Apache Priming and Painting Phase One

The painting of the Apache has begun! This was the first time Thing Two got to use the airbrush. It's good to get it in his hands young, if he keeps at it, he can be a real pro someday. Today we'll take a look at the priming and base coat.

I keep this spare piece of styrene card for testing paint and what not. It came in handy to let him practice a little and get a feel for the airbrush.

First we painted the base coat on the canopy. He wanted blue and all I had was RLM Hellblau (Light blue). It will have to do.

When the clear part was painted we got on to the priming.

Thing Two did pretty well for a first attempt, but tired after a while. There was still some humidity in the air as you can see the pistol grip moisture trap on the airbrush.

It would have helped if I had a .4mm needle in the airbrush. As I don't have one, we had to do with a .2mm. Hopefully this will be rectified when Chicago Airbrush has a sale for the holidays.

Thing Two threw in the towel so I had to take over. I was unable to complete the priming as the airbrush was not spraying well anymore and needed a complete strip down. After coming back for a second round on another day, I finished up the priming.

We've finally gotten to the fun part, laying down the base coat. Thing Two is spraying Model Master Panzer Schwarzgrau. For you non-modelers or non-German speakers, that it "Tank Black-gray".

Working it all over.

Takes a bit of practice to get even coats.

Have to make sure everything gets well covered. I took over once Thing Two tired. It took a little bit more work to even out some areas and compensate for puddley spots and runs.

Thing Two wanted a "red" tail. I just happened to have the desired paint on hand for once! This was a pretty quick and dirty mask job. I wasn't extremely particular.

I sprayed the red tail, then, only after I cleaned the airbrush I noticed that areas that were thinner coated, tended more toward pink. I'll have to remember this in the future. It won't matter too much once you see what's coming.

Here is the completed base coat.

I think we should start calling this the Alternate History Apache.