A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: F-35s, HANDPAINTING AND SAVING TIME…

As my skills have improved and the materials I use become more user-friendly, the results have become so pleasing, I’m now wondering if it is time to paint an entire model this way and leave the airbrush alone once in while.

17th July 2025

A much later than planned entry today as we have been out with friends to a local pub quiz. Beer was had and questions answered on the road to coming in…you know what? I have no idea where we came. We were pleased, so I guess that is all that matters!

Today can best be described as a catch up day. Having completed the Spitfire TR.9 it was not a day to sit back and admire my work, time being spent instead, cracking on with the F-35C.

With the airframe all-but done, I only had the smaller items to complete before applying the decals and then some weathering as needed. Many of the smaller subassemblies were already basecoated, so I planned to deal with washes and detail painting today, as well as assembling the weapons and then painting those before the end of play. As it turned out I did all of those things, thanks in the main to dispensing with the airbrush for much of it and turning back to using a paintbrush and acrylics, thus cutting down on the time I needed to mask the weapons and spray the details. It’s all about speed at this time in the month.

These days I’m confident enough in my skills and the materials that I use, to be able to paint large areas of detail using a brush and acrylics, rather than spraying those areas. Not only do I find masking incredibly tedious it’s so time-consuming, I often have to factor in hours of additional work that often results in very little benefit. Sure, the paintwork will look smoother and more in keeping with the rest of the model, but once finished and in place, such things are very difficult to see. These days I’m happy to basecoat items such as bombs and missiles in their predominant colours and then handpaint the rest of the detail, just as I did today as I painted all of the F-35’s weapons. Sat on my desk they all look fine and I know that when decalled, washed and detailed before installation, they will match the rest of my model perfectly well.

Over the last few years I’ve handpainted my work more and more. As my skills have improved and the materials I use become more user-friendly, the results have become so pleasing, I’m now wondering if it is time to paint an entire model this way and leave the airbrush alone once in while. Certainly, the the Centurion AX that I built last year was more than pleasing, its camouflage being predominantly painted by hand, only the basecoat of overall sand and then a final sealing coat of VMS varnish, being applied with an airbrush. Looking at it today, I’m not sure you can tell that it’s not sprayed, so maybe that should be the spur I need to have a go. If I do, I’ll post the results – good, or bad – on here for all to see.

See you tomorrow.