Thinking ahead!

There comes a point in building a kit where you have to make a decision as to whether you build the whole kit and then paint it or do you build it as sub-assemblies after which the painting is carried out and the final assembly is done. Each has there advantages but I made the decision early on in this build to paint sub-assemblies. On a complex kit like this it makes sense. Generally I airbrush most of my models and you have to have a reasonable level of access to allow the atomised paint to get to all parts of the model. Sprayed paint by its nature travels in a straight line from the tip of the airbrush to the surface being painted and so if there is a part that you can see but can not get a straight line from the airbrush to it the likelihood is it won't get any paint on it. In addition if the plastic that the kit is molded in is a light or contrasting colour to the finished paint job you can be assured that it will stick out like a sore thumb. In the case of this kit the plastic is light grey and the overall finish to the model will be black and green. Any unpainted parts will show as clear as daylight. 

In view of the above I looked at the construction of the body to the truck. I had assembled the park bench style seats onto the bed and sides of the body and was about to glue the sides on when it struck me that once they were on there was no way I could reasonably get any paint to the underside. I therefore, in my working smarter not harder as I get older approach to matters and actually thinking ahead (an unusual event according to Mrs. Woody), decided to paint the parts prior to final assembly. First stage is a primer coat and there is a lot written about their use on models. Some say you don't need them and others swear by them! For me I generally use one to at least get a uniform base (and hide my poor skills) upon which to paint the finishing coats. For armoured and military vehicles I tend to use black for three reasons. Firstly it is a good base for the greens and other dark colours that these vehicles are generally painted in. Secondly and there is no doubt some optic science behind this, but the eye tends to ignore black so if a part is not fully painted it sticks out less then if the primer were white. Thirdly, on those difficult to reach parts with the airbrush, if you do have a black primer it gives an effect of shadow even if there is no final colour on it. 

I airbrushed the Vallejo primer yesterday and I am giving it a day to dry fully. The photographs below perhaps add some clarity to the above text.

I have also started on the cab. Progress s far has the floor, tow seats and the bunk done Believe it or not there are twenty parts just in the part of the build in the photographs below but the detail is amazing.

A bit of music to keep me sane during the build was provided by a compilation album, Soft Metal. I am guessing there is no soft metal in the truck though! Strange how something as daft as a price ticket on something can bring back memories. In this case I paid £2 for this cassette, second hand from a charity shop many years ago along with a few others. Oh the joys of going through piles of records and tapes to find something of interest - amusement and entertainment for hours! Now all you have to do is type in a title in Google from the comfort of your home and you can download it in seconds but is it as much fun????