A6M3-3A Zero Fighter, Maj. Saburo Shindo

[KennyX]

I’ve seen teasers and clips of Eternal Zero and the action did indeed look impressive...

[KennyX]

I got a basecoat of Flat Aluminum sprayed on the cockpit parts, and I sprayed over the IP with my BOOYAH! GREEN. I like the way that color looks when thinned almost to death and sprayed over the Flat Aluminum. I’m okay with using that in the cockpit. The instructions call for it on the other side of the aft bulkhead, and makes the BOOYAH! GREEN pop more. I’m going to do some chipping on the seat and the floor, so this’ll rest and cure for the day and tomorrow I’ll clear coat it. I’ll be costing it with Mr. Hobby Clear. I’m using that because I plan on using the IP decals and Inwant to use Solvaset on them. That Mr. Hobby Clear is tough stuff. Should be able to handle the hotness of the Solvaset.

[Stikpusher]

I’ve seen teasers and clips of Eternal Zero and the action did indeed look impressive...

Visually it is. But the historical aspects are not as close as even the 1976 film Midway. It is funny though, watching Japanese made movies, you will start to recognize a certain style in the acting not really present when compared to US or British made films.

[speedgraflex]

Hey! I dunno if this is me being in my own head (autocorrect was “my own oven,” lol), baking my noodle, so to speak, but I think “Booyah!” is bee-yooo-teee-ful.

As a side note, I really resisted “going commando” with no primer on as John suggested. I guess my own approach was relatively primer based. I felt with resin the color coats would just flake off, and the same would go for styrene. However, I was pleased as punch when the lacquer went down on both resin cockpit and styrene seat with the same kind of tone and tough finish. I merely report my own small experience, though.

I thank you for going onto the details of research as well as execution of your own ideas. Both of these mean a lot.

[KennyX]

My pal Brian has been known to shoot straight acryl at styrene without benefit of priming. He’s a madman in a lot of respects. Though, I believe he restricts this to only cockpit parts. Which, that’s probably fine. Fact about it, today’s work was acrylic Flat Aluminum straight onto styrene. No issues whatsoever. I wouldn’t do that on an airframe though. If I go the AS Silver route on the airframe, I won’t prime. If I decide to use the XF Titanium Silver, I’ll most definitely prime it and that’s the direction I’m leaning toward. We’ll just have to see what happens when I test that method out on “Reggie”, my other paint mule.

And thank you for the good word on my cockpit color, too! I think she’s a definite keeper, in terms of the old recipe book.

As to the work you did painting your resin parts, mmmhm indeed, that finish you got on them was glorious. That paint must spray like a dream. And it kind of makes me think about giving enamels and lacquers a GO! on subsequent builds.

[speedgraflex]

The irony not lost on either of us I think is I was looking at my two lone survivors of the Tamiya acrylic days, “Bare Metal,” and “Deck Tan,” a couple o’ days ago thinking I oughta give these a try out to see if I can do a variation on your moves. Yea, “Booyah!” is a tough act to follow.

[KennyX]

The thing about the Tamiya paints is, well most of them anyway, they reduce alarmingly well. I’ve been known to use some of their colors at 2:12 paint to thinner. It’s ridiculous. And that’s the key- thin, very very thin layers of paint to build up the color little by precious little. But some work better than others. It just so happens that German Gray, and to a large degree Olive Drab work exceptionally well this way, as to the custom RLM colors, and this here green I mixed-up. But damned if I can make it work with a Gloss Sea Blue! With that one, you gotta spray thinned NATO Black down over the black base. Then, German gray or even maybe Flat Earth or Hull red. In diffused, marbled patterns. Then the Gloss Sea Blue. Why? I dunno. It just works better that way if you paint with that particular method.

And it’s the Devil I know, ultimately. I don’t know if I could adapt my style to Enamels and Lacquers. That’s the thing.

[jkim]

I spray Tamiya and Mr Hobby acrylics straight onto styrene and resin all day long. That's what they were designed to do. As long as the surface is clean and dry, you should have no issues. There are benefits to a primer coat, of course, but it is far from mandatory.

I agree with your findings that some colors work well with the thin layer approach. All of my camo colors work fine. It's the primary colors that cause the most trouble. Blue and green being the most difficult, followed by yellow and red. Even with a white base, it can be difficult to spray primary blues and greens without local dark spots.

[KennyX]

Yes sir. I have indeed had difficulties with red and yellow, and even white. Mostly because I’m the beginning I couldn’t get my head around how little I actually needed to thin them, that’s the first thing. The second thing in terms of black basing those colors is determining which other colors to shoot first and that part for me is mostly theoretical because I haven’t gotten down to testing it yet. That said, the yellow on the leading wing edges for this project are making me a little nervous LOL

The thing I like about primer is- I can check mynwork and find places that need sanding and filling and that’s why primer and bare metal is still in the running, here.

[jkim]

Primer as a filler/putty check - yeah, that is pretty important but I can usually restrict it to the area of concern without shooting the whole model with it. Doesn't pose a problem with contrast since most model kits are molded in a neutral grey.

If you spray some white or light grey on the wings before the yellow, it should be fine.