Painting Tutorial and Pics

So, I have primed all of the kit and have even painted the yellow pieces, but alas, Christmas is here and my wife has put the kaibash on purchasing Gunpla related items until after Christmas because the things I wish to purchase would fit snugly into a stocking, so a friend of mine who is a newbie to Gunpla asked for a painting tutorial. So Nate, here goes.......

First, I received last Christmas an air compressor and an airbrush. It is wonderful. I can save money on paint by mixing my own and wasting less. I can get more effects like pre and post shading and it allows me more control over what gets painted. With that said, I have only painted 2 kits with the airbrush, the last being the RX78-2 ver Ka. The diorama and the Sandrock were both painted with Tamiya spray cans and primer.

First, clean and sand the kits and finish any mods you want to do to your kit. Second, purchase a primer like Tamiya spray primer, Mr. Surfacer 1000 or 1200 by Mr. Hobby, or run down to PepBoys and buy a $5 can of Duplicolor white sandable surface primer.

This is probably 1/3 of the kit still pegged after priming and the yellow pieces painted. Next, how to set up a paint station. First find a couple of pieces of styrofoam.
Next go to the local grocery store and pick up a couple bags of shish kabob sticks.
And some teacher's poster putty.
And in the Wal Mart automotive department, next to the electronics circuit testers, pick up some alligator clips. PICK UP A LOT. There are a lot of pieces to a Gundam kit. So use the teacher's putty on pieces that do not have connector points for the alligator clips to hold on to. Use the alligator clips on everything else. Attach the teacher's putty and the alligator clips to the shish kabob sticks so you can hold onto the stick and not the piece while you paint. When the piece is painted, stick the stick into the styrofoam until the piece is dry. Before you prime, it is a good idea to write the eventual color of the piece on a small piece of tape on the bottom of the stick, because once the pieces are primed, they are all white and identical. This also allows you to work in batches when you are laying paint, all of the red, all of the yellow etc. etc. Now when you are done painting is is important to seal all of the pieces so the paint doesn't chip or fade. Tamiya and Testors both make glossy and flat clear coats and if you are using an airbrush, Future Floor Polish by Pledge is where it is at. You can use it straight into the airbush, no thinning and it goes on glossy, perfect for applying decals. If you want a final flat coat, mix the Future with a little Tamiya flat clear.
So there it is, the painting tutorial. When color starts to go on after Christmas I will update with more in progress pics.