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There is something...

Barney

Well-known member
There is something you must know. I Hate Acrylic Paint. I was raised on Testors and Pactra (Remember those little ¼ oz. bottles that we got at Grey Drugs?) and Humbrol tins. I had been modeling for 15 years before I had even heard of an Airbrush, and until I stopped, to raise a family and have funny people in strange countries shoot at me, I used enamels.

After returning from my 6th deployment and retiring from the USAF, the doctors recommended that I get something to do, as a hobby, to take my mind off of what I had seen and done over multiple deployments. So of course, I chose to return to model aircraft.

I was using MM and Humbrol and being miserable until I figured out the proper mixtures for them. Well, that was fine for a while, but my daughter and grand-daughter who were living with me had headaches from the solvents. I, being a child of the Atomic Era had no trouble, after all I spent years in the basement with Orange Tube Testor's! So, like a good grandparent I switched to Acrylics. MM sucked. I was OK with Tamiya and Mr Color, but they were hard to come by up here on the North Coast. A guy from Matt Swan’s old site recommended Agama paints. They were very good, but hard to come by. Then there was Vallejo. I never could get them to work. Then I tried Hataka Orange Line. If you haven’t tried them they are a pretty good line of lacquers that I have had some success with using.

This past summer whilst in Chattanooga I ran across MCW. But wasn’t looking for paints and passed them by, even though they are manufactures 50 miles from me! (OK, I’m old, crippled and have brain farts, don’t blame me, blame my wife) This fall, at the Cleveland Model Show, I again ran into MCW and stopped to take a gander. Pre-thinned? Hmmmm… This might just be a solution for which I have been looking. I bought three bottles and began painting old junk kits that I use to test paint. Covered well, dried fairly quickly and was hard as a rock. Plus, since they are gloss lacquers you don’t have to clear coat for decals and wash and then dull coat to get the finish you desire.

I have several kits in the works, but decided to pull out a kit and do it using (mostly) these paints. As I have been futzing around with these paints for 2 months I have a handle (kinda sorta) on their capabilities. They are easy to clean (using lacquer thinner), dry hard and fast (I taped them after 10 minutes and over sprayed and the tape came up clean) and cover well. You do need to use a wet coat. You can handle it almost immediately! I sprayed their aluminum and even it was good to go… not rubbing off, no pulling off with tape. Hog Heaven!

So for the next, how ever long it takes…

Here we go…


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The Kit: Does it look like a Westland Whirlwind? That is all that matters

The finish:

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Shall we have a poll to see what finish I should do?

The Paints: MCW Lacquers... I forgot to take a picture :unsure:

First Run:

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Sorry for the poor quality of the pics, ya work with what you got. Any suggestions to improve quality with low or little cost is very welcome

This MCW stuff does paint like a dream. 2-3" from the object and one coat. They don't make an RAF interior green, but I'll contact them to see what they can do.

Any questions, comments and silly notions are always appreciated. Keep it nice as my fragilly (That's a CLE word) ego just cannot take it! :frantic

When you change paint brands always remember to clean that sucker and run the thinner for the new paint through it to remove any residuals of the MCW. I have found that is doesn't play well with Hataka Orange, not terrible, but not great. Lesson learned.
 
I can't remember if I wanted to follow my own post... PMS Permanent Mental Shits
 
Cool. The Whirlwinds just looks fast and sporty sitting still. Neat little bird. Watching the build :popcorn
James
 
Hey Barney! Glad to see you posting again! Definitely tell us about the MCW paints! I also found some new paints that are acrylics but look and spray out of the bottle like enamels. So far they are mostly for figures, and work exceedingly well for them. I found they sprayed beautifully through my new Badger 20-20 slimline which is a very fine tip. The guy that is doing the paints is getting ready to branch out into military colors as well though I think he has some stuff that is already pretty close to spot on for some of what I do.


As to the Whirlwind, I noticed there was one in German markings, one in Russian markings and even one in Finnish markings. You could finish it in Finnish markings. :D (joking)

Enjoy your build my friend! I am the same way with paints and have been looking as well. The Vallejo work OK for brush detail work if you use a wet pallet, but I don't like them for airbrush. They have to be thinned way way down and then spray on in many light coats. I find that the airbrush has to be cleaned thoroughly out as the pigment tends to clog up in it. The paints I found (Garage Kits USA Colors) work and act a lot like enamels, and many people are using them for painting up FABULOUS large scale figures.
 
OMG are you going to build one mate I am shocked :woohoo: :blink

Just joking ps that french one in the dont shoot me colors look kinda delish but the all black I have never seen done.
 
It would be a surprise to me if any Whirlwind ever was in anything but British colors. There weren't that many and the Peregrine engines weren't widely used either.
 
Ah, but the What If possibilities are endless! However, my color choices are limited to what MCW produces, for now. The are expanding their product line. So, it is probably going to be US, Brit, or German. :hmmm :hmmm :hmmm
 
There will be some more pictures tomorrow... I'm busy painting spoons!

I got spoons, you got spoons, all God's children got spoons.... :facepalm
 
Looks like the German one has those Jumo engines also. That's cool, could always do a neat wif. Just git'er done! :mpup
 
MMMmmm...Icecream :eek:hyeah
I say pick a scheme that will hold your interest and if it's a what-if'er there is nothing wrong with that....JUST HAVE FUN :popcorn
:v
 
I'm digging through 15 years worth of decals... there has got to be something in there that might peak my interest... Maybe some "emerging" nation that had delusions of grandeur?
 
There was a long going joke way back over at the LEM of an invasion of Luxembourg...wonder what their air Force looks like ;)
 
MP, if you have Fenwick decals in 1/48, we have a winner! Otherwise, I have figured it out. Thank God, for ZOTZ decals... all the air forces of the world!


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Painting Spoons. To often I cannot tell an exact color or how they look next to each other unless I do a spoon. These are the colors I have from MCW. The two tone was done about three minutes after I sprayed the green. I think the tan covered pretty well.

Meanwhile I am o putting the cockpit together. The control panel is recessed so I will drop in a dot of black and then a drop of Pledge for the lenses. A little smudge for the inside to make it look "used" and thats it. Honey Badger don't do scratch built seatbelts... and I forgot to buy them.

Auf Weeder Bye Bye!
 
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