Helping you explore the world of miniature modelling. This channel was started in early 2021 to help people explore the massive and often confusing world of miniature modelling. There is so many different techniques, bits of kit and amazing models available to try out and adapt to your own personal style and hobby. Whether that be building and painting table top miniatures for your favourite table top games, painting display pieces and busts, terrain and diorama's, through to sculpting or 3D printing your own mini's.
The aim of Flying Raven Studios is to explore all the options available, cut through the fluff and marketing to give you the best info so you can get the most out of your hobby
I have been very happy with Xpress 1. I have no complaints about Contrast except they cost more and I really prefer dropper bottles. I am reluctant to spend money on Army Painter 1.0 or .2.0 due to my frustration with the thickness of their regular paints. I always apply more than one layer, whether using Xpress or contrast and I still highlight. Overall, I prefer the application of Xpress because they are thinner than Contrast and before the one layer paints became a thing I mostly painted with washes.
Hi Liam, technically no.... But I do wear mine over glases for short periods which is fine for me, but cannot guarantee that will be comfortable for you of course.. There are similar versions available which do clip onto a standard pair of glasses, but they do cost more. Hope that helps!
I believe the fine surface primer has finer pigment particles which is supposedly better for fine detail. How much difference it makes... I haven't tested that yet.... let me see what I can do
@@FlyingRavenStudios I noticed that Amazon is selling a 100ml can of the normal for about £5, but the 180ml FINE is £15. Don't know how long it lasts and how many models either will do. Saw another review that showed not a lot of difference between the two. Still kept the fine detail. Just don't use car spray primer as it costs it really deep.
There's another Color and Light book by 3D Total. I wondered if there was a comparison video between that and Gurney's book. Also, color and light books may be useful for those who are both 2D artists and sacele modelers. Oh wait, I had another kind of modelling in mind, lol.
Hi! Are you painting straight onto the plastic? If so, yes this will help. If it is still a problem, then it might be grease or release agent on the plastic surface. Not that common these days as far as I am aware, but can happen. Just washing the sprues and letting them dry fully before building and then priming should do the trick. Hope that helps!
Complex surfaces is where it's a lot easier to work with Tamiya comparing to standard hardware store tapes It would be great also check othwr hobby-marketed tapes from different price ranges.
The purple tape is great stuff! At my local hardware store, they actually have a variety of widths. I can confirm about leaving it in place, I had a project I left it of for 3 weeks or so, absolutely no issues.
Yeah it certainly surprised me! Actually, just looking again, I found a few widths, but not down to the 5 or 10mm. What is the narrowest you have found?
@FlyingRavenStudios The smallest I've found is the one you have. I've found bigger, useful for ships and vehicles. I just cut mine to width using the grid on my cutting mat.
The trouble with standard masking tape is that the stickiness varies a lot between brands or even different batches of the same brand. Sometimes it falls off if you look at it funny, sometimes you need a blow torch to shift it. I concluded years ago that all makes of masking tape hate me, and fortunately I seldom spray anything anyway. I've never tried masking putty, but that looks quite interesting. I have a 'How to paint miniatures' book that suggests using white-tac, which seems like it might be a jolly bad idea.
Haha I know what you mean with the random DIY tape. Sometimes it falls off if you get the masking tape wet, other times it will go all gooey and weld itself on. I saw some.of the masking putties which looked very intriguing. But I decided to keep the focus on straight edges for this one... painting curves is a whole other rabbit hole to go down 😄
I don't know what White-Tac is, but I once used Blu-Tack as a mask, but removing it was too difficult. It required a blade and chunky material was left on the edges that couldn't be removed if the mask shape was to be preserved. I did this on a dozer blade so it was fine in the end by covering it with dirt and grime.
@@BurnInFerNos1 As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two is the colour!. The book I have (from Andrea miniatures) shows the technique being used on a 54mm Ronin miniature, prior to airbrushing, (if I'm remembering correctly) and I can't see any way that wouldn't end badly.
Hi I have used the Tamiya Gray Surface Primer on a large 1/14 Tamiya truck but the result was not satisfactory. There were patches of dark spots even after laying down 4 coats of the grey primer. The original body came in the Black edition but I wanted to repaint it in Metallic orange and so I sanded down the body with 400 grit followed by 1000 grit and finally 2000 grit. I then washed it under water and dried it and then proceeded to prime it. Is there something I could do further to make the grey primer evenly coated.
@@FlyingRavenStudios it was not covering the black. In fact, after posting this comment, I went to sand the whole body again with 1000 grit Tamiya sandpaper using running water. As a result the edges are exposed and some parts of the body shows the black underside. But the whole body was smooth to the touch and does not look overcoated. However I went on to lay down another round of Tamiya Fine surface primer to try to cover the
@@FlyingRavenStudios Hi sorry accidentally cut-off my sentence. Presently I have given it at least 3 quick over coats. It seems to have better even coverage now although the black underside is still visible on some spots. Perhaps I think maybe another 2 rounds of coating and then I will start painting the metallic orange color.
It's nice that you made such a video. Sorry in advance for what I'm telling you from my point of view. The way you fill the gaps with and how you fill them is like a monkey trying to clean a poll with a welding machine. First, you use the wrong tool. A spatula with a rounded bottom is better suited to work the compound into the recess. Always work the putty or green stuff only with water. This also extends the processing time. Then it is better to fill the larger gaps with thin plastic strips to make the gap smaller. Then you can work with putty or putty. Due to your approach, you apply too much material, which you have to remove again. For putty, always brush over it with a wet finger to get a smoother surface. Personally, I use super glue to close smaller gaps. Apply a thin layer two to three times and gently sand down. If you then carefully run your fingernail over it, you will notice every unevenness, which you can then dab again with super glue. This also results in clean closures of gaps. The comment became a little longer, but it hurts my soul when I see how someone does not handle such tools properly.
Hey, thanks for the comment! I can't believe this video is over 2 years old now and every day since has been a school day, especially when it comes to tools 😁. I would say that the main aim of this video was to look at what is the right tool for the job out of those three options... and there are tons more like you say... I might have to make another video exploring more options. I would still say that putty like greenstuff is great for sculpting, but less ideal for gap filling as you can't sand it. Even if you smooth out something like milliput, humbrol model filler etc, you will still need to fill it proud and then sand it down to make an invisible joint. But using superglue as a filler and sanding it down is an interesting thought that I have not come across before. I will have to have a play and test that one out. Thanks!
Asian water monitor, argentine black and white tegu, or american alligator would be my guess! Love the animal inspiration, by the way- real life reptiles come in such a fantastic array of patterns and colours, they make great inspiration for fantasy painting
Ooooh, I will give you points for that! When I checked the asian water monitor out, it is very similar species (a close family member I guess) to the the one which was my primary inspiration. Nice work!
Thanks! It is such a fine line in getting the right amount of beauty shots included. But I have just scheduled some more photos for the Flying Raven Studios instagram and facebook pages over the next couple of days
I am currently using the Tamiya basic putty from the tube. It has a better result than the humbrol. I was thinking to try the Miliput or epoxie but won't after this review. I might try Mr white putty
An excellent video, and very timely. I have the headband magnifiers and yep, having to be so close to the model is an issue. I was looking at desk lamps but, having used those in the past, I knew that'd be same thing. Thank you for letting me know about the binocular loupes. Cracking idea. Subscribed )O(
Absolutely fine. Just keep the coats nice and thin and don't flood the detail as you would normally avoid doing. I find that for a warhammer model, one thin but even coat is absolutely fine to then paint on.
I had a cheap set, series 201 I think, it's only available in a set together, and they were the best synthetic brushes I've ever used. I plan on trying these next when I need some high quality ones because I can't get the rosemary and co series 33 due to import issues here in the US
Thank you! This sounds super daft as I've never used anything like this before but I was super nervous it would stay that opaque green! Really excited for this to cure now :)
This project was so much fun. So what real life reptile do you think was the prime inspiration for the Dewbacks paint scheme? Get it right and I will give you a shout out on the next video :D
I've used these primers for years now and they have always been perfect. The only disadvantage is that they work out quite expensive but IMHO they are worth it because of the lack of risk using these. I live in Portugal and have used them in hot/cold/humid/dry and have never had any problems. I'm lucky because I can spray in the open air but the sprays are very volatile, smelly and you definitely don't want to breathe this stuff in!
