BobHolmes

Thank you Gil and others. Afraid we don't have any of the art type stores you talk about. We do have an Office Depot but they don't carry the things y'all refer to. Closest would be San Antonio or Austin. That's why Squadron and I have become such good friends again after 40+ years. Anyhow, thank you for your time. My concern is that when I try to do this camouflage thing as per the instructions, I might pull the paint off that we first put on. We will try what you have suggested. I keep remembering way back when I had and used an airbrush when a bunch of these things weren't such an issue (unless I am forgetting (completely possible)).

I could only dream about our model looking as good as yours does. I don't have a scanner as you mentioned, so maybe I can just draw some on tape. You mention low tack tape. Can you tell me what that would be? That laying thread under tape sounds really cool. But my hands have begun to shake pretty badly that we may not be able to handle that. Thank you for your ideas, Gil. You guys really know some stuff. Thank you again for your time and your ideas.

Dave, thank you very much for your response. We have bought ourselves a Spitfire (Tamiya) to work on next and the instructions show how the camouflage is supposed to be. I have to say - we don't do that very well. Years ago I did OK with an airbrush, but with a brush or spray can or both, it has become much more difficult. And then we noticed that Cutting Edge had that kind of mask (previously), that got our interest. I figure from now on we will try to work on models that are single color ones. I guess we'll just have to tough it on this one. Thank you for your answers, the links, and your patience with us.

I have read someplace about those masks. Since grandson and I are always on the lookout for "best" methods for doing things, and more importantly those that require the least skill, these Cutting Edge things look like our kind of deal. I googled it but without luck. Anyone here have any idea where these things come from and how you might get them? Of course cost might be an issue for us, but we are interested anyhow. Thanks for any info.

Yep, that does help considerably. We may try it on our next endeavor. I don't think we are gonna go the airbrush route anytime soon. Health issues, you know. If my son wants his son to get into it, I'll let them. For now, I foot the bill for our models and paint and stuff. Navy retired pay and social security don't allow for much more. :D Thank you.

Can this be used with a brush? And if it can, then decals applied, will a coat of spray flat work over it? Thanks.

Thanks very much for your response (quick). Yeah, afraid I have two kinds of cancer now and so he may have to start remembering quicker than we both would like and start these on his own. I am figuring we will kinda stick with Tamiya as you have recommended. It seems to be in our price range and they seem to have the models we are interested in, and except for our missteps ours did go together well. Thank you again for your recommendation.

As I had originally posted, my grandson (ten yrs old) and I (seventy-one) are getting into modeling WW2 aircraft. We don't have the skills or do near the job you guys here do, but we are having fun anyhow. Our first attempt was a Tamiya P-51B 1/48 scale, and even if I must say so myself, it turned out pretty well, although we are our only two critics. My question though, in your opinions, is, what brands would be the "best" for us as far as pieces fitting, accuracy, etc? That Tamiya kit was really good although we did have a couple of issues gluing stuff together, but I strongly suspect that was us and not the Tamiya guys. We are pretty much limited to 1/48 because from what I have seen, anything bigger than that is just too danged expensive for us. Back forty-five plus years ago when I built my first models, I can remember that some of those kits had parts that you would swear weren't even for that model. Putty and a lot of glue was my friend. We'd like to stay away from those, but they may not be around anymore anyway. Anyhow, we are looking for advice. Thank you for any you are willing to give.

Thanks. I had tried wetting the end of my finger to pick up the part, but then when it came off a couple fell into the carpet or some place and haven't been seen since. And even though seeing the part of hard, trying to get it where it is supposed to go and having it stay there, well, back to the shaky hands it is just pretty much impossible. When my grandson saw the hard time I was having, he pretty much understands. But our instrument panel looked really good. I had no idea about the film. We didn't have anything that had holes in it. At least those parts were of a decent size and we could work with them sort of. Thank you for all your other info. It is showing how much model building has changed since back in the mid 70's, or how maybe how little I knew even back then. Thank you again.

When my grandson and I started on our P-51B, he swindled me into buying the subject add on stuff. Well, we got it, and, number one, except for the instrument panel things there was no way in the world a 71 yr old with not so hot eyesite and shaky hands and a ten year old (you know how they are) were gonna be able to use those little parts. And we don't have capability to "shave" off interior molded in detail so some of them can be used as the instructions told us to do. I tried one of the seatbelts and that was a joke. It was too long for one thing and required some serious bending and was just too little. We gave it up pretty quickly. That is my sad story. But my question - included was what they called "film" of the instruments. What is that for? The little metal parts already have the instruments on them. Oh, and just one more thing, important to us but probably not to you skilled guys. We also got some already cut masking that we used on the canopy. Boy, is that a God-send. That wasn't around that I know of when I was modeling in earnest, but it really, really does make painting easier. Thanks for listening, and for any info you might want to impart.

Thank you very much Gil.

Thank you very much for your response. I have learned from this, and will share it with my "partner" (grandson). Unfortunately, I forgot one other glue. It's epoxy that I order from Golfsmith. I have this around the house all the time since I make golf clubs and that's what I use to attach shafts to clubheads. Only negatives I can think of about it is that it smells to high heaven, takes pretty long to set up, and dries black. Would it be good to use for landing gear and those type parts where I could hide it? It is definitely strong. I haven't lost a clubhead yet that I know of. Is the plastic to plastic thing as relevant as with the others? Thanks again for your help for one old and not very smart.

As my grandson and I get further along in this a/c modeling thing, I have a general question or two about the glues we are using. From way way back in my beginning modeling days I remember that it is very important to make sure there is no paint on the two surfaces to be glued together and that we need to scrape off any that is. This is for our tube of Testors. I seem to remember that the same wasn't necessarily true for Elmer's, which I always used to attach canopies. Am I correct? And to carry my question further, how about Super Glue (although I used to try and avoid it because all I seemed to glue together was my fingers, and this was when I was a youngster)? And - my grandson found something online called Gator's Grip Hobby Glue and we ordered some of that (that is what granddads are for). In the little bottle it looks like Elmers to me, although thicker. If you have used it, do surfaces need to be paint free for it also? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this, and maybe sharing your expertise with us. Thank you very much.

My grandson and I are in the final stages of completing a Tamiya P-51B. Yesterday when he was attaching bomb racks and ordnance I guess the MicroSol stuff hadn't completely dried on one of the bottom wing stripes and he scuffed a fairly large portion of the stripe. My question - in you feller's opinion what is the best/easiest way to fix it? I have some spare white striping but I don't know about putting a decal on a decal; filling in the damaged portion with paint but then how does paint react to the decal?; other? Of course my first thought is to just leave it the way it is, but it doesn't really look to good. It is on the bottom of the wing though. Any thoughts and recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Was invited to introduce myself - here goes. First and foremost, I am 71 yrs old. I was heavy into scale model aircraft back in the mid 70's until probably the late 80's. But then I just kind of gave it up. Gave away all my stuff (airbrushes, compressor, all other hardware, etc) and my models. I have threatened to start again over the years but my eyes are the same age as the rest of me, and my hands are pretty shaky now and so I just put it off. About six months ago, however, one of my grandsons asked me to help him build a 1/48 P-61 he had gotten for his birthday, and so now I am hooked. No more expensive equipment this time though, only spray paints and brushes, and the bare essentials. None the less, here I am. I said I was "kinda" new. I think I was a member of IPMS a lot of years ago, but that was back in the days when my kids did all their "computing" on an Atari 800 (no internet) so it was all done by mail. Heck, I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning much less what I did some forty years ago. I am joining this forum primarily so I can "pick the brains" and observe the posts of all you smart, talented folks who build really super models and maybe some of it will rub off on me. One thing I'm figuring that will really change. Back then I built nothing but contemporary 1/72 scale Navy jets (I am retired from the USN back in '82) and now I am gonna have to step it up to at least 1/48 out of necessity. Goes back to my nerves and eyes. Well, that is about it. Live down in S. Texas where walk in access to hobby shops isn't happening, so I guess I will get well acquainted with Squadron as in the past. Thanks for listening, and bare with me if I ask a stupid question.