Initial Painting
Today I did most of the preliminary painting. This is the base type stuff that will be mostly on interior surfaces.
Obviously that means mostly Interior Green. Later Mustangs would have more different colors here (Interior Green, Dark Green, Black), and the landing gear bay was bare metal. But as this is an early “B” it was mostly interior green. Propeller tips are yellow, which always means a white undercoat. Yellow just never works without white underneath.
Hard to see here, but I sprayed some Neutral Grey on surfaces that will be hard to get to later. Since its a major exterior color I used scale effect on the Neutral Grey. That means I mixed up a batch that is about 25% white/75% Neutral Grey. Colors tend to look darker as they are scaled down. That means the smaller the scale model the lighter you need your colors. For every model I mix up scaled colors, of about the amount I think I’ll need for the whole build. I also thin it down for air brushing. This saves a lot of time to have your base colors available for immediate spraying over the course of the project. But this concoction will not last like this more than a couple months (I don’t know exactly why, but paints seem to degrade quickly if they’re exposed to much air, even if they’re resealed well) so I mix it one project at a time. As the major exterior colors for this build are only Neutral Grey and Olive Drab those are the only two I will mix.
I mentioned my tools yesterday but neglected to photograph them. So here you go! No surprise, the top air brush with the bigger cup is the wider angle brush. The orange handled sprue nippers cut close to part surfaces so the part can usually be cleaned up easily with the knife and/or files. The self locking tweezers are just below the nippers; they are very handy for parts you will want to hang on to for a couple minutes and their blunt head is perfect for burnishing masking tape into position. I go through two or three knife blades on most builds, and the size “0” brush lasts a couple months. Files get replaced about once a month, although that varies a lot based on how much work parts and seams need on my current project! I use toothpicks and cotton swabs at an amazing rate.
Plane Dave 
This is interesting. Something I’ve always wondered about is how I would approach modeling if I took it up again, as an adult as opposed to a teenager.
As a teen it was always more about the creative process, pressing through and while the end product was something, it was often discarded so that the next one could move forward.
Things like priming, pre-painting, they never occurred to me. OK, priming did depending on the build. Fill putty and sanding were obsessions. I could not stand for there to be a seam where there shouldn’t be one.
I’ll be interested in this series of posts, and try to chime in on occasion, though I’m guessing much of that will be about how much the internet, etc has changed modeling from when all we had was a small town hobby shop and a local public library.
It’s always good to know someone’s interested!
I know you did mostly armor, so I imagine there was never as much preliminary painting to do anyway. And I still don’t normally prime! Part of why I use enamels is they cover well with little fuss. Well, except for yellow and sometimes red.
Filling and sanding are not favorite parts for me, part of why I prefer modern, well produced kits. But of course I will do what’s needed.
A couple of quick thoughts on the Internet; modeling is exactly what first drove my on-line activities. From research to shopping to learning new techniques, it has abetted my habit greatly.
But I still find the local hobby shop irreplaceable for basic supplies (paint, glue, brushes etc). You often have to pay shipping on small orders, so the LHS is actually cheaper for such things. My regular shop went out of business a few years ago and I was concerned about what I would do as I started building again last summer. Fortunately I’ve found an excellent NEW shop nearby that easily meets my needs (new shop, can you imagine that!) I also value the community; even if it’s a brief, businesslike contact, it’s nice to encounter an actual human being who understands some of what you’re working on.
I’m never gonna bash on the local hobby shop. If anything the internet revolution has given them resources I never dreamt of. While modeling has been less of an interest in recent years, other hobbyist pursuits have filled the gap. I agree that talking to an enthusiast makes a differenst.