discussion How to paint and weather an aircraft model....

[BarryW]

Hi John. I don't remember as I just Googled it to find it. Yes, I agree, it does look expensive. I bought mine a while ago now and if I remember correctly it cost about £25 which is a fair old outlay. But.... I have used it on 4 kits and used it a lot practising with it (it does need some practise) and I have barely made an impact on the roll. I expect to use it on dozens of kits before it runs out and as such will work out a lot cheaper than using Eduard Canopy masks and it is a lot more versatile. A roll is prety much a lifetimes supply. Worth every penny.

 

[BarryW]

Last night I applied the Flory Wash liberally all over the aircraft with a flat brush making sure it got into all the nooks and crannies. I then left it about an hour or so to dry.

One wing done....

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The underside finished, just showing the undersdie as it is a lot clearer than the darker top-side.

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A close up of a wing after being left an hour or so.

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My weapons of choice.... The hanky is one that I keep for this purpose. You can never get it completely clean even though it is straight in the wash when done.

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Removing the surplus. A finger in the hankerchief, wetted with saliva and I rub in circles rubbing it into the detail and removing most of the 'deposit'. It is just a clay wash, nothing toxic to worry about. It is important to end with wipes in the direction of airflow. Even if it looks as if the area is clean, it is not, there will be residue. This process is so controllable, the more you rub, the wetter the cloth, the more you get off. Do not worry about it being all even, this is replicating dirt and use after all and dirt will not collect uniformly over the aircraft. This wash can be manipulated 'to your taste'. The various cotton buds are for getting into angles and so on. Remember to leave a thicker deposit where airflow will leave it. Also, please note. This is general dirt and grime, oil, smoke, wear etc will get seperate treatments.

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The underside completed.

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Next we need to seal the wash and to prepare the surface for additional weathering effects. In my experience the next treatments work best on a fairly matt surface. So I apply a thin matt coat. Some points about this:

I thin the Vallejo matt Varnish about 10% and apply it in a single thin coat. This will not be the final coat of matt so do not worry if the result is not a fully even flat matt surface. It is important that it is a thin coat. Always strip clean the airbrush after using this varnish as it can clog terribly otherwise. Leave the model for the varnish to cure and harden, overnight is enough in this case as it will not be masked. The materials and the aircraft before spraying.

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After spraying...

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Next, tonight I will be doing the next stage of weather and below are the tools. The pigment I will use will mostly be a soot black one rather than the one pictured.

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More tomorrow.

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[BarryW]

Last night I did the bulk of the remaining weathering.

Some people will study photos to work out the pattern of wear on an aircraft first and, indeed, I always find myself looking at this detail whenever I see pics of wartime aircraft. That said I work on the 'if it looks right to me, it is right' principal and do not get too worked up over it.

I have seen some fantastic models where all kinds of complex processes have been used, the salt method, chipping solution etc etc etc. But this is a basic tutorial and you can get excellent effects from just a silver artist pencil specially of 1/48 or smaller aircraft.

First I started applying paint chipping and wear using the pencil. I identified places particularly subject to wear, places where the pilot or ground crew clamber onto the wing, where panels are remover, wing roots and leading edges and even just around some of the more vulnerable panels where the may be knocked or scraped or worn at the edge. I then try to replicate such chipping and wear with the pencil. Do not forget that chipping does not stop at the edge of a decal.....

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Next I used oil paint to depict areas where you may get smears of oil, around a fuel cap for instance. I will dip a cocktail stick into the paint and just touch it at a point on the model and then, with a cotton bud, wipe it in the direction of the airflow.

Then there are exhaust and smoke marks. I used a 'cut-off' brush with dry pigment and brushed it onto the model in the direction of the airflow. You need to do this on the matt surface and build up the pigment slowly. It takes a fair bit of brushing to do this. You can use various colour pigments (or ground chalk pastels) it does not have to be just black.

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The last pic is of the weathered model after applying a final sealing coat of matt varnish which gives an even overall finish. I spray the final coat unthinned and leave it to cure overnight.

Next I need to do some finishing touches to the paint and exhausts then the final fittings. I may not be able to finish tonight as I am taking my son out for a meal, its his birthday. So I may not post the final pics until Saturday.

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[BarryW]

The model is now done....

Firts I had some final touches to the paint and weathering.

I gloss varnished the wing tip lights. Then it was over the the exhausts....

I have seen some very complex treatment of exhausts and some fanastic results. But, in the spirit of this thread I kept it simple and did it a way that should not worry anyone.

As the varnish treatments affected the metallic look and brush painted on a thin Gunze buffable Iron then a few minutes later after it dried I buffed it with a cotton bud. That restored a nice metallic finish. Next I needed to weather it. Simple - Vallejo 710.80 Rust, thinned 50% with Vallejo thinner the a near wash like consistency (remember as an airbrush paint it is already thinned heavily before this thinning...) and I then painted it onto the exhausts, it gathers like a wash in the detail and leave a slight residue over the exhausts and it is done. To me it looks right and that, to me, is what is important...

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A shot of the exhaust, done. Sorry its a bit out of focus - you can see it better on other pics.

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Next it was the final fittings, I used superglue and for transparencies Micro Crystal Clear. I noticed some MCC shows white in some pics inside transparencies. This is no problem as it dires clear and will disappear - indeed it did disappear by morning but as I was up at 4.30am I did not take any pics then....

Anyway here is the completed model.

Underside first

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Well, that is it. This kit is a nice little easy build, a perfect test bed for beginners for both build and weathering experience.

All of the processes I describe here are easy to do and very controllable. You do not have to worry about messing up. My advice is just to do it, have fun and with practise you will get some great results with your modelling going to the next stage. Once this is mastered you may be tempted to try out some of the more advanced wethering methods....

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[Guest]

Thank you so much for posting this, Barry. I've learned lots of tricks which I'll be putting into practice. And may I be the first to award this a 'Great Build' gong?

 

[Dave W]

Thanks a lot for this thread Barry.Ive had a few disasters recently whilst trying to take my builds to the next level.But I am going to try your methods on my Whirlwind.

 

[Guest]

Thank you very much Barry!

Your thread is simple to understand and excellent to learn.

The final result of your build is magnificent!

Thanks again for your effort and to share it with all us.

Regards

Polux

 

[flyjoe180]

Super thread and great build Barry, cheers.

 

[Neil]

You make it all seem so simple

I am still on brush painting, does the pre-shading work for brushes too? I guess if I thin the paint down it works as well? I am now on a 1/72 B24 which is olive drab - that is going to be pretty dark and I recall in one of the magazines about using a yellow thinned layer underneath to lighten it up and lightening the olive with a drop or two of white as well?

Oh, one little tip I have found, and I feel embarrassed to even suggest such here, but most of the big supermarkets sell little plastic shot glasses, they are about £1 for 20 something like that, they make excellent mixing pots and once you're done can clean them out or throw them away.

 

[BarryW]

You make it all seem so simple I am still on brush painting, does the pre-shading work for brushes too? I guess if I thin the paint down it works as well? I am now on a 1/72 B24 which is olive drab - that is going to be pretty dark and I recall in one of the magazines about using a yellow thinned layer underneath to lighten it up and lightening the olive with a drop or two of white as well?

Oh, one little tip I have found, and I feel embarrassed to even suggest such here, but most of the big supermarkets sell little plastic shot glasses, they are about £1 for 20 something like that, they make excellent mixing pots and once you're done can clean them out or throw them away.

I know great results can be obtained by a brush but, I suspect, different methods need to be used. With paint thinned to the same ratio when applied with a hairy brush it will always be thicker than an airbrush and thin layers are the secret to this method. Also there may be a problem with feathering the edges of the pre-shading, it might be too harsh if not done by airbrush. Perhaps experienced brush painters may be able to give a more definitive answer.

 

[Guest]

I think Barry's right. Certain things are simply not possible with the different techniques.

One advantage of brush painting, though, that I hardly ever see people mention, is that if you're thinning your paint on a palette, and even moreso if you're mixing your own shades, is that you can alter the hue as you're going by mixing more or less of different shades in, or just using slightly more and slightly less dilute paint to have higher or lower saturation of the colour you're working in.

I think I've got this right (but pls correct me if I'm off track): much of what is being attempted in pre-shading is, as far as I can tell, an attempt to avoid a perfectly even finish on the model as this just doesn't look realistic at scale. An even finish is what airbrushing is particularly good at - hence why the 1:1 scale originals are usually sprayed themselves! Working with a brush, the issue is often the reverse - trying for a more uniform finish (hence working with multiple thinned layers). If you don't try too hard at that, you can get some interesting textures on the final product. The big no-no is visible brush-strokes, though (so: again thinned paints, don't paint over still-tacky base coats etc).

Wish I had better photos of it, but here's a Hampden bomber I did, entirely brush-painted. Other aspects of the painting aren't so great (not happy with the masked edges of the canopies, and there's quite a 'step' between camo shades at points), but I'm pleased with the overall finish I achieved there. And it doesn't take an expert - this was my fifth model (as an adult!).

 

[Guest]

What a fantastic tutorial! Am about to build a Scorpion for a friend (first build for decades!), and I'll be re-reading this quite a bit. Thank you!