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Hi guys,
I am looking for some advice.....I am about to build some 1:144th tactical jets to be "receivers" that will be sitting behind a couple of different 707 Tankers I have on the go, (an F-16A and an A-4E). Both will be in basic three-tone Israeli desert cam.



Having not built a cam military tactical jet in a long time, (much less in 1:144), what is the best way to tackle a cam scheme like that seen on the Israeli jets ???. Also, should I airbrush or hand paint for best results???. I will be interested in and grateful for your views and opinions.
TOR

I've never done 1/144th, but should I loose my marbles and decide to, I would use blue tak and a air brush to paint them. Being so small, just roll up lengths of blue tak and make out the camo'd areas. Use tape or paper to fill in between the blue tak - easy and fast method. At this scale the demarcation lines between colours will be sharp. I think hand painting will just result in paint being way too thick - just my 2c worth - good luck! Hope you do not destroy your eyes in the process mate!

In 1/144 I would recommend airbrushing the upper base colour in enamel (sand colour in the case of an IDF A4) followed with careful and even masked airbrushing the lower colour in enamel - this gives a primed surface that will take acrylic paint nicely.. and then apply the cam by hand brushing in suitably thinned acrylic. Acrylic won't mix with the enamel. The real danger with hand brushing the cam element with enamel is the chance of the colours mixing where you don't want them to.
1/144 can be a nightmare with masking a cam for airbrushing and freehand airbrushing will result in too much overspray here and there.
There's not much of a feathered edge to see in 1/144 so hand brushing will work fine for demarcation of green/brown over sand and you'll hopefully achieve the desired effect on the first pass !
Use a fine brush - take your time - and if the colours look too stark (as they may the smaller in scale one goes) an overspray of the whole aircraft with a matt coat that has a touch of grey in it (I use Testors dullcote 95% / Humbrol lt grey 5%) will bring it down to scale and will soften the demarcations... but I recommend trying this technique out on a test subject first !
Here's one we prepared earlier using the technique I described above.






HTH

Adam and Uncle Les......thanks so much for the excellent advice. Some very handy info indeed, and a great starting point.
TOR
PS: what a beautiful little model Les!!!

Good luck with that mate. I did a 1/144 Spitfire and the camo on that was a bitch. I sprayed the brown then hand painted the green. I have no idea how the guys at expo paint their pissy little models so well

hrtpaul wrote:Good luck with that mate. I did a 1/144 Spitfire and the camo on that was a bitch. I sprayed the brown then hand painted the green. I have no idea how the guys at expo paint their pissy little models so well

That is really quiet lovely Paul. I will be happy if my A-4 or F-16 comes out half as good as that.
TOR

That is real nice Paul.

If you're dead set on airbrushing, grab some panzer putty from BNA for masking. Might make it easier as it settles real flat so you wont get bleed under.
http://www.bnamodelworld.com/hobby-tools-supplies-putty-fillers-mx-pression-mxp-a001

Ray, another product you can use is called Jumping Putty, comes in a plastic egg shaped container and can be bought from toy/games shops cheaply.

Just roll it up in your hand to get some warmth into it, then stick it to your model in the camo design you need. Paint doesn't seem to affect it and it can be
placed back in the egg container after spraying and reused again and again. Don't worry about it ending up multi coloured from paint, doesn't seem to affect it.
I've used this stuff for years on aircraft and armour.

Troy I've have never heard of Panzer putty, is it like what I described above?

Cheers
Wayne

I salute anyone who builds 1/144. I can hardly handle 1/72!

Beautiful work Uncle Les and Paul on your little gems. Thanks for the tips on that putty Wayne and Troy - interesting. I've got to get myself some of that Mr Perfect Putty for small gaps as well. Jamie Davies told me all about this stuff at Expo as he bought the last bottle - argh!

Wedgetail wrote:Troy I've have never heard of Panzer putty, is it like what I described above?

Cheers
Wayne

Sure sounds like it, Wayne.