Airfix 1/72nd Westland Sea King HC.4

[Scratchbuilder]

Little update. I will add these images, even though I'm quite embarrassed by the 2nd one.

First one shows my primed parts (Humbrol grey spray primer)
Second one shows my absymal paint job.

I sprayed the bottom part grey (paint is Vallejo Light Grey) but for some weird reason it looks green!!
I have added a grey wash to try and darken it and make it worn/dirty) I guess that's worked a little.

as for the horrendous seats, the manual says to paint them blue and shows a humbrol paint, however I don't
have that and the nearest thing I have to blue is turquoise and night blue, so I painted them the turquoise.
unfortunately it looks dreadful, I will try and make them look less horrible by adding a wash tomorrow.

My painting would shame an eight year old right now, I can only hope I get better with practice!

More images to come as I continue to work on this kit.

"Embarrased by the second one...."
You should see some of the disasters I have put on here.... and not only with the painting - you learn by your mistakes, we all do.
A tip for your photo's. When you 'Attach files' the photo, there is a button on the top left that says 'Insert' click on that and then the button that opens 'Full Image', that will give you the full image and save my poor old eyes...
Mike

[Waspie]

"Embarrased by the second one...."
You should see some of the disasters I have put on here.... and not only with the painting - you learn by your mistakes, we all do.
A tip for your photo's. When you 'Attach files' the photo, there is a button on the top left that says 'Insert' click on that and then the button that opens 'Full Image', that will give you the full image and save my poor old eyes...
Mike

Just to build on what Mike said. Have a butchers at my VW Beetle build. I cocked up good style on that. But with advice from the good chaps on here, recovered what I thought was a right dustbin of a build. I always do a warts and all build then the guys can offer advice and make recommendations if needed.
See page 2 - drastic measures taken!! Doug's Beetle Build Link But recovered from it.

[Guest]

"Embarrased by the second one...."
You should see some of the disasters I have put on here.... and not only with the painting - you learn by your mistakes, we all do.
A tip for your photo's. When you 'Attach files' the photo, there is a button on the top left that says 'Insert' click on that and then the button that opens 'Full Image', that will give you the full image and save my poor old eyes...
Mike

Thank you, sorry about the images, I didn't know.

[Guest]

Just beginning to get to the point where I put the sides together. Which will be nice as it'll mostly hide the horrid interior paintwork.
The nest part is to add the other side and then start adding detail parts.

The question is, at what point do you paint the outside, I'm guessing when everything but the rotors are added?

[Mark1]

Any fragile bits could be painted separately and attached later to save the risk of knocking them off,theres no set procedure just however you think will be easiest for you.

[Guest]

When to paint what is a matter of experience and preference, really — and you develop the latter with the former. My own way to do it is normally to put everything together before painting, except things that will get in the way of painting others, or which need to be a completely different colour entirely. For a helicopter like this, that would probably mean I leave the rotors (main and tail) loose, as well as the wheels if possible (like if they are on struts and can be added after painting) and any external armament, like bombs or torpedoes.

The idea there is that it’s hard to paint the fuselage with the rotors in place, and it’s hard to paint the rotors, wheels and armament when they’re on the model already.

[Waspie]

Evening Steve. It's coming along nicely.
Painting is a quandary. What I did with my SK was as Jacko said, leave off the rotors to spray the fuselage. Easier. I then painted liquid mask onto the wheels as I had already glued them in position. Don't forget to mask off the canopy and windows. As mine was 1/72 I used liquid mask on the side windows and tape on the canopy. I didn't seal the canopy and allowed some of the spray to enter. Annoyed me but wasn't overly bad. Check out my build here if you wish. (Skip to page 7 to get to the external painting). It was my first build for - a very very long time.
Good luck with the painting

[Guest]

Evening Steve. It's coming along nicely.
Painting is a quandary. What I did with my SK was as Jacko said, leave off the rotors to spray the fuselage. Easier. I then painted liquid mask onto the wheels as I had already glued them in position. Don't forget to mask off the canopy and windows. As mine was 1/72 I used liquid mask on the side windows and tape on the canopy. I didn't seal the canopy and allowed some of the spray to enter. Annoyed me but wasn't overly bad. Check out my build here if you wish. (Skip to page 7 to get to the external painting). It was my first build for - a very very long time.
Good luck with the painting

Thanks for the great tips!

[Scratchbuilder]

When to paint???
When you are happy with getting as far as you can without causing damage that will need repairs...
So speaking from an armour side, I split my painting into wheels/drive sprockets, hull, turret, track. And other items like antennae, machine gun mounts, hatches all are sprayed seperately.
Looking at aircraft I would say fill out any openings that you do not want paint to enter with foam sponge (steal the wifes scouring sponge) cut to shape so it fits the opening - wheel wells/cockpit etc.
But as has been said, you will discover these points with experience... AND DO NOT WORRY if you mess it up, we all do it, we go in the corner, have a little cry, kick the wall and realise not to do it again - but we do!!!
So paint away and then leave us to point you in the right direction for the future, because when I switch over to do a few aircraft later in the year it will be you advising me.

[Waspie]

Another good tip Steve, is when fixing the clear windows/lights etc, get yourself some 'Formulae 560' glue. Unlike TET and superglue, it won't make a mess of the transparent pieces. Another lesson I learnt by experience then guidance from the guys on here.

[Guest]

When to paint???
When you are happy with getting as far as you can without causing damage that will need repairs...
So speaking from an armour side, I split my painting into wheels/drive sprockets, hull, turret, track. And other items like antennae, machine gun mounts, hatches all are sprayed seperately.
Looking at aircraft I would say fill out any openings that you do not want paint to enter with foam sponge (steal the wifes scouring sponge) cut to shape so it fits the opening - wheel wells/cockpit etc.
But as has been said, you will discover these points with experience... AND DO NOT WORRY if you mess it up, we all do it, we go in the corner, have a little cry, kick the wall and realise not to do it again - but we do!!!
So paint away and then leave us to point you in the right direction for the future, because when I switch over to do a few aircraft later in the year it will be you advising me.

Thank you very much!

[Guest]

Oh dear. haha, I messed up today. I glued two parts (where the undercarriage goes to) and had to dash off out. I came back and oh my!
the part moved a bit and there's now a 1mm gap all around it. Couple that with one side of the fuselage that didn't glue flush and it's been a
bit of a bad day.

But I'm not giving up, I'm having a go at filling the gap with humbrol filler (green tube) but it's rather messy stuff to deal with.

I figure if I do the filling then sand it down and then it might not quite be so obvious when I paint it. (I hope!)

[Waspie]

Oh dear. haha, I messed up today. I glued two parts (where the undercarriage goes to) and had to dash off out. I came back and oh my!
the part moved a bit and there's now a 1mm gap all around it. Couple that with one side of the fuselage that didn't glue flush and it's been a
bit of a bad day.

But I'm not giving up, I'm having a go at filling the gap with humbrol filler (green tube) but it's rather messy stuff to deal with.

I figure if I do the filling then sand it down and then it might not quite be so obvious when I paint it. (I hope!)

I always look at days like that as learning days. One of the things I have learned from reading these guys posts is when I'm sticking larger parts together I now use tape to hold them in place until the glue has set. The other is, prior to gluing I test the pieces together several times until I am happy with the dry fit. Then I glue. (Checking with the boss, SWMBO, if we are doing anything like - 'shopping' before glue gets in contact with plastic!!)
At least you're making progress, more than I am anyway. It'll turn out fine.

[Mark1]

I have applied tamiya extra thin to glued joints before on bits that couldve been better which has softened the joint and allowed me to move it around a bit.

[Guest]

You could see if you can pry the parts apart again? Don’t force it, else it’s likely to break, but chances are that the glue isn’t fully dry yet, which might mean you can pull them apart — possibly coupled to Mark’s tip of applying some more liquid cement to the join to soften it.