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The first thing we recommend you do is clean your kit with soap and water.  Dishwashing liquid usually works best because it cuts the grease left on the plastic parts by your fingertips. 

After the model dries, you should apply a coat of primer. You may wish to do this selectively, avoiding certain areas of the model with fine detail.  Primer will help when applying glossy paints which have a tendency to clear up and dribble over certain areas.  Certain model makers use acrylic paints instead of enamels, and do not require using primer, but since our experience is mostly with enamel paint, we'll stick to the primer (no pun intended), which should be chosen to match the underlying color of the materials which would have been used to build the actual plane.

When the primer has dried, it's time to start painting.  We usually start with the larger areas, leaving unpainted edges around the details.  The reason for this is that we do not want excess paint to accumulate in the tiny crevices where a different shade of paint is to later be added.  once you have painted the main areas of your model, let dry, and once dry, you may want to apply small amounts of the same shade to the edges you had left untouched during the previous coat. This takes quite a bit of time, and you'll be glad the rest of the model is dry, allowing you to manipulate it easier.

Once the main color of the model has been applied, the fun starts.  Have you ever wondered why miniatures used in movies look so different from the ones you make? It's all a question of touch ups, and rigorous experimentation; you'd be surprised what you can use to add realism to your miniature model aircraft.

Some people use an airbrush to paint fine detail on models, but you can do just as well using regular brushes, providing you have a good eye for detail.  We will briefly touch on the subject of airbrushing later on in this feature.

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Last modified: March 14, 2002