DSJ Part 3. Paint.

A thin coat of Tamiya Surface Primer was sprayed onto the DSJ shell from the can (great stuff this) and left to set overnight.

The Tamiya acrylics don't really come in the right colours for us, but they are readily available throughout the country and pretty easy to work with.  So if you want more realistic colours, you have to mix paint shades. I've learnt from experience that doing this on a one-off/day to day basis is a mistake, as your next coat or touchup coat never matches your previous mix.

So I decided to make a whole tin of the right colours once and for all. I went out and bought a fresh (easily mixed, non gunky) X6 Orange, X7 red AND X8 Lemon Yellow.  After giving them a good shake, I tipped maybe 5% or so of the orange into the yellow to 'red' it up slightly (make it slightly less lemony), and did the same of red into the orange (to make the orange less yellowy). It doesn't take a lot to change the colour. I've put a dab on the lids below so you can see the before and after. Shake it all up well.

After two coats the result is seen below. One more coat is needed for the yellow. I'm not sure why I started painting the cab grey, a hangover from the fruit salad days I guess. You can see the DXC behind with its too-red shade on the long hood. I've cursed this since I did it.

I have almost 50 shades of grey, and randomly decided on XF91 for this. Lifecolour UA 722 (a sort of reddy, grungy grey was used on the walkways.

As always with the Tamiyas, a little paint retarder stops everything congealing too quickly and a little thinner may help too. Best to put a few thin coats on rather than one thick blobby one. Unless that is your intention of course, as was mine here on the side sills to fill any remaining gaps!

A few other things I need: Some half-decent brushes - a fiddly fine-pointed one for details, a big flat one for large surfaces like the roof and the sides (to avoid blobs and streaks), and usually one in between.

The magnifier is essential, and not only for those of us with eyes that don't work as well as they used to. Its amazing what a difference this makes to your painting (and modelling). Mine is from Lincraft and has LED lights in it (which I must find the adaptor for). I also have that black desk lamp. If you can't see what you are doing, modelling is really hard.

As my hands become wobblier (I shouldn't have had that second coffee today) I usually sit the model (or lean the hand holding it) on something (that raised clear box). The fewer moving parts to the puzzle the better when stabbing away with the brush.