Hey, I am new to this forum and to modeling in general. Currently I am building an old Panther Ausf F by Dragon just to get some experience. I am going soon to the hobby shop to grab some paint!

Just a few quick questions:
1. Considering that I don't have an airbrush, what's the best way to apply a camo for my Panther? I have heard about the silly putty strategy but that is for airbrushing--would it work for hand brush? Or should I not camo and just stick with a base color of the German yellow? I dont care much for historical accuracy at this point, just trying to get the ball rolling.
2. I am planning on buying a spray can of Tamiya TS-3 but am not going to apply primer. The site says it is lacquer based paint. From other people's experience, will Tamiya spray cans paint damage bare plastic? Or is it safe to spray right on?

Any tips of what NOT to do would be appreciated! It would be rather nice if my first model did not look like a melted goop of plastic =)

Thx

If you're going to use a brush, there's no need to mask, you're duplicating effort. Since at least some camoed German tanks were painted with a brush, a groom or whatever was available, a hard edged pattern would be acceptable. I have airbrushed laquer based paints on bare plastic, but there's much more control than using a can. Test the paint in an unseen inner surface (or the bottom) if you've already buttoned it up.

You shouldn't have any problems with the Tamiya spray cans. I've found them to be excellent and haven't damaged anything that I've used them on.

I'd highly recommend them. Just a quick tip - don't overdo if you use them. Just do light coats and build up to your final color. Otherwise, you'll get some nasty runs. The coats dry pretty darn fast, so you can make some real headway in a relatively shorth period of time.

If you have any questions about 'em, please let me know.

- Frank

When I didn't have an airbrush, I used the following method for applying camouflage to a tank.

1. Get some spray cans in the colours that you will need (as well as a can of primer.)
2. Clean the model in mild soapy water to rid the model of all of the oils from your hands that have accumulated upon the model during construction.. Let the model dry in a dust free box.
3. Srapy the base colour.
4. Get some masking tape (painters tape) and take 6" strips and place them on your pants one at a time. Gently pull it off, and the tack will be removed. If you are wearing delicate pants, try placing the tape on your arm or even your forehead. Now that it's not super stick, set it aside and contiune to do severl more strips.
5. Either apply the tape to the model and completely mask it, or lay it on a hobby cutting mat. If put the tape onto the model at this stage, don't completely push it down or else you will get a really hard-edge camouflage scheme. Just lay it on there gently. Common sense will guide you. Now cut out the pattern of camouflage and remove the excess tape. If you don't directly place the tape onto the model, then cut out camo paterns with a hobby knife and apply them in the afformentioned manner.
Remember that what is masked at this point will stay as the base colour!
6. Spray a different colour onto the model.
7. Repeat steps 4,5, and 6 with another colour if need be for as many times as you like, depeninding on how many colours you are going to be using.

Please use thin coats of paint. If you glob it on and mess up, by starting again you will start to kill a lot of the detail of the model by making the layers of paint so thick that they engulf all detail such as texture, weld marks, and rivets and what not.

As I said, I've done this and it works. It's a tedious process, but it does work really well, providing that you take your time with the tape!

I primed mine with Tamiya spray primer and used TS-3(great color and time saver) as the base. I airbrushed my camo on but you could definately brush it on or mask and spray with just tape or silly putty and tape. The Tamiya sprays are pretty indestrucable with any other paints/thinners. Just avoid alcohol.

Check out this article on silly putty masking, I did this on aircraft camo years ago(and still use it for hard masked camo even with an airbrush on some modern AFV's). You can cover the entire areas or use a little tape between edges. Piece o cake for spray can camo.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/689

[url=https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/689 [/url]

This is TS-3 with MM olivgrun(out of the bottle) and schokoladenbraun(lightened slightly with interior buff) enamels in the 'raw' before any airbrush overcoats to shade it: