Model Trucks: Hand Painting Versus Air Brushing - By: Victor Epand

Assembling model trucks has become a much loved hobby of yours. You even display your model trucks in a beautiful case where everyone can enjoy them as well. There is only one problem you are having with them. You cannot decide which ones you would rather display. There are points that you love about both of them. One of them can show how much love and time you have spent on it the other can show how much technique and skill you have built. How exactly do you decide whether to go with hand painting or the air brushing? The answer to your question will just depend on who you ask. There will always be those who will tell you that hand brushing is the hardest one to master and others that will tell you the same about air brushing. The only way you can tell is to decide for yourself by looking at both the pros and the cons.

Hand painting models has long been a tradition. This started out as the only way that model builders had to color their models since there were no others readily available. The only people that had the ability to air brush was body shop owners and automotive manufacturers. There were no home air brushing kits available at the time. This means that model builders had to make do with what they had. Whether or not they were bland to begin with soon models with extremely gorgeous works of art began to emerge. The more experience model builders gained the more attention to detail and better techniques they were able to bring. Some model builders today can apply a paint job that easily rivals anything that might be available commercially.

One of the drawbacks of this method is the time that it takes. Hand painting requires applying one coat of paint at a time. Each one has to dry before the next can be applied. This building up of layers can take some time. One benefit to this is that hand painting can allow you to paint small parts on the model without the paint getting everywhere and making a mess on other parts.

While it may still be relatively new to model builders air brushing is being accepted by many home modelers. These kits have been around for a short time in relation to the hobby itself. The first ones to come out were very expensive and had to be special ordered. The paints were unreliable and usually had to be ordered ahead of time. The paints could also be very hard to handle and not much was known about the techniques needed to apply them. This soon changed as model builders began to pick up the techniques and came up with some of their own.

One of the benefits of air brushing parts is the time it takes parts to dry. Air brushing model trucks can take little to no time at all to dry. This will allow modellers to build layer upon layer both efficiently and quickly. The control over technique is also a very handy tool to have. Feathering and other techniques such as this will come to you in no time and allow you to add a great deal of detail.

No matter which one you choose you will find that your choice will be debated with you by others. Many will always be set in their choices while others will switch from one camp to the other. Picking the one that is right for you will be based solely on your decision as to which you prefer.

About the Author

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for model cars, model trains, and model trucks. You will find excellent hobbying and trading resources here for model car kits, model trains, and model toy trucks.

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