ipms / anchorage
Basic Primer on Plastic Model Construction
Paul Cotè, El Presidente of
IPMS Anchorage
Paul Cotè, El Presidente of
IPMS Anchorage
-PLASTIC MODEL CONSTRUCTION-
PLANNING:The first step is planning your construction. Read the instructions. Unfortunately most instructions today are simple diagrams pointing to the parts and where they should go on the model. The part number on the instruction sheet should be on the plastic sprue next to the parts. Some companies just have a diagram on the parts sprue with the numbers written in, with no numbers on the sprue. The instructions are yours, feel free to write on them. High light areas of special concern; keep notes on the paint colors you use. Save them when you're done, they may come in useful later. As you look through the instructions, look for:
Understanding where parts go, and a possible sequence for each step.
Can you work on separate sub-assemblies--while the glue or paint is drying on one assembly, is there another one you can be working on?
Will you have to decide between variants--if so, make a note of what to put on and/or leave off.
Are there any changes you want to make?
What tools and supplies will you need? When will you need them and how will you get them?
The instructions are yours; use them to make notes on.
Go over this with your parents--they probably have most of the tools you need.
SITE PREPARATION:
You need to organize your work area. Most crafts, like cooking, involve making something of a mess. Prepare for this; cover tables, floors etc that spills, dust, sanding, etc might effect. Since you probably will not finish in one session, you need an area where the project can be left set up, or you must plan for storing the model, supplies, etc while you are not working on it. For lack of a better term, use a cutting board, any surface you can get rough with that will protect the table, desk or workbench you are working at. The solid cardboard backing from a pad of school paper will do if nothing better is available. Good lighting is critical; have some sort of lamp lighting the area. Parts WILL get dropped, frequently falling quite a ways from where you are. A flashlight is invaluable as you crawl around the floor looking for it. If possible, try and not to work over a rug--it hides parts very well. Your supplies and tools should be within easy reach. Have your reference materials handy.
Note on tools: GET PERMISSION OF THE OWNER BEFORE BORROWING/USING THEIR TOOLS. This includes brothers, sisters and parents.
PART PREPARATION:
Do not remove parts from the sprue until you need to do something with them. You can mark them with a pencil if need be. Do not rip the part off the sprue, as it will take a chunk out of the part. Use side cutting pliers, wire cutters or toenail clippers (that look like pliers) to clip parts from the sprue, being sure you aren't cutting into the part, just the attachment point.
Some of the time there will be some flash, excess plastic on the part, some times the mold seam is too prominent, and there almost always will be stub from the sprue. To clean this up use fine sanding paper (200-400 grit) on a small sanding block or an emery board. Do not use kitchen or pocket knives--they just don't work for this sort of thing. If you are going to use a knife, it should be a Xacto type knife with the blade very firmly secured, and only with adult supervision. Number 11 blades seem to work best for most tasks. They are very dangerous; use one wrong or even just long enough, and you will get cut. Replace dull blades; you are far more likely to cut yourself on a dull blade that doesn't go where you want it to than a sharp one that does.
Dry fit the parts without glue. This will insure the fit is right, and enable you for figure out how to hold it together while gluing. You may have to sand down some parts to make them fit.
GLUING:
Use the Testers liquid plastic cement that comes in a bottle with a brush in the top. Tube cement is messy, leaves stings of glue all over the model, and too much will actually rot the plastic away over time. Instant (Crazy) glues work too, but will also bond skin instantly. While there are instant glue removers, acetone (finger nail polish remover) will also work. It will also eat away plastic, stain clothes and other ways make a mess of things. White glue (Elmer's glue) will not hold most parts, but should be used on clear plastic parts, as it will not affect the plastic. It can also be used to fill minor cracks and gaps.
First dry fit the parts to see where the glue will go. I apply liquid glue to the surfaces that will be touching, and let it sit for about half a minute. This allows the glue to dissolve some of the plastic. Then I apply more glue, and put the parts together, and hold them together. Some times I will hold the brush next to the joint and let some glue flow into the joint. Continue to hold the parts together until the glue has set enough the parts stay together the way you want them too. Letting more glue flow into the joint can result in a small weld bead of plastic forming and raising up from where the pieces meet. This can be very useful, particularly in long joints such as aircraft wings. Once this bead is completely dry (over night), it can be sanded down, completely eliminating the joint/gap line. DO NOT RUSH THINGS. The joint has to be strong enough before you can handle it or glue other things on. This is why having another sub assembly to work on can be to your advantage. Weight bearing parts such as large parts, aircraft landing gear, car wheels, and tank suspensions should be allowed to completely dry before you continue.
Tip: Some times the liquid glue flows where you don't want it too--under your fingers holding the part together. You will then have an FBI quality fingerprint (s) on your model. All is not lost. Work on other parts of your model; the next day sand it off. Using progressively finer sand paper (or emery board), from 200 grit to 600 grit, will result in a very smooth surface. This is also what you do if you fill cracks or gaps. It works on wood and cars, and works on models too.
One of the best ways to get a good looking model is to remove seams and fill gaps. Two good ways of removing seams are with a sanding stick or block, and the edge of a Xacto blade. I hold the blade almost vertically perpendicular to the seam, and scrap it along the seam with gentle pressure several times till the surface is smooth. For gaps, use gap filling (thick) super glue or auto body putty. Apply in small amount with a toothpick, in thin layers. Scrape off excess, and then allow to dry. With super glue, as soon as it hardened, you have less than an hour to do any sanding before it becomes harder than the plastic. For putty, let dry overnight. Sand with progressively finer sand paper or sanding sticks.
PAINTING:
WHAT TO PAINT: EVERYTHING BUT CLEAR PLASTIC SIMULATING GLASS! Bare plastic looks like nothing but bare plastic; flat or gloss paint will make it look much better. Also. Bare plastic attracts more dust, and no model has ever survived a dust rag.
I paint most of my model once completed; that's the way it's done with most real items at the factory. Interiors MUST be painted before construction, such as aircraft cockpits and car interiors. Paint the parts or sub assemblies (part of your planning process), complete the model, and do the over all painting. Some very small pieces by best be left off till after the final painting, then glued on so they don't get broken off.
Paints for models work quite well; so do many craft paints, and some are cheaper. I recommend acrylics rater than enamels, if for no other reason than they clean up and thin with water. To get an exact shade, such as a precise aircraft color, you'll probably have to get it at a hobby shop; for the acrylic craft paint, Fred Myers or Jo Anne Fabrics have most of your basic colors. Bring the box art with you for a visual reference to match colors with.
Good paintbrushes are expensive but worth it if you stay in the hobby. A 1/4" (or so) wide brush, soft camel hair or the equivalent, will put your large coats on. A brush with a good point, (#1 or #2) will do most of your detail work. Brush care is critical--once the paint hardens, there goes your brush. I clean mine by wiping the excess paint off on a rag, quickly dipping it in thinner (enamel) or water (acrylics), wiping it off, then dipping and wiping it again until clean. I use paper towels and toilet paper for brush cleaning.
Depending on the model, I will either paint a base coat first (overall color), and then add the details. Some times I will paint a detail or design first, then paint around it, covering edges with the overall color.
For over all colors, spray cans give the best effect, but also create the biggest mess. Most spray paints sold in hardware stores will work on models. Stains for wood do not work on plastic. Make sure you cover up anything you don't want painted, such as windows. Also you can spray a base coat. Let it thoroughly dry, Mask it (covers the parts you want the underlying color) with masking tape, and spray another color. This works very well for two tone cars and many camouflage patterns. Remove the tape before paint thoroughly dries. Its best to rig a stand for the model to be strayed so you're not holding it in your hand (which will get painted). Several light (not too slow) passes do a much better job than heavy coat (very slow pass) which will have paint running and dripping off the model (wait till the paint dries hard--several days, sand the drips away, and repaint--ugh). Try and store the freshly painted model in a box or somewhere dust, dirt, cat hairs, siblings and other pests won't get on it.
If you have a painted interior, you need to block it off with tape or fill it with Kleenex or something similar to prevent paint from getting in. If the model has an overall base color, I normally paint it first. If it has several base colors, paint the lightest one first. If other colors, such as camouflage, will be painted over the base color, paint it after the base color. For detail paining, try and paint from the lowest level to the higher level to prevent your hands from brushing the wet paint. Normally you'll paint every thing that needs to be painted the same color at the same time. Be sure to allow one layer of paint to dry before you paint over it-plan ahead and work on sub components or different areas of the model to save time. If some paint gets "outside the lines", wait till it dries and paint over it with the appropriate color.
Shading can greatly increase the appearance of some models, especially figures, groundwork, buildings, and armor. This generally means darkening the recesses and lightening the highlights (raised areas). Look at someone's clothes from a distance-the underside of the wrinkles, collars and seams seem darker, while the tops of the wrinkles and seams seem lighter. This is exactly the effect you want to achieve on a figure, and the same applies to groundwork. Two techniques that are frequently used are washes and drybrushing. A wash is a very thin layer of paint, while drybrushing is brushing a brush with very little paint on it over the highlights. To make a wash you want to thin your paint with thinner (enamels) or water (acrylics). For acrylics, a small drop of car window washing solution will cut the surface tension of the mix, and it will adhere better. Start with a 5 part thinner to 1 part paint; experiment, and add more thinly if needed. To test, put a little on a brush and paint a stroke on a piece of white paper-it should hardly cover at all. It's better to be too thin than too dark-you can always apply a second coat.
Washes are traditionally used to darken recesses, and are made with very dark paints of the same color as the color they are complimenting. An overall wash will change the tint of the color it's brushed over, but is fairly easy to do, and uniformly spreads the effect. It works great on ground work and sometimes on armored vehicles. You may have to soak off some excess with a piece of paper towel or Kleenex. Don't rub the surface till dry. If you use an enamel wash over an enamel base, wait about a week for the base dry, and don't rub the base coat-the thinner can dissolve the base coat and it will lift off. A different effect is to use a pointed brush and apply the wash just on the recessed areas you want. This is the best way to shade a figure's recessed areas. It also works great with black to accent the recessed areas of grills, the edges of doors and hatches and aircraft panel lines. This also works well for oil stains (dark brown and black) and rust (reddish brown to dark orange). A dirty vehicle can be represented with s dirt colored wash, filling the recessed areas with dirt, while the raised areas appear to have the dirt wiped off. Look at cars in break-up.
Dry brushing can be used alone or after a wash. I normally use a flat brush for drybrushing. Put a little bit of paint on the end of your brush, then lightly brush most of it off on a piece of paper with gentle strokes. Don't scrub. When only a little bit remains, gently brush across the raised points you want to highlight. The idea is to just leave paint on the raised portion, not coat the area in paint. In most cases, the color you drybrush with will be a lighter color. For figures, this will give a lighter highlight to the tops of wrinkles, collars etc. It can make the detail such as bolts and edges really pop out on a tanks or aircraft (go lightly on aircraft), and helps add realistic variety to ground work. Cars are normally done with a gloss show room finish with few washes or drybrushing, but consider drybrushing dashboard (and cockpit) instruments and the lettering on tires or license plates.
For recessed panel lines on aircraft, I normally use a very sharp pencil!
Gloss coat-there are several model paints to put a clear, shinny coat on the model, but Future floor way, an acrylic, will do just as well. For an overall flat coat, several clear flat model paints are available.
Decal provide details you couldn't possibly paint. If possible, apply over a gloss surface; flat surfaces trap air bubbles, causing the clear portion of the decal to appear silver. Dip the decal in water, let set for about 30 seconds, then remove the decal. Bring the paper next to where you want the decal, slide it off the paper on to the model with the handle of a paintbrush, wet finger, or a pair of tweezers, and move it into place. THEN DON'T TOUCH IT TILL IT DRIES. If it moves, be careful about moving it back into place. If it tears, just treat it as two separate decals, and move the edges together. There are several decal-setting solutions on the market; some by the major paint companies that will make the decal snuggle down very tight. In the process the decals may wrinkle while still wet-don't touch them, this is normal. They should flatten out when they dry. If not, prick the bubble with a pin or knife blade and apply more solution. Once completely dry, a clear coat over the model seals the decals, protecting them, and give the model a uniform sheen.
There are many books on how to build models, the two I recommend the highest are:
Building Plastic Models, by Kalmbach Books. May be out of print; however some copies may be available in hobby shops.
How to Build Dioramas by Shep Paine newest edition is $24.95-ouch! But worth it.
ipms / anchorage
