Tips and Tricks

• Tips and Tricks
• Tools and Materials
• Assembly
• Painting and Decaling
• Detailing and Weathering

Painting and Decaling

Model Painting and Decaling

Small parts are easier to work with if impaled on pins. They are also easier to impale if you heat the tip of the pin first.

As well as using dry transfer lettering in the normal way it can also be used as a mask: paint the area to be lettered in the colour that you want the letters to appear. THEN apply the lettering. Now paint the model in its final colour and use when dry, use small pieces of adhesive tape to remove the transfers revealing the colour underneath.

If you want to cut masking tape into strips or other shapes, stick it on a sheet of glass while you cut it with a sharp knife. Then peel it off and use it where you want it.

Rather than using a brush to paint the iris and pupil in eyes, use a cocktail stick dipped in paint to spot them in. Coloured felt tipped pens and technical drawing pens present an alternative.

Models are best painted under the same lighting conditions that they will be viewed i.e. if you will be displaying your model in a cabinet with built in florescent lighting then you should paint it under florescent lighting because if you don't, the colours WILL look different when it's displayed.