I'm pleased to say that there is a lot of positive progress to report, as you can see. Having finished polishing the various surfaces of the model I got the airbrush out and set about priming everything. As an experiment I used Alclad II Grey Primer & Microfiller, which I recently bought from The Airbrush Company.
I've never used this before but wanted to try out an alternative to Vallejo primers. I'm pleased to report that the experience was very positive indeed - the primer was applied at 15 psi in thin layers, it dried quickly, and it gave a thought, even finish in a dark grey colour.
The instructions for the primer suggest that it will fill small scratches and I was concerned that in addition it might soften details, but this is not what happened at all. The surface remains very fine and clear, so I will be using this primer again. I will add a note of caution in that the fumes are pretty formidable so you need a mask when spraying, plus you really need to use Alclad's own airbrush cleaner, which also generates fumes.
Once the primer had been left to dry overnight I masked the rifle area with some Tamiya tape in order to limit the paint build-up in this area. I'm very concerned that the rifle might not fit after the painting process so I want to do everything I can to prevent problems.
I then sprayed Vallejo Air Black from below the figure in order to emphasise shadows, followed by Vallejo Air White from above. This created a particularly pleasing effect on the rocky base and I might keep this as the final finish for this part.
The effect on the head has been to emphasise the very fine sculpting. Because the paint is applied by airbrush the layers are only microns in thickness so I'm hoping that this will allow me to gain shadows and highlights without killing the details.
The hat also benefited from this treatment. It's a complex piece so the black and white layers should help me when applying the colours.
For the rifle I only used the black and white layers for the gloves and again this has resulted in a very pleasing effect.
At this stage I then applied a thin layer of XF-10 Flat Brown to some shadow areas, leather pieces, and so on. This was particularly useful on the pack in the deep recesses around the rope and folded cape.
The final layer consisted of heavily thinned XF-57 Buff applied from above, so adding to the highlights but also giving a good base colour to the various tan or brown elements of the kit.
So that's it for the moment. I'm spending lots of time spent choosing colours and this is proving to be hugely enjoyable.
Before I go I should also comment on the viewing figures for the blog, which currently stand at more than 33,000 views. The redesign of the blog seems to have increased the number of views noticeably so I assume it works better than the old format. The Firefly and the Eduard Spitfire Mk IX are still the dominant blogs in terms of viewing figures but others, such as the pieces on painting leather, are close behind. All very pleasing.
Happy modelling.
Nick
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