O
Oils/Oil Paint
Student or Artist quality.
Student quality. Cost less due to more filler and less pigment. Good for Washes (qv) and stains.
Artist Quality. Higher cost due to petter pigments and less/no filler. Used by Figure Modelers. Especialy good for Wet on Wet(qv) painting. Blends well and gives subtle shading.
OOB
Abbreviation: Out Of Box. This refers to building a kit, using the contents supplied with the kit only and not using after-market details, such as resin canopies, or photo-etch extra details. There are different definitions of oob.
For example, IPMS competition rules do permit the addition of paper seat belts and aftermarket decals. They also permit the use of any etch or resin included with the kit. There are now several kits which include extensive etch and resin. So, if entering a competition, you may prefer to use the Eduard 1/48 Spitfire F.22/24, which includes etch, resin and aftermarket-quality decals as the basis of your competition model, rather than the Airfix original, which does not.
OCD
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This is, by definition, a mental health problem and causes the sufferer intense anxieties. That said, many of us modellers displaya degree of OCD, in that we obsess about getting the right shade of paint, or the right number of bolts on our Hannomag drive sprockets, or whatever. We also feel the compulsion to buy kits we probably don't really need and often, our work spaces, or even homes, are in complete disorder, due to half-completed models scattered all over the shop.
(See "AMS" and "Rivet Counter")
Opacity
The hiding power of a paint or coating, commonly expressed as a percentage of the coverage, over black substrate, divided by the coverage over white substrate. The opacity of a paint can be a good guide to how many coats it will require. Due to the pigments used to obtain the colour, bright or clean yellows and reds will generally have the poorest opacity. This is one reason why a light grey primer is preferably used, prior to applying paler colours.Opacity is also an important quality of decals. Good decals will have sufficient opacity to show a solid colour. Less good decals will be somewhat translucent and, for example, with the 3-colour RAF roundels, the colour of the painted surface will show through the white ring.
Orange peel
An effect, generally undesirable, where the paint finish resembles the outside of an orange when dry. Orange peeling can happen when the paint's viscosity is too high and needs to be thinned more or if the pressure at which the paint was applied was wrong.
Oxidation
A chemical reaction with oxygen from the air. Solvent-based paints dry, or cure, via an oxidation reaction.
P
Paint
Used to decorate plastic models and colour them as the original itself was coloured. Paints come most commonly in enamel and acrylic.
Panel lines
Detail on model kits. Panel lines can be raised, to depict the various joints and panels on an aircraft's surface, or recessed. Older kits tend to have raised panel lines, as it was apparently easier to cut a fine line in a mould than it was to add a fine line. Debate rages over the pros and cons of panel lines and their treatment. Often, panel lines can be overdone and the model looks nothing like the real thing.
Penguin
FROG Penguins were the first commercially-produced range of scale plastic model kits. They were produced in the UK, between 1936 and 1947, with a wartime break between 1940 and 1946.
The FROG (Flies Right Off the Ground) Penguins were so called because while FROG models were designed to fly, penguins, of course, are not.
Photoetching
A process that uses chemical or machine etching to remove material from a metal. This produces small parts with much higher detail than can be obtained through injection moulded plastic. Photo etch parts are common after-market products.
Piercing saw
A very fine, sharp-toothed hacksaw with a spacious frame. Intended for cutting internal holes in metal sheet, but extremely useful for removing pour stubs (see below) from resin parts. Inexpensive, and easily obtained from a good hardware shop.
Pigment
The component of a paint that gives it colour. Pigment is bound by resin in the paint film. Matt paints generally have a relatively high pigment content, whereas gloss paints will have a much lower pigment content.
Ping!
That delightful, high-pitched, metallic noise, indicating the departure, at a rate of knots, of your expensive and essential piece of photo-etch, attaining escape velocity. You will never see this piece again, unless you are lucky enough to find it embedded in the ceiling, or unless the resident Carpet Monster pukes under your chair.
Pin Vice
A little gizmo that will hold, by way of a hand tightenable (!) screw, all manner of small and tiny drill bits.
See also Minidrill
Plasticard
Plastic sheeting, usually sold in sheets of A5 size, of varying thicknesses, (0.005" to 0.060"). Used for scratchbuilding and accurising.
See "Sheet PLastic"
Plura(c)
...Is another sort of plastic, apparently used mainly by German companies who make working model ships and boats.
Poison S6
The warning that used to appear on tubes of Airfix polystyrene cement.
Polycement
Solvent based adhesive that works by melting the plastic when applied to it. When brought together, two pieces of plastic are effectively 'welded' together to form a strong bond.
Polymer
The chemical term for resin.
Polystyrene
A plastic polymer commonly used to make model kits.
Post-Telford Blues
A condition of understandable melancholy, following the orgy of modelling mayhem and excitement that is Scale Modelworld, (held at Telford), in November. One accepted solution is to build at least one kit purchased from the aforementioned show.
Pour Stub
Resin is poured into a mould, to make a resin part, through a hole of some description. When the mould is opened up, their will be the resin part and excess resin, which filled the opening through which the resin was poured. This needs to be cut off the part. Some resin kits have small, or even non-evident stubs. This demonstrates an efficient use of resin. Some have large stubs. This is wasteful and such stubs can be a right 'mare to cut off, as resin is often a lot harder than plastic.
If you intend to use much resin, consider investing in a "piercing saw" (see above) to aid the removal of pour stubs. If sanding pour stubs, remember that resin dust is carcinogenic, wear a mask and, ideally, wet sand under water.
Power pack
A portable aerosol for use with an airbrush. The power pack is useful for modellers who only airbrush occasionally and do not wish to invest in a compressor. Like any aerosol, the pressure will decrease as the unit becomes spent and it's important to monitor the quality of the paint delivery as you go.
In the course of any spraying session with a power pack, the temperature of the pack will drop dramatically. This, in turn will reduce the pressure available. Ideally, when using a power pack, spray in short bursts, or keep the pack in a bucket or bowl of warm (not hot) water.
Precision Poly
A solvent-based cement with low viscosity and a very thin tube which enables precision delivery of fine amounts of product to small areas or areas of fine detail.
Pre-shading
Pre-shading is a technique for adding visual texture and interest to a model, rendering it less toy-like in appearance (if not necessarily more realistic).
Preshading involves applying strong light and dark contrasting colours to the surface of a model before overpainting with the main surface colours. It can be used to emphasise panels on aircraft or armour, or create shadows and highlights on figures. Typically, the centres of panels are lightened, and the edges darkened. Preshading is best accomplished using an airbrush, which allows the application of semi-transparent layers of colour, essential if pre-shading is to work effectively.
The technique, like all weathering techniques, can be overdone, and like all weathering techniques, has its enthusiasts and its detractors. One advantage of pre-shading is that, because the final colour is applied OVER the pre-shading, the usual temptation to do "just a bit more" actually reduces the overall effect, toning it down further.
NB: flash photographs often exaggerate the contrast of pre-shading, so it's best to assess the effect on a model in front of you, ideally in natural daylight.
PSR
Putty, Sand and Repeat. This oft-repeated phrase refers to the sequence of actions needed with particularly bad fitting kits, or when 'Kitbashing'. You fill large gaps (with putty), sand to shape and repeat the process as necessary.
PVC
Pigment Volume Concentration - a measure of the ratio of pigment to binder in a paint. Gloss paints have a low PVC, with an excess of resin which the light bounces off smoothly to give the high reflectance. Matt paints have a high PVC and pigment protrudes up from the surface, giving a rougher feel to the touch and scattering light in all directions resulting in low reflectance.ALSO Poly Vinyl Chloride, a thin plastic.
Q
QC
An abbreviation: Quality Control. This is the means whereby a company checks its products before they are sold onto the paying customer. Some companies are better at this aspect of their business than others. Poor qc will result in missing and/or broken pieces, undershot pieces, excess flash, cloudy transparencies and out of register decals.
Quintessential
A big word, beginning with Q, to fill up this section of the Glossary.
Modelling Glossary O - Q
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