know what is proprietary thinner and you don't have a proven alternative then using the kosher product is a sensible thing to do at least to start with.

[Hauk]

Thanks for the input, folks.

The Tamiya XF paints and yellow cap thinner is a good starting point for a noob like me, but I alreasy see that the combo has some limits.

First, The Yellow Cap is an aggressive thinner, and it attacks the bare resin of 3D parts. You can see it at the bottom of the drilling table, there is some slight distortion there. The T-slots in the table have also been affected, but this is hardly noticeable.  Fortunately I used the Tamiay Fine Surface primer on almost all the parts, and this primer seems to be resinsafe. The Tamiya primer works almost like magic in my opinion.

Vallejo with their properitary thinner would probably be safer with the 3D-printed parts, but my experience with this combo made me give up airbrushing for a couple of years. Seriously, my results  were that bad. Im not going back.

Another issue is that the XF colors dries a bit too flat to my liking.  I havent started  weathering yet, but I fear that washes will act like filters on this finish. The gloss  X- range is great, but the selection is ridicilous limited. 

Mr. Hobby is said to work like the Tamiya colors. Far better selection than Tamiya, and they have selections of both gloss and semigloss. I have a couple of jars, and will try them soon.

Well, I managed to keep it simple for two afternoons of painting...

[Krusty]

The glygerine is a drying retarder and may well be part of the soft paint issue

I don't think glycerine has much effect on the strength of cured Vallejo (it tends to fall off models if you look at it sideways anyway, whatever the thinner) unless you go overboard. The biggest problem is that too much can migrate to the surface as the paint cures and cause problems with overcoats balling up and/or separating.