Jones wrote:Thanks man! I appreciate that!
I'm happy to say that I did indeed hand-paint this guy. I'm actually quite pleased with Tamiya acrylics and find them very easy to work with. For this figure though, I wanted to be sure to maintain the 'brushed' texture in the plastic so I thinned out the silver with a 1:1 ratio. It took a couple more coats to get the coverage, but the final finish was much smoother than others I've done.
I've been considering getting a cheap airbrush and learning new techniques, but have yet to get one.
Cheers!
I don't know how you managed to get such a smooth coat of paint by hand-painting, but I am in awe.
Did you thin it with Windex or some other ammonia-based detergent? I've personally tried thinning Tamiya paint with both window cleaner and their own brand of thinner, and the latter causes the first coat of paint to lift when hand-painting the second layer on. When thinned with window cleaner, however, the first layer stays on perfectly.
Still, I wasn't able to get a satisfactorily smooth coat of paint, and eventually ponied up the dough for an AB/compressor set.
If you're in the market for an AB, Tamiya's Spraywork Basic Compressor with AB set is pretty good and functions very well for a budget compressor/AB set. The only thing is that you can't use double-action AB's with it, which might be a bit of limiting factor for some. For me, I get around that by using alternative methods, so it doesn't really bother me.