What have I been up to? Painting the Merkava (and halting just before the weathering step), building the T-55 (no paint yet) aaand ... not much else. Don't worry, it's just another modelling hiatus. It happens.
I'm painting a hockey mask for Halloween. Getting re-acquainted with the airbrush and it went from wonderful to really bad, just like I remembered. Then the trigger started to jam and it was all over.
Last time this happened, I sent it to the States for a cleanup. No way was I to open it up myself or void the warranty. Scared little weasel that I was, I complied. Well, they did clean it up and sent it back, so I'm grateful for the excellent (free) service. But it did get lost in transit for a couple of long, scary weeks.
Anyway, when it returned all squeaky clean, I could see where they had pried it open (voided warranty, my @ss), so when it was time for another cleanup, I just bit the bullet and opened it up.
It just pries open from the back to the front. It doesn't look too complicated, but I was precautious and took a picture before complete disassembly.
Some acetone and some elbow grease and it looks shiny as new. Well, no, but all the gunk is gone. And there was a LOT of gunk.
It's now drying. I haven't tested it yet, but I'm confident. (famous last words?)
Here's the mask I'm painting. It's a $2 white hockey mask, that I attacked with sanding paper, a dremel, black primer, german grey and a thick coat of matt varnish.
Next up : heavy chipping fluid and aluminium. Then the actual chipping and a black wash.