4. Painting the Hull

With the main hull assembled, I opted to paint it at this time and set it aside. I use high-tack blue masking tape, but cut off the edges of the tape with a new, sharp #11 Xacto blade. This ensures crisp edges and minimal paint bleeding.

For airbrushing the model I used the following:

• Iwata Revolution airbrushes — CR (dual-action) or SAR (single action)
• Dual-piston oil-less air compressor identical to the Parma Faskolor 60PSI Air Compressor
• Gunze-Sangyo Aqueous Hobby Colour (acrylic paint):
  • Upper hull & structures above waterline: H324 Light Grey
  • Lower hull (below waterline): H333 Extra Dark Sea Grey
• Mr. Color Thinner (native thinner for Gunze-Sangyo paint)
• 2:1 paint/thinner ratio
• 15~20psi air pressure

The Gunze-Sangyo acrylic paint airbrushes very well when used with its native Mr. Color thinner. I initially tried using generic thinner (alcohol) with not-so-good results.

After drying for a few days, I carefully removed the masking tape. The resulting paint edge was very crisp with no bleeding , thanks to the cut-edge masking tape.