me262 - does this look right? And advice on mottling...

[Guest]

OK, so I've sprayed the main bodies of colours onto my Revell 1/72 me262 using RLMs 74/75/76 as per a colour scheme I have (and suggested on here by Stona I think...) but was just wondering - the "top" colours look very dark - have I got the right colours?? The Model Air bottles confirm the RLM refs but it just looks a bit similar.

Also - any suggestions on how to get over my fear of how to mottle the underside of the camo? I used Blu Tak to mask it and it's a little too sharp an edge to my mind, was hoping that the mottling will allow me to soften the edge up, but am very nervous about it - last time I tried to do freehand camo (or anything for that matter) it ended in a complete paint strip! So, any advice: low/high pressure, how far away should I be with the AB etc etc. Basically, can anyone help me to MTFU and do this thing?!

pics...

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[yak face]

Hi rob , the colours look fine to me, the only advice i can give regarding the mottle is to have a play about and practice on somecard or something to get the right effect. The only other thing i can think of is to try using a piece of card with holes in it and spray through this, holding it quite close to the model and moving it along and rotating it to get a bit of variation. The drawback of this method is that paint can build up on the card and either drip off or spatter onto the model. I used this method on a 1/144 me 262 so it is possible you just have to be careful. good luck whatever you choose ,hope this helps, and im sure steve will give his take on it too, cheers tony

[stona]

The colours look like a decent representation of the RLM colours to me. It is quite a low contrast scheme. Dark? maybe just the scale effect. Colours that match the original colours on a full size object are perceived as being darker on a scale model.

For mottling thin your paint as usual,drop your pressure as low as you can and spray from close in. You may need a bit of extra thinning. You just have to play around (not on your model!) and find settings that work. I usually spray the mottles in a couple of sessions. Spray them once with a slightly lightened version of your colour, just add a drop or two of white to the paint cup,there is no need to be exact. Let them dry and then go over them again and try to fill the centre with a slightly darker shade. It doesn't matter if you don't get them all or miss the centre,the idea is to give a bit of variation. Try and imagine the bloke with the spray gun doing the real thing. It can be quite therapeutic.....honestly.

You will make mistakes,DON'T PANIC! Remember you can always touch up with the base colour (RLM76) later. The joy of an airbrush is that you can do this as often as you need to. I've sprayed a lot of mottling and I've NEVER got it right first time on the entire model.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Cheers for that Tony, the hole-in-cardboard route sounds like a good one, will ponder on that. Incidentally I wasn't suggesting that Steve (that's "Stona" isn't it??) had misinformed me, I was more expecting me to have stuffed it up!! :-)

[edit]Speak of the devil! Thanks for the advice Steve - muchos appreciated[/edit]

[yak face]

Hi rob, if you do decide to have a play around with holes in cardboard, heres how it turned out on the 1/144 eduard me262, cheers tony

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[Guest]

Crikey - that's a tiddler!! My sausage fingers can just about cope with 1/72 - that thing would seriously challenge my dexterity :-)

ps - your colours look much more "defined" than mine, and lighterer. Hmmm... Can't think it's all in the lighting.

[stona]

It's very hard to judge colours from snapshots Rob. If you're worried or unhappy with the colours you can only give them a respray with a lightened coat of the colours. A bit of subtle mottling or streaking in a lighter shade will also help break up the blocks of colour and will help make them look lighter to the eye. If they look to the naked eye like your first piccy I wouldn't worry too much but it's your model and you'll be the one looking at it for the next however long! The contrast between the two colours was really quite low on the real thing. Good luck with whatever you decide to go for,it certainly looks to be a nice model so far.

Tony that mottle looks great,how the hell you get results like that in such a small scale I don't know.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Looking over your responses again (building up my courage to give it a go sometime) I feel remiss for not actually saying how fantastic that mottling actually is at that scale (or any scale to be fair) Tony. Really superb.

I've just picked up a 1/48 Tamiya me262 A-1a so if my 1/72 Revell one goes well maybe I should get the 1/144 one to complete my set!! (I think there is a 1/32 one out there but would seriously upset SWMBO so maybe I ought not to push it!!)

[stona]

If you decide to upset SWMBO and get a 1/32 version spend the extra and buy a Trumpeter kit. The old Hasegawa one is just that,old.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Get thee behind me, Satan!!

Must resist the temptation... :hipno:

[Guest]

Nice little model, love the finished effect, well done.

Andy

[Guest]

Rob I went through this a few weeks ago. A nightmare to begin with.

What I did find was that I needed a fine needle & nozzle etc in the airbrush & obtained a .15 size. This made a lot of difference especially as I could get in close. Without getting in close I do not think you have a chance. I found so anyway.

I also use decorators wipes from B & Q. If I made a mess even just a very small area I just use the wipe & it removes the recently applied paint but not the underlying cured paint.

As some one has suggested practice on an old discarded model or a plastic bottle. I spent hours practising. Still not perfect by any means but it laid the foundations for future models.

Laurie

[Guest]

Whoops big error on that last post.

Size of needle & nozzle .15 not 1.5.

That is unless you also want to spray your whole car in less than 5 minutes.

Apologies. Have edited last post taking the above into account.

Laurie

[stona]

Laurie I use various Iwata airbrushes with nozzle sizes of 0.3 and 0.35 for my mottling and have no touble in 1/48 and 1/32 scale. I haven't done any in 1/72 for a long time but I think it's safe to say that I gave more of an impression than an accurate rendition in that scale :wink:

Mottles varied a lot,I've cropped some detail piccies from some of my own efforts to try and show this (they don't do me any favours but in the interest of science etc!) The various styles are my interpretation of my references.

I'd call this a light almost diaphanous mottle,here on a Bf109G.

Something in the middle on an Me262.

And heavy,blobs,on an Fw190D.

Cheers

Steve