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Oh my lord. More! (and hopefully more to come!)
Q5) I spray painted my model, but when I do touch ups by brush, it looks dumb
A5) Just because the name on a can of paint says, "Blood Angel Red," and the jar of hobby paint sports the same name doesn't mean it's the *same* color, so touch up is very tricky. The touch up paint can be lighter by shades, or maybe just off by one. None the less, it's pretty noticeable to the eye. A lot of times, what happens is that if it's a little touch up, it's even more noticeable than touching up a bigger area. Try to work with one medium at a time to avoid problems like that. If the touch up paint doesn't bother you, then go ahead and do it. But if it really really REALLY bothers you, you either have to paint the entire area over or scour the lands for a matching color (good luck)
Q6) How do I get nice sharp panel lines?
A6) A cheap and easy way to get panel lines, for people who don't have the steady as stone wrists to draw them with brushes, is to hop over to the local art supply store. They usually have small nibbed pens in the 0.005 and 0.01 points in a variety of colors. What I've found is that the 0.005 nib is a little too short and stubby, while the 0.01 works the best over all with a little help from a hard surface. Basically, I shape the tip of the pen even more narrow, to almost form a point. This helps me get sharper and cleaner lines than from a brush, and prevents bleeding
Q7) What is a good way to paint battle damage?
A7) The two main types of battle damage I work with are 1) laser and 2) bullet holes. For laser type damage, armor would bubble or melt, so on a plastic model, you can melt the plastic before you paint (some paints are highly flammable) and then paint over the bubbly plastic. This is of course, kinda dangerous since plastic and fire = bad for you. A smarter alternative might be to use airbrush or gundam markers. Those of you with lots of time to waste might try to mold or add a bubly texture to the model with putty. For bullet holes, I take a sharp pointed exacto knife tip and make a light drilling action with it until the point penetrates the plastic. I either rearrange the "bullet holes" as a splatter shot, or in a line. It's probably best to make both these effects before you put your model together, so you don't accidentally burn off or cut through the wrong parts
Q8) How did you get that $60 model for $20 bucks?! A8) Not to mock our male surfers, but I, Nan, will take this question since Ben didn't have that much to do with this one ;) If you have girlfriends, and they aren't that skanky (actually, skanky might work) bring them along to conventions...get them to whine and bargain for you. I know, this sounds terrible but it seems to *urm* work. This is especially effective on the last day of the con because not only do the guys want to get rid of their models, but they'd rather get rid of it to a gal! *cackle* (Girl Modeler Tip #1)
Q9) Where did you get your _____ models?
A9)Most of my models I got at conventions, and most are known at the *shady* model batch which are probably rip offs or unauthorized recasts (but they were good quality and cheaper than the official models) The problem with this is they don't come with the special warranty or customer service that official models have, but in my opinion they are pretty reliably complete anyhow. Another place I got my models was a catalog called "previews." I don't know if this is available to the general populace though, but if you have some comic book store friends, you might be able to get them to picks something up for you...at a discount
Q10) I can't read my color guide!! A10) While some model booklets come with pretty easy to figure out color guides (arrows pointing and so on) sometimes you just can't figure out what color goes where. Check out this little image I made with the most basic colors translated into english and kanji for you. If you see something that needs to be added, mail me