By Jake Moon • Originally published in Stunt News, Q1 2025
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Stunt News and has been reformatted for digital readability. Original terminology, measurements, and technical details have been preserved where possible.
How can you get a high-quality paint finish when the usual methods aren’t an option? Due to several complications, including import restrictions, being in a country that runs on 220V, and a lack of space, that is a question I’ve been trying to answer. After many experiments, I’ve developed a way to paint contest-worthy planes with no (real) dope, no bulky compressor, and, aside from the clear, little odor.
This method draws heavily from plastic modeling. Instead of a spraygun, it uses an airbrush. In lieu of dope or auto paint, it uses the model paint you’d find in any hobby shop.
Plastic modelers may find many of these materials familiar.
This method revolves around a recent development: the cordless USB airbrush. This product is marketed towards DIY crafters and makeup artists. They’re small airbrushes like you’d use for plastic modeling. But instead of a corded compressor, the airbrush hooks up to a small canister compressor the size of a mini Coke can. This canister recharges with a USB cord and lasts about 10 minutes. They are very cheap—mine was $21—so I bought two. These airbrushes are too simple to win a 1/72 plastic model contest, but that’s great for us. I experimented with using my Iwata and Tamiya modeling airbrushes and found that their ultra-fine spray wasn’t appropriate for painting a big plane. For our purposes, the simple airbrush has more than enough control and adequate coverage.
I’ll use a recent Stuka Stunt build to explain this method. Up until paint, the construction was a conventional balsa build. I covered the wood with Silkspan and used Polyspan over the open bays. Since I can’t get real dope here, I used Eze Dope from Deluxe Materials. This is a water-based dope alternative. It is fuel-proof and behaves like butyrate dope. It comes in 250mL bottles and sells for about $15. For best results, thin it at a ratio of 30% dope, 70% water. That means you get roughly 2 pints of dope for $15—decent value. It has one big benefit and one big drawback: it’s odorless, and it ruins brushes. I used Eze Dope like I would normal dope: 3 coats over bare wood, sand with 400. 3 more coats and sand again. Cover the plane, apply 3 coats, then sand. And finally another 3-5 coats and sand.
The airframe primed and mostly sanded. The outboard wing at the time of this photo was silky smooth.
After covering, I prime the plane with Tamiya rattlecan Grey Surface Primer. This is great stuff. It fills small wood grain and sands very smooth. The nozzle also has more control, so you don’t end up shooting heavy coats as you might with hardware store primers. I have found that one can covers a .35-size plane. A .60 size would need two cans. Make sure to get just “Surface Primer” and not “Fine Surface Primer,” which doesn’t fill grain as well. Once dry, I sand with 400 and then 600 until every surface is smooth.
Finally to the fun part: color. The model paint from Japan is outstanding, and I recommend the Mr. Color lacquer line. Tamiya acrylic paints are also excellent—and easier to find in America—but they are more fragile than the lacquers. Mr. Color lacquers are sold in 10mL bottles and retail for about $3.50 in the US. For a .35-size plane, it can take 6-10 bottles to finish a plane.
I thin the paint with Mr. Color Self-Leveling Thinner. This thinner has a retarder in it, which slows the drying time enough to allow the paint to level itself and give a consistent, smooth finish. I thin at a ratio of ⅓ thinner, ⅔ paint.
Two of the three camo colors applied. The airbrush has enough control to get a consistent feathered edge without masking.
The most satisfying part of the paint process: unmasking. Note the finish is matte. This is due to using military colors. The gloss shine will come entirely from the clear coat.
Follow the usual conventions for control line painting: start with the light colors and don’t put down color that’ll be covered by another color. Since the insignias and fuselage band were lighter colors, I did the details first: the white of the insignias, then the yellow of the fuselage band, then the green and then the red of the insignias. I allowed each color to dry overnight and masked with Tamiya 18mm masking tape. Use a good masking tape like Tamiya or blue painters tape. These paints are thin and can easily run under lower-quality tape.
Onto the first big color section: underside blue. When shooting color, I hold the airbrush 6-8 inches away from the model and start with a tack coat. Over large areas like the wings, I’ll do a couple tack coats to make sure I’ve got everything covered. Start the heavy coats immediately after them. I do one section (such as a wing panel or fuselage side) at a time, making sure everything is covered before moving on. This allows the self-leveling thinner to settle the paint across the entire section. I move the airbrush more slowly than a spraygun because less paint is coming out. This is a time-consuming process. The underside of the Stuka Stunt took about 30 minutes and 3 paint jars. This is why I bought two airbrushes: I can charge one canister while I use the other and swap them out when needed. A benefit to the cordless airbrush is that you can move around the plane without having to move the compressor or keep track of the hose. It also makes almost no noise, making the job more pleasant.
Midway through weathering. A litany of templates litter the workbench.
The topside is a tri-color camouflage. This is where the added control of the airbrush shines. The spray is fine enough that you can freehand the camouflage and still get a consistent edge. No masking needed! To freehand the camo, I hold the airbrush 4-6 inches from the surface at a 90-degree angle and make a couple heavy passes to outline the camo pattern. Then I fill the rest in. A note on drying times. I let Mr. Color dry overnight before putting masking tape on it. For freehanded camo, Mr. Color can be painted over after 30 minutes. Acrylics take longer to dry so I wait a full day before masking over them.
Onto surface detail. I tried a variety of pens and have found that Sharpie Ultra Fine Point markers are the best on lacquers. Rapidograph pens from several brands would not adhere to the surface. I cut sections of clear plastic to form my templates. Make sure not to press the tip of the pen too hard against the templates as ink will to flow onto the underside of the template and make a mess. Unfortunately, mistakes are annoying as the traditional method of removing Sharpie ink with alcohol will also strip the paint. To correct mistakes, I recommend using a small dab of alcohol to remove the ink, sand it with 600, and reshoot the color. The USB airbrush makes this simple.
The underside shows the realism added via weathering.
Once the panel lines are complete, we pull the airbrush out. For weathering and shading, I mix a wash of 80% thinner, 20% brown and black. Take Post-It notes or plastic templates to mask the panel lines. Shoot the wash with the airbrush from 8+ inches and at a shallow angle. Make only one to three passes and do the same number of passes every time. The mixture is translucent and each pass darkens the weathering. Shoot the mixture in the direction of airflow. I shade only the panel lines perpendicular to the direction of airflow. I feel this is more realistic than shading every panel line. The choice is yours.
The detail around the canopy, which was masked with Tamiya masking tape and a very sharp Exacto blade.
I use 2K rattlecan auto paint for the clear coat. Using a 2K (2-part) paint is imperative. Do not skimp on clear and end up with a sticky ball of Krylon after your first flight! I also use the tack coat method with clear. 2K clears can be quite “hot” and attack ink lines, decals, and acrylic paints. A light dusting of the clear over the entire plane helps mitigate this. Once I’ve done the tack coat, I’ll do a couple heavy coats one after the other. Wear a mask as 2K is volatile stuff. Once dry, 2K rattlecan clear can be sanded and buffed like any auto or dope clear.
The plane completely assembled. It has since been buffed for a shinier, more even finish.
From primer to clear, the finish added 3.1 oz before buffing—1.9 oz for primer and color and 1.2 for clear. This is significantly less than I thought it’d weigh. Had I known how little weight it would’ve added, I would have done a second pass of primer over a couple trouble spots—mostly small ridges where coverings overlap. Nevertheless, the minor spots say more about my deficiency in covering a plane rather than painting. For the record, I tried this method over butyrate dope and it works just as well.
In conclusion, this method is an effective way to achieve a high-quality paint finish with easier to obtain materials and less bulky hardware. From bare wood to clear, there’s about $65 worth of solvents there. Substitute some cheaper alternatives (listed below) and that could be as little as $40. However, it does have some drawbacks. The biggest of all is that it’s a time-consuming process. Painting large areas with an airbrush (whose paint jar needs refilling regularly) is both slow and tedious. That’s why I wouldn’t recommend this method over a traditional dope or autoclear and spraygun finish for full-size planes–especially those with simple paint jobs. But for smaller planes, especially those with complex designs, I think this is a great way to go.
A table of the materials and alternatives is listed below.
This article first appeared in the 2025 Q1 issue of Stunt News and has been preserved as part of the PAMPA digital archive project.
