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I airbrushed 2 kits recently using craft store paints and was pretty satisfied with the results. The wide variety of colors in these paints is amazing, and lets you come up with some colors that Tamiya spray cans (which I usually use) don't offer. Plus the price can't be beat! The one thing I had trouble with was getting a really smooth, gloss coat on the models. I included some photos of each kit that shows the finish I did get. From a distance, they look great; but closer up, maybe not as much The 1/25 scale T-Bird was done using DecoArt Americana Buttermilk, and the 1/32 scale Corvette used Folk Art Metallic Turquoise Shimmer. Both were thinned using window cleaner. DecoArt was thinned with a ratio of 1 part paint to 1 part thinner. The Folk Art was a thicker paint and was thinned at 1 part paint and 2 parts thinner. Air pressure was around 25 psi. Both bodies were primed with Tamiya primer. I did do some extremely light sanding of the bodies using 8000 and 12000 sanding pads. I applied Tamiya Gloss Clear from an aerosol can after sanding. I know that craft paints tend to be matte finishes which may result in some of "texture" on the bodies (although the metallic paint seemed to have a bit more gloss to start with.) Any suggestions or tips would be welcomed. Thanks, Bart

Here is my latest completion - a restoration of a 1964 AMT 1/25th scale Ford Thunderbird that I originally built in 1964 when I was a young kid. I included a few shots of it before restoration to show the terrible brush painted black body and the poorly done chrome trim (not my best work!). I stripped the paint and started over again airbrushing the body with DecoArt Buttermilk craft store paint and airbrushing the interior with Folk Art Linen craft store paint. Some darker browns were used on the dash and floors - along with some brown embossing powder on the carpeted areas. This is one of the first kits that I have airbrushed craft paints on and I was pretty pleased with the results. The wheels were in pretty bad shape, so I used some wire wheels from a 1965 Continental kit. I did not have the turn indicators that are mounted on the top front corners of the body, so I crafted some using bits of plastic rod and plastic strips. The chrome on both bumpers was in rough shape, so I stripped them and redid them with AK Interactive Chrome. All chrome trim is hand painted - that includes the Thunderbird script on the hood and body sides. Definitely an improvement over what it previously looked like. Thanks for looking! Bart

Here is a 63 Corvette I just completed. It's the AMT 1/32nd scale kit, and the detail on these small kits is amazing considering they are only 5-6" in length. It's also one of the first cars I airbrushed with craft paints. The body was sprayed with Folk Art Metallic Turquoise Shimmer paint. DecoArt Turquoise was brush painted in the interior. All chrome trim is hand painted. I printed the Corvette flags to use behind the rear window. I included some photos of this car with 2 other AMT 1/32 scale kits I have built - a 1960 Thunderbird and a 1965 Mustang 2+2 Fastback. The Vette required a bit more work than the other kits. The front body section below the hood and the rear body section below the rear deck were molded as part of the chassis. I ended up cutting the front panel from the chassis so it was easier to get a tighter fit with the rest of the body. Wish I also had done the rear panel the same way! There were large gaps on the sides, between the lights, and along the top seam. It was already glued together, so I carefully applied some putty to seal up as many gaps as I safely could. Then I hand brushed some metallic turquoise on after the putty was very carefully sanded down. I think it came out pretty good considering the kit was already glued together! I did notice that there a few spots on the window trim where the paint had been rubbed off - those areas have now been repaired. The photos are invaluable for showing you things like this that you wouldn't notice with your eyes! Thanks for looking! Bart

Very nice work on this one. The color looks great! Bart

That looks really nice - especially with the diorama you made to display it! Bart

Thanks, Dave! Both models had a primer applied before the craft paints were sprayed on. For the Tamiya X-22 paint, what do you use to thin it, and what's the ratio of clear to the thinner? Does the X=22 produce a good, glossy finish? Bart

I airbrushed my first 2 cars using Craft Paint (DecoArt Americana). What can I use for clear over these paints? I would prefer to use a rattle can clear. My usual clear is Tamiya's Clear aerosol spray. Can that be used, or will it negatively affect the acrylic paint? Can I spray several very thin coats of Tamiya before I put down a heavier coat? Appreciate your ideas and suggestions. Thanks, Bart

I am restoring one of the kits I made in 1964. It was brush painted with Testor's black enamel. The interior was brush painted with Testor's red enamel. I have always found these to be 2 of the most difficult paints to remove. I use Easy Off Oven Cleaner (the one with the really noxious fumes) and have had good results with other colors, but black and red have always seemed to be hard to remove. I am wondering if anyone has other good solutions for dealing with these two colors? I have soaked the parts for 12-24 hours in Oven Cleaner twice, and have done lots of scrubbing with a toothbrush. I haven't gotten it down to shiny white plastic like I usually can. Despite the remnants of the colors, the parts appear to be pretty clean and smooth now, but I am reluctant to apply primer just yet in case the surfaces are rougher than they look. Here is a picture of what some of the parts look like now. Thanks, Bart

Very nice!

Looks very good! Bart

I have built this kit and can attest that it is not the easiest build. Requires a lot of patience. Your rendition of it is superb! Bart

Very nice. Love the diorama display, too!

I am going to try to master airbrushing again. Will be using a Paasche single action H-3AS this time. I have a double action airbrush, but unfortunately never seemed to figure it out. ? I specifically want to use acrylic paints - Tamiya, Mr. Color, and craft store paints (Apple Barrel. Ceramcoat, etc.). Here are some questions: 1) For each type of paint mentioned above, what can/should be used to thin the paint? 2) What's a good paint to thinner ratio to start with for each of the paints mentioned above. 3) What's a good compressor setting to start with for each of the paints mentioned above. I appreciate everyone's advice on this! Wish me luck - I will get the hang of this someday! Thanks, Bart

I agree - if it's got wire axles, it will roll. Anything with axle pins is usually glued for my kits. They all sit on a shelf, so none of them really need to be able to roll. Bart

An awful lot of good detail on a 1/32nd scale model. Great work!

Thanks, Steve! I checked out Evan's Designs and that has given me a lot of ideas! Bart

One of my next projects is going to be the Polar Lights Star Trek Galileo 7 shuttlecraft with the full interior. I would like to be able to light the interior. The interior ceiling has a large rectangular piece of frosted glass in it. I expect there to be a little bit of space between the interior ceiling and the exterior roof of the shuttle. I am thinking that the LED Tape strip lights that are out there might be a good solution to put in that space. Would likely attach the strip to the underside of the exterior roof. The strip of lights won't be that long - probably about 8 - 10 inches or thereabouts. But, I don't know much about these lights. What do you think the best power solution would be - batteries, DC or AC? How do you connect the power to the light strip? Regardless of the power source, it will need to be outside of the ship. Are there small connectors I could use in the wires going to the power source so that I could connect/disconnect it (to be able to take pictures of the model without visible wires flowing out of it)?. I would probably route the wires and connector to come out behind the nacelle struts on one side so it wouldn't be that noticeable. Can anyone provide some good sources for a short strip of lights and any other items I would need? If anyone has other ideas on how to approach this, I would welcome them. Thanks, Bart

The original color I wanted to use was Testor's Model Master Dark Bronze Metallic (discontinued quite a while ago). I had two cans, but one starting oozing out which is why I went with Testor's Fiery Orange. One poster mentioned that Tamiya has Metallic Orange TS-92 (which is readily available). I had looked at that color and felt that Fiery Orange was just a little better match. Good luck with your kit! Bart

Thanks! The carpeting was done using a Brown Embossing powder. I have two different methods I may use to to apply it - brushing a thick layer of paint (in a similar shade as the power) and then using a spoon to drop the embossing powder into the paint while it is still wet, or brushing some thinned white Elmer's glue and using the spoon to drop the powder into it. Sometimes I think I may have also used a model railroading product -Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement, which looks like white glue that has already been thinned. I believe I used the thinned Elmer's Glue to do this application. As I write this, I am thinking another option might be to brush a thick layer of a clear paint and then apply the powder. This would prevent any potential impact of the paint on the color of the powder when it is applied. I may have to try this idea! Bart

Here is my first completed kit for 2023 - a 1/25th scale Jo-Han model of the Chrysler Turbine car. I remember building this model back in the 1960's when I was much younger. My 2023 build turned out a lot better than the one I made many years ago! The color is Testor's Fiery Orange. Not sure if this is still made by Testor's, so when I found a couple of cans at Hobby Lobby I grabbed them! The body was molded in white, so this was not the original release of this kit. This reissue had a lot of serious flash on it. I did need to do a little sanding on the door panels, interior panels, and body to get the doors to fit better (but not perfectly). I also used magnets behind the door panels and the door jambs to help keep the doors closed. All chrome is hand painted, except for the Turbine scripts on the body sides and the hood. Thanks for looking! Bart

On eBay, look for "BestModelCarParts". He sells printed sheets with gauges, speedometers, and radio faces for quite a few model kits. I have bought several and have been pleased with them. I will also look on the internet for photos of dashboards. If I can find a good shot of a gauge I need, I will bring it into Photoshop to erase everything but the actual gauge, and then will do any tweaking of the image that is needed. Another good source for photos of gauges is to look on eBay for one that someone is selling. Their photos will often work, too. For both methods, I will put double-sided scotch tape behind the paper and will attach that to very thin sheet plastic. Then, I cut the gauge out and secure it to the dash with glue. I bought a leather hole punch tool that works well to punch the round ones out. The really small round gauges may need to be hand cut with a small scissors (Like a fingernail scissors). I will put a small dab of glue on the dash where the gauge needs to go and then attach the gauge. In the photos I included, the Corvette dash and Cougar dash have gauges from BestModelCarParts. (The Blue and the Green interiors) The Turbine Car has gauges from internet photos that were tweaked in Photoshop a bit. (The dash hanging below the windshield) Hope this helps! Bart

I built the Prestige version of this kit and was quite happy with it. The only issue I had (as mentioned by others in this post) was the opening doors. I had to do some sanding on the edges of the exterior and interior door panels to get them to fit well. I wish I had used some hidden magnets inside the doors panels and the body to keep the doors closed snugly. I hadn't learned that trick using magnets at that time. The doors do close well, but when you pick the model up, one or both doors tend to pop open slightly. Bart

Here is my latest completion – a 1/25th scale Ecto-1 Ghostbusters vehicle. The kit that I bought was actually an Ecto-1A, which was the vehicle from the second movie. After doing some research, I learned that the vehicle in the second movie had quite a few additional gadgets added and modifications made to the vehicle from the original movie. I have included a photo of both vehicles to illustrate how different they were from each other. I wanted to build a vehicle that represented the Ecto-1 from the first movie. The modifications I made include: 1) Modifying the frame on the roof to remove the extensions that had been added to the front and rear for the second movie. 2) Making the radar system (the gadget with the 2 red tubes coming out of it). 3) Adding the GPS system (the white dome with red stripes at the rear of the roof frame). 4) Making the siren and red light on the front of the frame (caps from pens were used to make the bodies for these). 5) Adding the black hoses on the driver’s side rear (wire was inserted into black heat shrink tubing to create these). 6) Adding the antenna on the driver’s side rear (plastic rod bent to shape with a drop of glue to form the ball on the end). 7) Making the ladder for the passenger side (made with pieces of plastic strips). ? Added the gray hose behind the ladder (A piece of gray wire). I took some creative license with the interior by adding a lot of control panels and gauges to the side of the rear interior compartment. While it’s not an exact replica of the Ecto-1 from the first movie, I think it turned out to be a reasonably close representation of it. Thanks for looking! Bart Not my models below, but it helps to illustrate the differences between the car in the first 2 movies.

There was no cutting of the tape. This is the width that it came in. Sorry but I don't remember where I got it, and the little plastic bag it came in doesn't say what size it is. I know I found it somewhere on the internet, but i don't think it was from Amazon or eBay. Here is a picture of it on a piece of plastic. It definitely bends! You can see the size of the roll of tape - enough to last a lifetime. I have 2 more rolls like this (3 rolls was the minimum order!). The model is 1/25 scale. My best guess is that it was probably 1/64" tape. I am pretty sure I would have bought the narrowest width available. I know you need gold, but if anyone wants one of the other two rolls of black tape that I have, send me a PM and we can work something out! I have way more striping tape than I would ever need! Bart

I'll second the use of Chart Pack tape. I used it (or could have been a similar brand) to do the pin stripes on this Miata. Bart