Use a finger nail polish remover that contains acetone as one of the ingredients listed on the label, but we must caution you that it may also remove any dyes in the fabric of your. We suggest that you try dabbing a small amount of the remover on an area on the fabric that will not show, to test out first. Using a soft cloth, saturate the cemented area and the soft cloth with the polish remover. Dab or blot the area to absorb the cement into the soft cloth. Do not rub the area or it will grind the cement into the fibers of the fabric. Keep changing the soft cloth to a clean area so as not to smear the absorbed cement, until no more cement comes out.

Single Action: Air Supply is regulated via a simple on/off trigger. A separate roller, commonly located at the rear of the airbrush, adjusts paint supply generally. With the roller all the way to the right, the paint is released by just pressing down. This roller allows variable line widths to be selected, by slightly easing to the left. Be careful not to go to far to the left or you will find yourself in double-action.

Double Action: Pressing the trigger regulates the air supply. The further down the trigger is pressed, the more air is expelled. By pulling back on the same trigger, paint is introduced into the air stream. The further back one pulls, the more paint is injected. You may also adjust the flow pattern by slightly easing the roller, at the rear of the airbrush, to the right. You must do this carefully; if you continue all the way to the right, you will find yourself back in single action.

External Mix airbrushes such as the A220 are very good for spraying large quantities of paint, but do not easily lend themselves to small detail work. The A220 is an excellent tool for producing car bodies, large single-colored models, priming, etc. Whereas our external mix A270 (a little more complex/expensive) is quite capable of creating all but the most complex camouflage or what have you, and is still able to provide broad coverage as with the A220.

Internal Mix airbrushes such as the A320, A430 and A470 are all capable of using the same interchangeable nozzles, but the double-action controls of the A430 and A470 allow you to exploit the finer points of airbrushing.

Mix 50% Enamel and 50 % Gloss or Flat Clear.

The Testor Enamels have a shelf-life of 3-5 years if stored properly.

A Filler is a paint or paste that is applied to fill holes or other irregularities in a model prior to painting.

Primers are undercoats, which bind topcoat to substrate.

A Top Coat is the final paint film applied to a surface, also known as a protective coating.

A sealer is a primer, which does not allow succeeding coats to penetrate. It also seals in material that might otherwise bleed through the surface.

Varnish is an un-pigmented binder-solvent solution applied to protect or decorate a surface.

A solvent is the liquid of blend of liquids used to dissolve or disperse a paint.

A Retarder is a solvent added to a paint to slow down its evaporation time.

A “sprue” is a sheet or “tree” that the parts of a model are attached to which helps identify them in the assembly instructions. Generally each sprue is assigned a letter and each part is assigned a number an example would be “A10”. The A identifies the sprue that it is on and 10 identifies the part number. Not all kits contain sprues. The majority of the metal kits that we sell do not have parts on sprues but rather the parts are loose and packaged in plastic bags.

Dry spray is sprayed paint, which loses so much solvent in the air that it becomes too dry to flow over the intended surface. Dry spray has a lower gloss than the normally sprayed surface.

“Fish Eyes” is a paint defect, which manifests itself by crawling off wet paint into a recognized pattern resembling small “dimples” or “fish eyes”.

Wet-Edge Retention is the time after application during which fresh paint has sufficient flow and re-wet ability to permit lapping.

Flash point is the temperature at which the vapor of a thinner or solvent will ignite in the presence of sparks or an open flame. 

Matte is the finish of a surface with minimal reflectance.  A matte finish is the opposite of a gloss finish. 

Orange peel is an irregularity in the surface of a paint film resulting from the inability of the wet film to “level out” after being applied.  Orange peel is caused by the rapid evaporation of the solvents either while the paint is drying or while it is being applied. It becomes more pronounced at higher temps and/or when lower humidity conditions exist. Orange peel can also happen if the aerosol paint can or airbrush is held too far away from the object being painted, when using too much thinner in an airbrush or allowing the model to dry in a spray booth with the exhaust fan on. It is usually only visible on gloss finishes. Once orange peel develops, it is necessary to remove the film and start over.

Peeling is the failure of a paint film to adhere to its substrate.  Peeling results when contaminated surfaces are painted or when there is an excessive difference between paint and surface polarity or thermal expansion characteristics.  

Scale is the term that is given to a model as a measurement against the prototype (the real subject).  The 1 in the equation represents the actual vehicle, aircraft, ship, or any other subject.  The 2^nd number represents the model.  For example; a 1/48 scale model of a P-51 Mustang is only about one quarter the size of the real P-51 Mustang.  Another example is that it would take approximately 48 1/48 scale Mustang models lined up nose to tail to equal the length of the real P-51 Mustang.  The 1 in the equation always represents the real prototype, and the 2^nd number represents the size compared to the prototype of the model.  The smaller the 2^nd number is, the larger the model will be, likewise the higher the second number is, the smaller the model.  A 1/144 scale model of a popular airline aircraft will only have a wingspan of 10-14”, while a 1/72 scale model of the same type of aircraft may have a wingspan of almost two feet or more. 

The popular scales for aircraft, from smallest to largest are as follows:  1/44, 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32.  Car models come in scales such as: 1/43, 1/20, 1/24, and 1/25.  Most ship models are usually 1/720.  Military and historic figures usually come in 1/72, and 1/32.  Railroad models come in 1/220 (Z), 1/160 (N), 1/87 (HO), 1/64 (S), 1/48 (O), and 1/28-1/32 (G).

Our Model Master Guide is stored as zipped pdf files, this makes the files smaller and less prone to corruption while traveling the web.  

To download:

1) Download (click on) preferred Chapter.zip to your desktop or preferred folder.

2) Unzip (expand) the pdf file to your desktop or preferred folder.

Note: Some browsers and ISP's will automatically expand zip files. If you do not have these capabilities go to www.winzip.com and download their free Unzip program.

3.Open the pdf document with Adobe Acrobat Reader.