Been itching to play with the new airbrush set up. While i'm waiting to order the paints from Hobbylinc for the rebuild of the '37 Ford, I needed a kit to practice on. I had a 15% off coupon for Ollies, they kits, though sparse in choice, are the cheapest around. So I ran over and picked up this kit. Wasn't much left to choose from, but I wanted something with a bit of "meat" to the body.
I had been messing around with the .99 cent craft acrylic paints. But now it was time to step it up a notch. I really didn't want to use the craft paint on this, so I stopped ay Hobby Lobby to see what they had. I opted for the Createx, as it was just there! I ended up picking up the Createx Wicked Colors Pearl Lime Green along with a reducer and clear coat.
By time got home, already had an idea how I was going to go about it. But still had butterflies in the stomach. I sprayed a couple of spoons, one in a flat white Tamiya primer and the other in a flat black Krylon primer. After they dried, I mixed a small amount of the Createx and applied it to the spoons. The white was way too bright for me. I liked it, but way too bright. The Createx over the black was a lot darker, more to what I was looking for. Yet it was still lighter than the Mystic Green I used on the Duster.
So while the spoon dried, I began de-flashing the parts I was going to paint. Got them lightly sanded and washed in soap and water. I will say, AMT needs to get their shit together when de-molding these kits. The body wasn't white by a dark gray due to the material used. The interior back seat was the same. Little extra elbow grease and it was somewhat cleaner.
Went and laid the Testors Flat Black primer over the body parts and used the Tamiya Flat White on the interior parts. Now to let it dry.
Per the instructions in the Createx whitepapers, the few videos I watched, I mixed up the paint as close as I could to the percentages and let it sit about 5 minutes. Still had a lot of air bubbles in the paint, but I was aching to try it.
Loaded up the gun and began to paint. Since i'm spraying over black, it's going to take a bit longer to cover. During the spray process, I had to widen the spray pattern a bit and increase the PSI from 15 to 20. I got a little too close in a few places and the air from the gun started pushing the paint.
There is some splatter spots. I believe this is due to the paint still being a bit too thick. As I sprayed i was realizing the spray pattern needed to overlap to actually cover. Since this is my first time, it's all a learning experience.
By time I emptied the paint batch, I looked on in satisfaction. There are things I could have done better. But I'm learning. One takeaway is, damn my fingertip is sore as hell. Feels like i've been trying to play guitar after years off.
Regardless, I can see my mistakes. I love them. I made them. I will do some light sanding after it's fully dry and lay another coat or two on it. According to the Createx papers, it should be dry sanded with 800-1000 grit paper, so we'll see. I know there is a run on the passenger fender that most likely won't sand out, but it will stay.
Not bad for the first time If I say so.
My airbrush kit is the Avanti Airbrush combo from Harbor Freight. It comes with a 0.3 mm needle.
