What methods do you all have for fixing your tanks so you can paint them? I've used the "mount the part on a stick" technique in the past, but I'm finidng this isn't going to work too hot for painting the turret and the hull as you can only get one side at a time (top or bottom). I need something where by I can place the turret on a bottle or something like that so I can paint 360 degrees. I figure something similar for the hull, placing it upside down using the hole in the top deck for the turret. Any good methods you all use that utilize common household items?

A lazy susan woks well. Tamiya also has a paint stand that rotates..Actually comes with two types and well worth to $20.00. Heres a review on the tamiya right here at the big A done by my Bro!

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/396

What I do with the turrets is that I tabe them to a bottle from the bottom, thus I have a 360 degree of painting and at the same time I can paint under the barrel and under the turret basket, by just holding the bottle.

I use a cheap cake decorator lazy susy, I paid a buck at the dollar store........
Gotta love those dollar stores.

i picked up a thing at my lhs that has two alligator clips on it, i use it to hold the tabs where the turret mounts to the body. i can twist the arms to get any angle i need
was only about 12 bucks or so

If it doesn't ahve a complete interior, I just pick it up by putting my fingers into the hole in the turret or hull. Much more dextrous and less chance of things falling off.

If there is an interior, I'm usually painting in stages anyway, so I hold the part I'm not painting.

Paul Roberts
Interim Vice President
AMPS

Same as Paul - stick your fingers in the hole and hold it that way. I use a brush so there's no overspray all over me!

I'm with Paul. I usually wear rubber gloves to prevent fingerprints and keep the paint off my hands -- though the overspraw sometimes gets me anyway. If I can't hold the model for some reason, I put it in a clean kit box and shoot paint there.

Same here...

Just use the plain old fingers Mk.1A1 (w rubber gloves).

For the turret I usually just hold it steady by putting my fingers througt opening in the underside, to paint the underside I usually use the commander's and loader's hatch...

For the hull bottom again the hole for the turret, to paint the rest I usually hold the model by the suspension pins to put the road wheels on...

I use hands as well. Yesterday I painted my Karl but ran out of paint. So I went to the model store, forgot the number and ended up using my portable paint chip (my paint coated fingers!!) Whatever works eh!

I'm a hands person as well. You just have more control the arm / wrist is more dexterous so you can turn the piece to get that all over spray ( always airbush even with a multicolor at least the base color). You are also less likely to slip up. The other part of the equation is to have a plan BEFORE YOU EVEN START as to where to put the completed piece to dry

I scrounged around the house and found that empty toliet paper rolls have about the same diameter as the turret ring for a Panther (I ran a few turns of duct tape around it to increase it to a nice friction fit). The only issue is one of counterbalancing. After you finishing painting, you have to be sure that when you place the "turret on a empty toliet paper roll" assmebly on the table that the weight of the barrel hanging off the model (Jordi Rubio turned ali barrel) doesn't tip the whole thing over. Of course the length of the toliet paper roll still leaves me with paint coated hands so I might suggest that an empty paper towel roll would be better to give your hand distance from the paint stream.

I'm a hands guy myself. It's the only way to do it.

Cheers,
Gabe :-)

Hi All

I superglue plastercard L beams to the turret bottom and hull bottom. They are long enough to be flexible etc and provide a good grip and you can spin them quickly. They are the biggest you can get.

I simply snap them off and clean up the superglue residue once I am finished with them.

Works fine for Panzer 1's right up to King Tigers.

I have slots in my spray booth top to insert the turret and hull to dry once done.

I thank and credit Mr Francois Verlinden for this trick.

I believe it raised the standard of my finish greatly.

Regards

Fordboy

One item I have used in the past was a wire hanger you get from a dry cleaner.
I bent it to shape with a pair of long nose pliers with either a hook at the end to hange the piece being painted or kept the ends straight where I have attached the painted part on one side and with the other I have plugged it into a foam block to hold the wire up-right for drying.

I use a rounds Plastruct rod, glued to a non-visable area, then hold the rod in a mini-vise. I have used this for small items as well as large items. the Schwimmwagen is really small and weighs very little, the Panzerfahre is like 2.5 pounds of resin!

For holding a turret, I use a cheap barbecuee grill tongs that I bought at Wal-Mart. It fits perfectly into the turret opening and keeps the turret far enough away from my hands to avoid overspray. For the hull, I use a lazy susan.

Keith