Gundam Painting Basics

In the last few weeks I've turned my gunpla building up a notch. I joined a few forums and I started making a plan on what to do with the boxes I have around the house. Here's a few things I've found out so far:

Many places recommend washing your runners with soap and water before you do anything. This is something I am now doing. Better safe than sorry.The paint order is Lacquer > Enamel > Acrylic and that you always need a gloss coat between each layer. The reason for this is because acrylic can't hurt enamel and enamel can't hurt lacquer. The gloss coat protects the last layer If you messed up in the current layer.It may just be me, but, the Gundam Markers have me worried that they will dry out very quickly. Also, the gray is almost black. Maybe I'm missing something?While sanding, you should always clean your pieces when switching sandpaper grit. This removes any residue from the last sanding effort that might hurt your current sanding. This is quite easy, just grab some water and a toothbrush and get in there, trying to get as much of the sanding residue as possible.A weak ammonia bath (think Windex) can loosen most paints. I have not tried this yet.

All of this being said, I also decided that maybe spray painting was not for me. The cans run you about $4-$5 each and there's no flexibility in colors. There's also the issue of space, my apartment in downtown Denver does not have a balcony or any easy place for me to paint without getting fumes inside the apartment. Currently what I've ended up doing is considering going to the back alley behind my apartment and spraying there. The one time I did it I had my girlfriend as a lookout and got 3 parts in before she started thinking we should go back inside. So I'm going to just use the cans I have on some projects and move on to airbrushing. I'll probably take the cans to my office in Boulder. There's a balcony there and I could theoretically get some work done there in the span of a week or so. Every time I think I need a color I'll put that can's worth of money apart. I'll be able to get a airbrush kit in no time. In the meantime I'll research the building of a spray booth and  what compressor I need,  It needs to be super quiet.