I'm buildind a 1:48 Revell A-10 Thunderbolt for a school project. Does anyone have tips on how to paint the camo? I have built quite a few models in the past but never any camo. I don't have an airbrush. Should i paint it before i put it together, or after? I thought about just painting the light green, taping it off, then laying the dark green. Also does anyone have a bunch of close up pics of cockpit, under wings, ect?

http://www.revell.com/catalog/products/1_48_Scale_A_10_Warthog-647-7.html

The last time I built one of these, which was awhile back, i did a three color grey cammo. I did the lightest color first. Next I cut ot my masking material, light cardboard like a cereal box in the shaped I desired. Next with pieces of rolled painter's tape, tacky side out, I taped the underside of the mask and lightly affixed it on the area of the plane to be masked letting it sit approximately 1/8 of an inch above the area to be painted. Then I painted the second darkest color. After this set, I left the first set of masks on then repeated the same process for my next set of masks and painted the final color for the scheme. The reason I left the masks slightly raised was to give me a little fuzzy look between the color lines of the cammo scheme. Hope this gives you some help. Plus I was using the spray cans for painting as I hadn't graduated into the spray gun level at that time. Can't claim this as my tip. If I recall, I believed I read it in FSM or some other Kalmbach publication on modeling. :) rr

Assemble the basic airplane (body with finished cockpit, wings, tail, engines) first. Do all your sanding and filling of the seams.

Paint one color as a base coat, usually the lightest. The green would be fine in this case. Painting the camo can be done one of two ways - freehand (if you have a very steady hand and a real fine airbrush), or by masking.

For camo like that, the best way to mask is with a liquid latex mask. You brush it on, leaving the areas to be painted the other color exposed. After the latex dries (it becomes a plastic film), paint the next camo color. Once that color has dried, brush more mask to leave the last color areas exposed. Once everything is dry, peel all the masking latex off.

Micro Mask:
http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=MY0007

As for references, while you're at Squadron.com do a search for books on the A-10. There lots of them that have plenty of detail shots and closeups, such as:
http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=SB1020

Or for masking you can use Silly Putty. Roll out a ball and flatten it. Pull and stretch it to the desired camo pattern and stick it on the model. Spray your darker color over the base coat and the putty. Pull the putty off and kneed the Silly Putty like dough to break up the paint. The paint will dissapear into the putty. You can then use the putty again.

I gotta try that some day!

Becasue the silly putty is not going to be "paper thin" you still get a soft edge. But like any technique it takes practice to produce results that you like. Now I don't do a lot of military or planes, but I did use this on a 1/48 F22 Raptor I built a few years ago. It turned out real nice.

Thanks for the tips guys. Off to the hobby shop!

Well went to 2 hobby shops and couldn't find the liquid mask. I jast laid the base coat like 5 mins ago. Another problem is my dog ate my wheels.

Well went to 2 hobby shops and couldn't find the liquid mask. I jast laid the base coat like 5 mins ago. Another problem is my dog ate my wheels.


Well, I guess you could follow him/her around the yard the next couple of days. Not sure what stomach acid would do to the plastic. Maybe the base coat will act as a protectant. Don't forget to post the pix! Good luck. :thumbsup: rr