Mottle or not to mottle?

[Guest]

Just after some advice /opinions regarding a ME-162.

Most of the colour schemes have a sharp delineation between the upper & lower colours, but would it be ok to mottle the camo?

As it's the Revell 1/32 kit, it would be a good opportunity to try it out.

Cheers

Patrick

[Alan 45]

I would mottle it Patrick I think it looked much better with that cam effect

[stona]

I'm guessing that you meant He 162?

The camouflage scheme on these was much simplified. There was no splinter scheme applied and the demarcations between colours were sprayed freehand, presumably to some kind of marked line or reference points, and were not 'hard' edged. There was no mottle applied. All this was done in an effort to save time, material and labour.

Whether to attempt a slightly soft edge on a scale model rather than masking a hard edge, given the scale, is an artistic decision.

Vaughan did a really good 'Salamander' build thread with a beautiful result on this forum a while back.

Cheers

Steve

Edit: As I posted this it occurred to me that you might have meant Me 163 which is a different kettle of fish !

These did usually have a splinter camouflage scheme and often mottling of some sort applied somewhere.

[Guest]

No, you're right Steve, it is an

He-162! I don't know where the ME came from!

Haha I'm using Vaughan's build as a guide!

Hmm perhaps I'll stick with the standard scheme - I don't know how to mottle as it is!

[Alan 45]

No, you're right Steve, it is anHe-162! I don't know where the ME came from!

Haha I'm using Vaughan's build as a guide!

Hmm perhaps I'll stick with the standard scheme - I don't know how to mottle as it is!

I cut down a brush and dab it on[ATTACH]84858.IPB[/ATTACH]

Just dip it in paint and wipe most of it off , I don't know how to do it with an AB though sorry

[stona]

I don't know how to do it with an AB though sorry

This seems to spook nearly everybody and I don't know why! I see advice to do all sorts of things, lowering pressure, thinning paint, given in various places. I can only give my take on this as one who does a fair bit of Luftwaffe stuff and hence mottling.

Firstly we all spend a lot of time and effort establishing what pressures and thinning ratios work for our individual airbrush set ups and paints. Why on earth would you want to alter this to do a particular aspect of painting?

I am assuming that the mottle will be attempted with a double action airbrush. I simply thin my paint and set up my airbrush exactly as I would for any other painting. I then apply the mottle, controlling the paint with the airbrush trigger, that's what it is for. I get in really close and build up the mottle slowly. It is easy enough to 'add' to an area, much harder to take away.

Not all mottling was equal! You need to check references. There were differences in style from factory to factory. Modifications made post production were as various and numerous as the men who were applying them.

As far as the size of the mottling or length of lines or streaks go I try to imagine how a man with a spray gun would work. He couldn't spray a continuous line,in one go, across the entire fin of a typical fighter for example. He would have to move, unless he had arms like an Orang-Utan!

All these are based on photographs of the original aircraft.







Finally, not strictly a mottle but a loose squiggle pattern.



It is clear how very different all the patterns we file under 'mottle' really are. All this variety is one of the things that attracted me to the Luftwaffe in the first place.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Thanks for that Steve, it's very helpful. Don't ask me why mottling seems a 'dark art', I guess it's like anything new - daunting until you've tried it.

Time for some practicing methinks!