I would try, but unfortunately it is too expensive for me to get a starter kit since there is no model kit store in my area. And ordering onlinr is not cheap.
The closest thing that I have ever really done along those lines was a Revell 1/720 Arizona that I built about 25 years ago, and the self imposed challenge was to use only what was in the box aside from paint, putty, glue, and all my modeling tools. At the time, that was the kit that got me back into model building, so my tool collection was not as complete as what I have today, although I was nowhere as limited as you were. It was a fun project. I back dated it to circa 1934-1936. Used stretched sprue for the various masts and antenna. Where I needed to make some little decks, I soaked the instruction sheet paper with glue which made it almost like thin sheet plastic. Probably the most difficult part was painting the shadow lined 39 on top of turret number two. My free hand brush painting would not have been up to the challenge, so I did it piece meal, masking simple shapes, and simply taking several iterations do the entire number. All, in all, it was pretty fun build of an objectively atrocious kit.
A lot of the models I was gifted as a child were "starter" kits. That came in quite handy really as it meant I pretty much always had more brushes/glue/paint than I needed for any projects.
There are more parts in this kit than when I first made it in about 1954 or 5 . It was white ,it cost 2 shillings , came in a plastic bag . Without any paint or cement . which is about £ 2.60 or $ 3.24 , in 2023 prices . There was no paint on the market in those days . So I had to make my own with eucalyptus oil. Kindly supplied by my mother , and crushed up crayon . It stunk to high haven , but I thought it was marvels ! :-)
There were at least 3 companies producing model paint in the UK, for the hobby model maker, at that time... Humbrol (since 1919), was particularly common in the 50s.
What I would like to see is a second Mary Rose with no restrictions. Adding the rigging and everything. So you can do a side by side comparison of the two.
Always was the sprues first in warm soapy water and rinse with clean water, this removes mould release agent from the parts which is what you were suffering from when painting the sails. also, white hates going on over grey, try using a thinned version of the sand colour then painting white over the top, white is quite translucent, so you get the effect of dirty canvas. Hope this helps.
Excellent build, Alex. Impressed with the fit and the decals, particularly the latter. Doing a second video would actually help those beginners looking to step up their game with these kits. So, yes. Go ahead with the second part. I remember buying a starter set in the 90's. It had the old Me-262. Paints were so thick I used them as acrylic putty. The brush was a simple orange plastic tube with thick, black plastic bristles. Absolutely useless, not even for removing dust from scale models. These new sets looks like a huge leap forward overall, bar for the white paint. Which may end up being a blessing in disguise as a great wash for winter-camouflaged models. Food for thought. Cheers, mate.
The new Airfix starter kits are great - they have been specifically tooled for the purpose, which I think is a fantastic move by Airfix. The brushes are decent )I'd call them "workhorse" brushes - they're not going to replace your Windsor & Newton Series 7, but for basic stuff they're fine). I think all model companies fail with supplying paint in their model sets.
I have to tell you, these are interesting videos… Using the bare minimum to complete the kit… This a good video for BEGINNERS, You show’ed how to mix the colors to get more of a look GREAT REVIEW and BUILD CHRIS from OHIO 🇺🇸
Hi,very presentable. A good challenge well done. You've shown what could be achieved by a begginer with care. I think I might have used the other end of the brush for the glue (a bit like a cocktail stick, and part of the kit. Might paint coverage have been easier if you had washed the parts first? Washing up liquid is a readily available household supply. The things which hold the sails are yard arms. The anchor stock should, I think, be wood. Boarding nets should be black (tarred rope) which Airfix haven't given you. I agree they were defficient there. All the guns (canon etc) I have ever seen have been "blacked", including those I saw at St Mawes castle which were contemporaneous with Mary Rose. Of course there have been a lot of opportunity to preserve them wrong over the years! Yes, I would very much like to see her rigged. Many years ago I built a Victory and rigged it with cotton which looked clumsily too thick. I would like to see your solution. Any other embellishments would be interesting too.
Not built an Airfix since the 70s, only ever used the parts that came with the kits, nothing else. Seeing these makes me want to grab one. Thank you for the video.
Personally i would lightly scrap the sails with dull hobby knife so the paint can stick better on plastic rather than shiny one. Yep and i build my academy cutty shark only with basic tools at my home. I use yarn, some whiteboard marker, glue from kit itself
Nice build, and it also makes for a good tutorial for those with less experience who want to try their hand with a basic, 'all inclusive' kit. I've never got on well with acrylic paints, so well done for perservering with those 'pots'! Enamel for ever.
Beautiful movie, decent background music and good explanation. The funny thing is that the music at the end really describes how the model looks like after finishing it.
I have always had serious problems with those Humbrol tubs. Nearly always dried and useless. I think we Americans receive older kits with paint past it's "use by date".
What a fantastic result! My grandad used to buy me these complete sets as weekend projects. Whilst they may not be perfect I reckon they offer a really great value for money.
Would dishwas soap be allowed as a "household item"? You could have washed the parts to make the paint adhere a LITTLE better (a little). Adding liquitex seems however breaking those rules as its certainly not in my household commonly.
I only used the Liquitex on one sail I missed as a demonstration / comparison of the paint quality - not as part of the build. Everything else was as per the rules, it just seemed a good opportunity
As there’s no mould release on these, it probably wouldn’t help. However, it might have worked if a couple of drops were added to paint to break surface tension, and winded might have helped drying time.. haven’t tried it with humbrol acrylics , though.
I'd also wondered whether washing the parts might've helped with paint adherence? Maybe, however the liquitex test certainly removed any doubt about how 0oor the starter kit white was.
Good choice to use the gunmetal on the base - looks like pewter which is very period! The Seaking SAR used to be a starter kit- the yellow was somewhat hard work.....
Fantastic job. Shows how nice of a finished model one can achieve with only the items supplied in the Airfix starter sets along with a few other common household items.
I built one of these at the beginning of the year. It's a great little kit, easy to build, and the end result looks amazing. You certainly did it justice in this video. I've never seen the tube glue applied with a brush before, certainly not when the brush needs to be used again for paint. I assumed the glue would ruin the bristles but obviously not! Live and learn 🙂
Liquid cement also doesn't damage bristles but it DOES soften and remove dried paint, I've used it to revive many many brushes that my kids didn't clean.
The brush that comes with these starter sets is a cheap synthetic brush, which will take a lot of abuse, but lacks the fine control of a more expensive synthetic or sable brush. I have always used these brushes for glue application or weathering.
one thing you could do as well, wash the plastic parts in soapy water before starting. This can remove any leftover release agent and help paint adhere to the plastic.
I always found with airfix plastic, you need to wash it with washing up liquid, to take off the release film left behind from the mold. It always worked for me with acrylics. Though i think enamels was humbrols strong point not acrylics
Re applying glue. Airfix' Starter Set videos advise cutting a corner off the box and using the point as a glue applicator. [Edt: Hell's bells.. I guessed five coats for the sails!]
When you started to paint the gun deck with the cannons, I knew what you had forgotten to do and should always do for plastic kits: wash the sprue trees with a bit of warm water and mild detergent to remove the release agent from the parts. Then remove the parts and dress them before paint and assembly. This was very evident in the way the paint was pulling away from the plastic on the gun deck.
Always enjoy your videos! 👍🏻🎅👍🏻 The secret to the over-thinned paint is quite simple and works every time: refer to the transfers as "Dee•cals" instead of "Deck•uhls" and the paint will stop rebelling and will cooperate every time - guaranteed! 😉😁🤣🤪
I built this kit last year. It's pretty basic, more of an ornament really, but could conceivably make a fully rigged model given lots of patience and kit-bashing. Even a bargain set of acrylics and chalk pastels (sanded down for weathering powders) extend the realism potential of starter kits like this.
I'm not a ship modeler but this looks like a really cool little kit I'd leave my comfort zone for. Very nice result as well! About that white color - I noticed that many water based acrylic white paints have the same problem even with airbrush. I somehow almost always get it too "wet" so it doesn't cover well and often I get the same result as you where it doesn't seem to adhere to the surface, even when there is a coat of primer on. Funnily enough the worst white paint so far for me is Vallejo, although Vallejo is my go to brand because the rest works just fine and they are usually easy to use. White somehow for me works only as e.g. Tamiya lacquer.
just a thought for a video for you to do? something like this but think that someone who has NEVER done a model or seen one! so you can explain in more detail why?? you don't use the glue straight from the tube?? why is the paint too thick?? why it is better to do more than one coat?? why did you paint the parts before you assemble?? also try thinking outside the box for beginners who will not have any washes! two teaspoons of instant coffee with one tablespoons of hot water explain the best way to add the decals. (time left in water, it is better to cut the peaces up so you only wet the decals one or two at a time, why you used brush to transfer them onto the model Etc) why you painted you hand when giving the ship a dry brush?? tell them to remove paint for gluing! You can put a link to this video on all your videos saying this is a good video for people that have never made any models BUT I think a plane might be better for the video as they are better sellers? well I think they would be LoL BUT I enjoyed this video thank you
Don't ask me why, as I don't know myself, but even though I've painted portraits "semi professionally" (as in I did commissions but it wasn't my main job), I somehow never had the will for model or armies painting. I'll stick with my Gunpla, which only requires the assembly process :) But it was fun to watch someone with an "advanced" level restrict himself back to the means of someone getting his first kit and not much more. That would actually make quite the good tutorial for it.
Excellent video. Over the past few years I have bought all the Christmas kits at Aldi and Lidle, all except this kit. Next Christmas I will definitely be buying this one.
(disclaimer - I know very little about modelling) That white paint seems borderline useless - it simply wasn't sticking to the plastic. Could there have been something on the plastic (oil/grease) preventing the paint from working? Further trialing/testing of the paint (plenty of sprue to test on) would be of interest, if only out of curiosity - surely such a big name as Humbrol has learnt to make white paint by now?
Have you ever tried going to the other extreme, taking a very basic kit and going all out, no rules, and turn it into a masterpiece of detail and realism ?
Not for the channel - the issue is that it takes a long time and people are not that interested in seeing these sorts of builds unless you're a well-known name (like Plasmo). Once I build the channel more then this will be more feasible
@@MannsModelMoments Looking at that kit, the main problem would be finding a bottle with a neck that the hull would fit through. There are bottle ship modellers that could slice the hull down the middle, and reassemble it in the bottle. I'm not that good! I'll ponder it. There might be a model ship that's slightly slimmer in build, or I might find a bottle that's suitable 😊
I guessed 7 coats with the white Humbrol lol, in my experience Airfix white paint is a pain to work with , I have a few ships and actually do the sails with calico material.
As an outside to the modeling community, I thought you were going to have to paint on the decals . As in they were just suggestions . Ended up looking nice!
I think if I would have gotten this as a starter set, I maybe would have been disappointed and not gone into the hobby...just because of the colors and the color choices. However, the best way to go into the hobby is to find a place where you can buy AND BUILT AND COLOR the set at the same time, because you already get to learn some essential techniques, you have a much better choice and quality of color options and you do it alongside other people who already enjoy the hobby and are definitely willing to help you out.
I never really liked these as a kid,but my dad would make me build these with him, but it was more me watching than helping. But now I can appreciate the work involved. I guessed 5 coats. The finished product looked great, and your photography is well done also. My only suggestion would be to add some macro shots to show some detail to the finished work. I think this channel was recommended to me because I started watching North of the Border.
What I'd have done with the sails would be what you did with that all-over brown, but using the dark sand/yellow ochre colour. Use that as a kind of primer almost for the paint to stick to, and that would have provided a warm-tone undercoat that would have shown through the white but not been so dark. I'd have painted the thinned white over in progressively smaller areas working up to the highlights; pretty much glazing
What I think would be awesome is for you to take an identical model and do all your magic with all paints, tools, etc. at your disposal and then show the differences.
You did a pretty good job just using what's in the box of the starter kit. Congratulations. I could not resist the temptation of using better paints and tools so don't even think in accepting the challenge but I enjoy these videos.
Nice build and congrats on the patience and tenacity for painting the sails. I failed on the guess the number of coats to paint the sails challenge, guessing it would take five or six coats. The end result looked quite good and provided a fantastic lesson in the old adage about how a bunch of thin paint coats are much better than a thick paint coat. I would definitely be interested in seeing you revisit the Mary Rose with rigging, etc.
I agree the humbrol white is really awful. I use AK whites they are far better. Great build, I have just got hold of the starter kit and am looking forward to building it. The gun metal stand looks far better than black.
A most interesting idea using the paint brush to add the glue, what did you use to clean the glue completely from the Brush ?. I have a couple of these new tooling kits from Airfix and the detail blows me away. I have the Spitfire in 1/72 sitting completed on my shelf and comparing it to the CAC Boomerang which is one of their ancient kits well, it's apples to oranges. In the Spitfire I left the beautifully detailed pilot out so that the fantastic detail in the cockpit could be seen (using an aftermarket canopy that has the malcolm hood in the open position.The Boomer has the pilot in to hide the lack of anything at all in the cockpit, the "pilot" in this case is little more than a human shaped blob. Well done sir, a nice outcome for a pretty little kit.
Thanks! Using a brush for glue is ok long term if it's purely solvent based (like Tamiya Extra Thin etc), but for glue like Humbrol, Contacta or Tamiya regular it will destroy it as the thickness of the glue is styrene, which doesn't evaporate and will gunk the brush up - it's fine for a short challenge where you aren't ever going to use the brush again, otherwise you need to use something like acetone or Tamiya Extra Thin to remove the styrene completely. Short term the trick is to use a little and thoroughly clean the brush on tissue to physically remove as much as possible if you don't have access to an appropriate solvent.
Nice to see a properly purist approach to a starter-kit video and the resulting highly acceptable model. Thanks for taking the time to do that; the glue is most usually the first casualty in other videos as well as the use of tools not available to the beginner/returner these kits are aimed at. I was surprised that the brush stood up to the repeated glue application/wipe clean/paint process. With regard to the painting sails, do you think that washing the kit in mild detergent before starting would have helped (get rid of the mould-release oil) or was that white beyond the pale😉?
I was into building models when I was 10 (nearly 3 decades ago!), my dad used to leave a pin in the top of the glue tube for applying it and also to stop it drying up. I wish I'd used that bit of advice, I had a disastrous attempt at making a 1:72 Airfix B-17, and it put me off for life. I prefer to watch other people do it properly now!
I’d like a video of how easy a kit would be to build for a novice? What’s the pros and cons of the kit (such as sprue flash) and what the model would look like at the end? However the paint techniques in this video such as washing, mixing and dry brushing are probably too advanced for a young novice doing their first kit.
I can't afford an airbrush, so i'm trying to paint with brush, it's the only way to enjoy this hobby right now. Hope to have a nice finish on my models. This set would be a good start to try.
Hi, first time I have seen the cement applied by brush and of course it makes so much sense! I am amazed there was enough white paint!? Got to say I struggle with ships and historical versions even more so and after this model my opinion hasn’t changed! I don’t think one can produce a quality build using only supplied items even more so if one doesn’t use advanced techniques Bob England
The kit does look rather lovely for a starter model, the paints notwithstanding. I think adding even a recovering wargamer's stash of half-used Citadel miniature paints would have made the experience a lot more pleasant :D
To be fair, considering the point was to build and paint with what's in the box, I'd say they did a pretty decent job. Adding however many paints you have lying around wouldn't be genuine to the challenge of it. I think you could salvage it after and add more accurate textures and weathering. I think they could've gotten away with using cardboard, some kitchen skewers and some blu tac so that he could paint the parts off of the sprue, to save doing all those little touch ups you'd have to do after the fact.
I've been listening to your podcast while at work and have really enjoyed it, but I would appreciate if you could link the sets you're discussing just to provide some frame of reference for the viewers. Great work!
Great video!! I’ve recently picked up an Airfix “starter kit” of the HMS Victory, labelled on the packaging The National Museum of the Royal Navy. I picked it up in a second hand store. In the cupboard i also have a large scale kit of the Golden Hind, again from a secondhand store. Amazing what you can pick up sometimes.
I built a hms victory from airfix on night shifts. Turned out alright for what it was and it was a shit ton better than actually working the shift haha.
Probably could of given the sprues a wash with warm soapy water to remove the excess mould release to make the paint go on better thats why it was not sticking of the sails
Would running the full sprues through a light bath with dishsoap have helped with the paint application? I noticed the paint was beading up and not staying put.
Thank you so much - as an infrequent painter (understatement of the year) this video is super helpful! One question: I notice you're doing a lot of brushwork on the sails with the wash. How do you prevent it from reactivating the previous paint layer and causing it to chip, flake or melt?
@@MannsModelMoments Maybe its an issue with the Acrylics most used in the mini painting hobby (Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter...etc) rather than the enamels and lacquers of Scale modelling
I'm normally a Warhammer figure painter but recently built an air fix kit with my son - I forgot how useful a bath of washing up liquid helps for paint adhesion! Did you do this, and if not could it have helped the white layers? (I guessed 6 coats by the way, so not far off)
I am curious, does "washing up liquid" mean "soap and water"? If so, that is a good idea, I usually use dishwashing detergent and hot water. It might help the beading up issue, but I have tried acrylics since they came out, and always end up with some sort of problem, and always go back to conventional enamels.
Nice build given the self imposed restrictions. Also looked like a very nice kit, I'd rather assumed it was an old `classic` small ship kit. Those old classics could be crafted into presentable models but they were a labour of love! Yes I'd really like to see a follow up with rigging and other refinements.
