I have been modeling for some time now and I have always brush painted or used testor aerosols. So when I finally bought myself a compressor and airbrush I needed to do a model to develop and practice the technique of airbrushing. I thought that the F-117 would be a good test bed for myself primarily because the aircraft is made up of many flat surfaces that would be easy to paint. I had originally planned to do the aircraft in flat black with the kit decals, but decided that would be a little boring. I thought at the same time as I practiced basic airbrushing, I could try a little free hand camo.
I used Gunze Sangyo semi gloss acrylic paints thinned with future, which I learned from the Tools & Tips section on ARC. This technique worked pretty well considering my novice abilities. I had always shied away from airbrushing because of the thinning involved and I have had a couple disasters in the past, but these were reminded when I opened my wallet to buy a compressor. The compressor gave me a more consistent spray pattern then the propellant cans I have experimented with in the past. The decals came from my scrap pile under my work bench. All in all I had a great time doing this model....it was a lot of fun .Just to let you know what I do to support my habit of buying kits and more kits....I work in the Canadian Armed Forces. Besides spending my free time assembling scale aircraft kits, I spend my working hours working on actual aircraft. The mighty Canadian Armed Forces Dash-8. I also work in transient aircraft servicing were I deal with everything from Beachcraft C-90's to C-17 Globemasters. Mike Buggie |
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Photos and text © by Mike Buggie