Before you use the pen, shake it vigorously for two or three minutes. A mixing ball in the barrel of the pen helps to stir up the paint. The first time you use the pen the tip will be dry. Wet the tip with paint by pressing the tip gently against a piece of scrap paper. Keep Pressing the tip against the paper until the paint oozes from the tip. You will also need to repeat this from time to time while painting your model.

Apply the paint to the model in even, straight strokes, just like with a brush. The tip of the pen is made of a special fibrous material that can be cut with a knife to just about any shape desired. However, you’ll probably want to keep the tip as it is until you gain more experience in using the pens.

When you are finished painting, simply return the cap to the pen. You don’t need to clean anything. Be sure to recap the marker when you are finished, or the tip will dry out. If that happens, the pen may be ruined. If the tip has dried out, you can try to repair it by soaking it in paint thinner. Note that Testor paint thinner is recommended for Testor paint pens.

About the only thing to remember when displaying your model is to keep it away from heat and direct sunlight. Excessive heat will melt the plastic, of course, but even prolonged exposure to the heat of air vent or the rays of the sun can cause the plastic of the model to become brittle.

Now that you’ve finished your first model, how about another? In a later section, you’ll learn the technique of assembling a model using plastic cement, a better way to remove the plastic parts from the runner, the "right" way to apply decals, and more.

The adhesives applied during manufacture to the bottom of the film literally glue the decal to the model. Since the adhesive is already on the decal, you don’t have to use cement or glue. The adhesive also takes a few minutes to set so you can slide the decal on the model to position it just the way you want it.

During the initial one-hour setting time, the paint is still wet and tacky, and any dust that’s in the air can settle and stick to the model. For the first hour or so, it’s very important that the model be kept in a dust-free place. If you’re working out in the garage, take your painted model inside where it is less dusty. Carry the model on a piece of cardboard; don’t transport it with your hands.

Brush the paint onto the model using straight, even strokes. Brush on the paint in one direction only. Don’t go back and forth or side to side. Painting in one direction minimized brush marks.

You’ve probably heard this suggestion before, but it’s an important point to remember. It’s better to paint your model with several thin coats than with one heavy coat. If one coat of paint doesn’t cover the model well, let it dry completely (overnight), and brush on a second coat.

Open the bottle with your fingers or a jar cap opener. Once the bottle is open, set it in the shoe box, hobby center, or other container. Use a round toothpick to stir the paint gently. Make sure the toothpick goes all the way to the bottom of the bottle while you stir.

Why is stirring necessary? Over time, even the finest model paints separate, and stirring helps mix the ingredients again. Without stirring, the heavier part of the paint--the pigment (or color)--will be at the bottom, and the paint at the top will be runny and thin.

Stir for about a minute and remove the toothpick. Scrape the toothpick against the inside rim of the jar to remove the excess paint. Use a new toothpick for each color.

The following describes some potential paint problems and always to avoid them:

Thickened Paint.

The most common cause of thickened bottled paint is evaporation of the enamel solvents or water. The evaporation of the liquid is usually due to painting directly from the bottle and while the paint is in storage. When brush painting an extended time, pour out into a separate container the amount of paint required. Wipe away excess paint from around the bottle rim prior to cap placement. Invert bottle during storage. These two suggestions will reduce the evaporation process, increasing the paint's longevity. Paint will also thicken or gel when the wrong thinner is used. A word of caution: not all thinners are created equal. Use the recommended thinner for the product for the best results.

Although manufacturers recommend thinning ratios between paint and thinner, the recommendations are starting points. Depending on the airbrush unit, power source and environmental conditions, the ratios may vary. Recommendations, for example, for the Pactra RC Racing Paints is 9 parts paint to 1 part RC thinner.

Thin Paint.

When experiencing watery, thin, low coverage bottled paint, the most common factor associated with this is the insufficient mixing of the pigment and liquid. Merely shaking the bottles will not provide the right viscosity of the paint to achieve coverage. A stick or brush handle should be inserted into the paint and stirred until the pigment is not longer settled on the bottom or sides of the bottle. This procedure should also be followed when mixing paints before pouring into a cup and thinned for airbrushing. When low coverage is experienced using aerosol paints, the two most common causes are that the substrate needs to be color neutralized or a transparent color is being used. All Testor Candy colors are transparent paints. If experiencing low coverage when airbrushing, usually too much thinner has been added.

Orange Peel.

Orange peel is easy to spot. The finish resembles of the peel of an orange. It is caused by the rapid evaporation of the solvents either while the paint is drying, or when the paint is being applied. It becomes more pronounced at higher temperatures 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 under conditions, 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. Orange peel can be experienced when applying enamels, polyurethane's, and vinyl acrylic lacquers.

Self-Lifting/Wrinkling.

"Self-lifting" is a common occurrence associated with gloss finishes. The finish will resemble a spider web or cracked mirror appearance. Self-lifting occurs when an application of paint is applied between 3 and 48 hours after the last application. To eliminate this problem, only apply subsequent coats of enamel before three hours or after 48 of the last application. Self lifting can occur when applying enamel and polyurethanes.

Fish Eye.

"Fish Eye" is the formation of depressions or craters on the film with a black dot in the middle of the bubble. This reaction occurs when there is contamination of the product, equipment or environment. This can be extremely difficult to isolate and eliminate the cause. Fish eye can occur on flat and gloss finishes with any product formulas.

Bubbling.

Bubbling is the formation of many small bubbles in dried enamel film This can cause a gloss finish to have a dull, rough appearance. This reaction is not uncommon when applying gloss enamel solvent-based spray paints when humidity is excessively high. To reduce the chance of bubbling, spray only when relative humidity conditions are 60% or lower.

Hazing/Blushing.

Hazing, associated with lacquers, appears as a cloudiness in the dried clear or pigmented film. This reaction is commonly found with lacquers when relative humidity conditions are high, trapping moisture in the dried film.

If hazing is experienced with Aero Gloss, once the humidity level has decreased, a compatible lacquer thinner should be applied in a fine mist to the dried film. The thinner dissolves the top layer of the lacquer film and allows the moisture to evaporate. This will eliminate the hazy appearance. The application of too much thinner will result in ruining the finish.

When hazing is experienced with Glosscote lacquer, apply mist applications of the Glosscote when the humidity level decreases. The lacquer will dissolve the initial layer of lacquer and allow the moisture to escape.

Runs, Sags, Drips.

Runs, sags, and drips are usually caused by the application of too much paint or improper mixture of the paint. To avoid this, apply several light applications to build up coverage, making sure that the bottled paint has been stirred or aerosol has been shaken. Also, when applying a transparent paint, use gold, silver or copper primer as an under coat. When a primer is not applied first, usually too much paint is applied in an attempt to achieve opaque coverage ultimately causing runs, sags and drips.

Film Drying.

When paint is not drying on the surface, the most common cause is use of the wrong paint. When painting flexible vinyl or rubber, Testors solvent based enamel will not dry. A water based acrylic paint should be used. Dry time on Model Master acrylics, Pactra acrylic and enamels is between 30 minutes to 1 hour. Lacquers dry even faster. However, the environment and thickness of coats will have an impact on the amount of time it takes for the films to thoroughly dry.

Diminished Adhesion.

It is important to wash your model with mild dishwashing detergent to remove model release residue from the model. If any oily substance is on the model, the finish may appear blotchy and have diminished adhesion. Adhesion will also be compromised if acrylics are over thinned.

Polystyrene plastic will distort and even melt if exposed to heat, and it will develop an etched surface appearance if certain solvents contact it. Cement should be applied sparingly to avoid melting parts, diminished adhesion and the loss of the cement's bonding or welding characteristic. When removing paint from polystyrene, never saturate the surface with thinner. Refer to "Film Removal."

Incompatible Reactions.

Adverse reactions are manifested by either environmental or chemical incompatibilities between solvents and substrates. When mixing or applying products in their wet or dry state that are not recommended by the manufacturer, it is advantageous to rest on the side compatibility.

If experiencing enamel that isn't drying, the substrate is probably flexible vinyl or a combination of flexible vinyl/polystyrene. Solvent based paint will never dry on vinyl. There are not solvents or procedures that will force the enamel to dry. The only means of reversing this adverse reaction is to remove the enamel film and start over.

But if you want it to look even better, you can paint parts of the model. As you progress in you model-making skills, you will paint some of the parts before you assemble the kit. For the Snaps-Together model example, you paint the model after assembling the kit.

There are two types of model paints: those that come in small bottles and those that come in spray cans. Spray paint is used to cover large areas; it is usually used to paint parts before the kit is assembled or to paint subassemblies - complete sections of the model. Bottle paints are applied with a small brush, so they allow for more detail. We’ll discuss only bottle paints in this chapter; spray painting is covered in the section "Painting Your Model."

Paints usually are not included in the model kit, so they must be purchased separately. Most of the better kits provide a list of suggested paint colors on the box of the model. You can save yourself some time by purchasing the paints when you buy the model. Refer to the list of the colors or look at the picture on the box.

If you are just starting, you may want to get a plastic model finishing center or paint kit. These come with a variety of popular paint colors. You will save some money by purchasing the paints as a set. You can always supplement the kit with a few additional bottles of paint in your favorite colors.

When the last part has been snapped into place, your model is done. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Following the exact steps in the instruction sheet, carefully remove the first parts from the runner. Do not remove any more pieces than necessary. If the instructions don’t say you need a particular part for this step, don’t take if off the runner yet.

With the runner in one hand, grasp the piece you want to take off with the other. Bend the piece back and forth until it snaps off. You should know that this isn’t the best way to remove parts from the runner, but it’s the easiest and you don’t need tools. In the next chapter, you’ll learn a better way to remove the parts from the runner using a hobby knife or saw.

More than likely, there will be a small amount of extra plastic on the part. This plastic can be where the part was connected to the runner, or it can be caused by plastic that oozed out from the mold when the kit was made. This is commonly called "flash."

Do not confuse flash or leftover runner plastic with the "locating pins" that are modeled into the joining edges of the pieces. The stems or pins are meant to go into matching holes on another part. If you cut off or file the stems, your model may not fit together correctly. You especially need the stems in a Snaps-Together kit, or the pieces won’t stay together!

Use the emery board to file away the flash. Go slowly and inspect your work every few strokes of the board. You can use the fingernail clippers to remove the nub of plastic left over from the connection to the runner. Carefully nibble the leftover plastic with the clipper a little bit at a time. The last speck of plastic can be smoothed away with the emery board.

While cutting or sanding, hold the part gently. If you apply too much pressure while holding the part, you may break it (a broken part can often be cemented back together, but it’s easier to avoid breakage in the first place). If the part is too small to hold while cutting or sanding, place it on the table and work with it there. Avoid overhandling small parts. They are the easiest to break.

Take the runners of the plastic parts out of their protective bags, but do not remove the individual pierces. Some kit makers mark the part numbers on or near the parts. If you look closely, you’ll see that near each part on the runner is a tab, and written on the tab is a number. This number corresponds to a part number on the instruction sheet and helps you identify the piece. If you break all the parts off now, it will make it harder to tell them apart later.

If you want to paint the model, you’ll need a couple of jars of paint, a medium-sized paint brush (such as a number 2), and a bottle of paint thinner/brush cleaner. You also will need a small disposable aluminum baking tin or an old dish for the thinner/cleaner. If you would like to apply decals to the model, you will need a pair of scissors to cut the decals you want from the sheet. Keep a few paper towels or facial tissues handy to wipe up spills and dry off parts.

The following describes three levels of modeling expertise, along with tools required to optimize results at each level:

Entry Level (occasional model builder) -- precision cement, hobby knife, paint set, brushes.

Entry Level (striving to enhance skills) -- precision cement, single action airbrush, propane, compressor (optional), tweezers, putty, sanding films, sprue cutter (optional), hobby knife, Model Master brushes, airbrush thinner, brush cleaner/thinner.

Advanced Level (has achieved excellence) -- professional double action airbrush and accessories, compressor with regulator and moisture trap, all above-mentioned supplies, Dullcote, Glosscote, Lacquer thinner, Model Master paints, Model Master brushes.

There are many kinds of models available, from simple no-cement-needed kits to advanced models with hundreds of pieces. Some kits are harder to put together than others, so if you’re just starting out in model building, your first project shouldn’t be too difficult. A good model kit to start with is a snap-together car or truck. There is no cementing involved, and you don’t even have to paint your model if you don’t want to.

In this section how you'll learn the basic steps of building a snap-together car. For those of you who are interested, we will also show how to apply decals to the finished model and how to paint your model to obtain an even more professional look.