I use about 10 ml (about 0.35 oz) of paint to spray a base coat for a 1/35 AFV. Does this sound like the right amount?
I'm just curious if my base coat is kind of too heavy.

Hi,

Well, considering that a Tamiya jar (mini) is 10 ml it is possible you used a tad too much for a base coat. I can do an entire 1/48 Hasegawa Tomcat with way less than that (and a 1/48 tomcat is pretty big). Thinning the paint more may be in order, IMHO.

Rob

It really depends on the atomization of your airbrush. Some paints, airbrushes, and models need more coats to get good coverage. How much did you thin the paint?


If you achieved good coverage, did not obscure any of the details, and dried to the touch in about an hour, then I would say your paint is in the realm of acceptable thickness.

I hope that helps!

Bet you there is not a nook or crazy not painted on this AFV , what is it ? Put up some pictures .

I thin Tamiya acrylics with Tamiya thinner 50/50. My ABs for base-coating are Iwata HP-CS and SAR.

CLARIFICATION: I use about 10 ml of a paint mix for a base coat. So I essentially use 5 ml of paint.

I usually paint a model with a black primer before spraying a base coat. The black primer also serves as pre-shading.

One drawback is because the black color is visible through a light base coat, I have to apply the base coat several times to the areas that shouldn't be shaded (e.g., the turret, top hull, etc), consuming more paint.

So, in essence, I'm not sure if I should continue to use a black primer.

Oh, that makes more sense, Chris. Yea, covering black will require quite a bit of paint. I used to do the same thing (using black as primer) as I l liked the way I could vary the top coats. However, I soon found out that 1) I was using way too much paint (specially since I thin my paints A LOT and they're very translucent) and 2) the top coats always look too dark. I still prime with black but only do it in small areas (cockpits, etc). Everything else just gets a pre-shade.

Rob

Try using white primer and pre-shading with black. You can determine the depth of color, as you go.

I'll stop using black primer. Using dark washes to create shades seems to make more sense than overusing and wasting paint.