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Painted up a spare Yokomo body over the weekend. Decided to try to replicate the scheme on my XX-4 and X-5. Things I learned:
-cutting compound curves is a pain in the ass, especially on curved surfaces
-need to get better on consistent cutting designs and also need a better knife handle that actually fits the blades I'm using.
-bitty designs liquid mask works way better than the spazstix stuff I tried in the past and DIDN"T end in disaster this time(unlike the last 3 times)!
-get the paint mix/air pressure right before starting on the body. Had some issues where I went too heavy on the shading in some areas and it splatters instead of being a gradient.
-Need to use colors that are separated by more shades when doing shading/highlights, a lot of my details disappeared.
-Don't underestimate how much the backing color changes a shade. That was originally Bright Silver but turned to Gunmetal when i spray the black backer. I used this tactic later for the shading on the Orange drips after my original idea was more of less invisible.
-I hate window nets
-just slow down and don't pull of the mask and touch wet paint.
-an airbrush will always clog at the worst possible times.
-a contortionist designed standard airbrushes, I vastly prefer the trigger style one.
-cleanup sucks

Admirable attempt on a Complex paint job.

On the plus side...
There wasn't any real bleed through between colors.
+1 on the dislike of window nets.
Bet it would have looked really pretty backed in white.

Taping some cellophane to a scrap wood frame makes for super cheap practice panels... if you ignore the cost of paint.

Dangeruss wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 8:07 pm Admirable attempt on a Complex paint job.

On the plus side...
There wasn't any real bleed through between colors.
+1 on the dislike of window nets.
Bet it would have looked really pretty backed in white.

Taping some cellphone to a scrap wood frame makes for super cheap practice panels... if you ignore the cost of paint.

Probably going to use old bottles or plastic packing material to test paint interactions before the next body.

The bitty design is definitely the best I've used. I tried the proline but it was chunky and this style xacto #10 works good for the compound curves.

mikea96 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 8:43 pm The bitty design is definitely the best I've used. I tried the proline but it was chunky and this style xacto #10 works good for the compound curves.

Been using #16 blades but a rounded blade does seem to make more sense for curves. I'll definitely give those a shot, thank you!

A little less complex this time. Most of this was done with an external mix airbrush as other brush was being horribly inconsistent and I didn't really need to do anything fine. I've gotten a little better at cutting designs but still need to work on my technique in tight areas as the blade kept slipping. I also need a lot better lighting, both at my desk and in the paint area.

The wing I just did really fast so it isn't perfect and I didn't feel like mixing more pearl paint for the white but it's also going to get beat up when I race it anyway. Overall I'm happy with it. Definitely room for improvement but it's a runner not a shelf queen.