A
Awins
Guest
This is a technique that I have never used but fancy trying this out. Can anyone advise the correct way of doing this. Im not sure if you would apply a lighter colour to the base coat or should it be a darker colour.
D
dubster72
Guest
Well pre shading is lining the panels with a dark colour (usually black) so that it shows up through the main colour
Adding a lighter colour in the centre of a panel is post shading
Adding a lighter colour in the centre of a panel is post shading
D
demon
Guest
I just go over the panel lines with tamiya satin black as it sprays thinner lines than Matt imho I do this over the primer freehand as neat and as thin as possible but to be honest it doesn't matter a bit just lay your top colours on in light coats or you will completely overpower the preshading it's practice
I do find that on the undersurface on aircraft it tends to look better because it's a lighter colour over the preshadeing if you get my drift
Roger
I do find that on the undersurface on aircraft it tends to look better because it's a lighter colour over the preshadeing if you get my drift
Roger
Some good tips and suggestions there. Here is my approach.
Panel line highlighting and preshading are not necessarily the same.
Pre-shading works best when it is used to modulate the base coat in order to replicate the play of light and shade as it appears on a large surface onto the much smaller surface of a model. Look at a real aircraft, even if painted in a single colour, the appearance varies over the aircraft depending on how light falls on it. What you are effectively doing is fool the eye into thinking it is looking at a much larger surface area than is the reality on a model.
Your can pre-shade in a manner that can also give the impression of the stressed metal effect and this is where using panels for pre and post shading is very effective.
You can pre-shade light over dark or dark over light, I do both though I find it easier to lay down a dark coat and pre-shade with a lighter one.
I will first spray a primer coat all over, often black, sometimes grey, then spray a grey (if on black...) in the areas between the panel lines but it is important not to be too neat, it must look very uneven. Also spray your pre-shading in areas that catch more sun. If you are too neat and tidy it will not look right and will appear very false. When spraying dark (black pre-shading) over light (grey), the black is along the panel lines and in areas that catch less sun and light, again this way around it must look rough and uneven.
The remainder of the process is the same whichever way around you pre-shaded.
Then apply the base coat, stopping well before you get the effect you want leaving more contrast than you want to end up with.
Next I post-shade by placing a drop (20%) of white in the base colour, thinning it a more than usual, extra 30% thinner) and spraying in areas that will catch more light and inside the panels. Just look at your model and think about where most light might fall. Yes, in doing this you will increase the contrast even more and, yes, again make sure it is not too 'neat' and even.
This last stage is great where you want some fairly extreme sun bleaching for desert aircraft for instance but it is also useful just to help give some more moderate 'bleaching' and to overall provide some scale effect.
Next up is the controllable bit, this helps blend the varying shades and bring the contrast to where you want it.
You need a very thinned base colour. If using Vallejo MA unthinned for instance for the base coat I will thin it by about 50%. If you use other paints, thin it to the normal spraying consistency then add then same amount of thinner as you have in the cup.
Then build up thin mist coats over the model, until you get the contrast you want. This is very controllable but beware, dry paint looks different to when it is wet so dry down with the airbrush, air only, between coats.
You simply cannot go wrong with this method as the final stage can correct any errors and can vary the effect to exactly what you are happy with.
Once that is done and you have gloss coated, decalled and sealed the decals with a gloss coat, you apply the panel line wash either as a sludge wash or as a pin wash before matt coating.
Panel line highlighting and preshading are not necessarily the same.
Pre-shading works best when it is used to modulate the base coat in order to replicate the play of light and shade as it appears on a large surface onto the much smaller surface of a model. Look at a real aircraft, even if painted in a single colour, the appearance varies over the aircraft depending on how light falls on it. What you are effectively doing is fool the eye into thinking it is looking at a much larger surface area than is the reality on a model.
Your can pre-shade in a manner that can also give the impression of the stressed metal effect and this is where using panels for pre and post shading is very effective.
You can pre-shade light over dark or dark over light, I do both though I find it easier to lay down a dark coat and pre-shade with a lighter one.
I will first spray a primer coat all over, often black, sometimes grey, then spray a grey (if on black...) in the areas between the panel lines but it is important not to be too neat, it must look very uneven. Also spray your pre-shading in areas that catch more sun. If you are too neat and tidy it will not look right and will appear very false. When spraying dark (black pre-shading) over light (grey), the black is along the panel lines and in areas that catch less sun and light, again this way around it must look rough and uneven.
The remainder of the process is the same whichever way around you pre-shaded.
Then apply the base coat, stopping well before you get the effect you want leaving more contrast than you want to end up with.
Next I post-shade by placing a drop (20%) of white in the base colour, thinning it a more than usual, extra 30% thinner) and spraying in areas that will catch more light and inside the panels. Just look at your model and think about where most light might fall. Yes, in doing this you will increase the contrast even more and, yes, again make sure it is not too 'neat' and even.
This last stage is great where you want some fairly extreme sun bleaching for desert aircraft for instance but it is also useful just to help give some more moderate 'bleaching' and to overall provide some scale effect.
Next up is the controllable bit, this helps blend the varying shades and bring the contrast to where you want it.
You need a very thinned base colour. If using Vallejo MA unthinned for instance for the base coat I will thin it by about 50%. If you use other paints, thin it to the normal spraying consistency then add then same amount of thinner as you have in the cup.
Then build up thin mist coats over the model, until you get the contrast you want. This is very controllable but beware, dry paint looks different to when it is wet so dry down with the airbrush, air only, between coats.
You simply cannot go wrong with this method as the final stage can correct any errors and can vary the effect to exactly what you are happy with.
Once that is done and you have gloss coated, decalled and sealed the decals with a gloss coat, you apply the panel line wash either as a sludge wash or as a pin wash before matt coating.