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

[BarryW]

I am currently building the Tamiya 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk Vb which is a simple 'bake and shake' kit and as such makes a superb basis for a paint and weathering tutorial.

The reason I am doing this is because not long ago on a thread where this subject was discussed it was intimated that some inexperienced modellers found the idea of weathering a model a bit daunting and had to work up some courage to do it.

For me the most rewarding part of the build and the most important is the finish, turning a plastic model into something looking like a minature of the real thing and to do that you really have to take a kit through a range of processes to lose that toy look.

My advice to anyone is just to do it... Don't worry about it, it will not be perfect at first and will get better as your skills and experience increase but the only way to get there is to do it. If you really are worried about spoiling a model why not just get a cheap kit for the sole intention of practising.... Once you have done it once there is no turning back...

So here I am going to run though the painting and finishing of my little 1/48 Spitty. I am going to make this simple, avoiding some of the more intricate and complex processes I use in /32 scale without compromising on the quality and effect of the finish. The idea is that anyone can use this thread as a basis for a future project. I will cover each stage the easiest way I have found to get the effect needed and the easiest materials and tools to use with appropriate tips.

The main thing needed is patience. You can ruin a model in this stage if you try to hurry through stages. Paint has not just to dry but also to 'cure' otherwise, for instance, you will remove base coats when unmasking a finish.

I am not posting pictures today, that will start tomorrow. Today I am just 'setting the scene'.

Also I am not going through a full build as this thread is only about painting and finishing. But I will explain briefly how I got to this stage.

I primed the interior with Vallejo bronze primer after which I sprayed, fairly lightly, cockpit green. Using the primer and without then saturating the interior with the base colour you get some depth and bring out detail. Interior details, switches, seat back, instrument panel, were hand painted then a Vallejo brown wash was applied which gave more depth. I then just drybrushed aluminium in places to represent wear and bring out more detail and sealed the fuselage, gluing all the interior into place. Incidentally, I used Lionroar pe seatbelts which I prefer to Eduard which I find too complex. (In 1/32 I have started using HGW 'fabric' types as they give a better effect than the pe ones).

I sanded the joins with a Flory sanding sponge, used Mr Surfacer 500 where needed to hide the join and rescribed. In places where I went wrong with scribing I used Mr Dissolved Putty to correct the error which was also useful in a couple of places where join marks were 'stubborn'.

At this point I had the main structure of the model built and some sub-assemblies and small parts painted and ready to be added to the model at the end.

A few words about the smaller parts and sub-assemblies. Pictures of which will follow tomorrow:

I used white tac attached to lolly sticks and fixed these parts that way for painting. I primed all these parts with Vallejo bronze green primer before painting.

Propeller: I sprayed yellow on the primed tips and left it 24 hours before masking the tips and then spaying the props black. The spinner was sprayed sky. I then used a silver art pencil to add some paint chipping and scraping to the propeller. That was enough apart from a matt varnish later in the build.

Wheels & legs. Once again these were painted and I applied a Vallejo brown wash and did some light airbrushing to bring out the detail. The tyres were painted a dark grey (never black) and 24 hours afterwards I brushed on a mix of brown pigment and setting solution to give them a dirty used look.

Canopies: I do not prime the canopies. Originally I was going to use parafilm-m film to mask them but changed my mind and ordered Eduard masks yesterday because these are easier to use in the context of this tutorial. For that reason no pics of these will appear just yet. I do not prime transparencies but I do wipe them over with ipa before applying the masks. Pics will follow in due course.

I will next do a seperate post to explain the paints, materials and tools I use to prepare the finish. Pictures will then follow and I will take you through the whole painting and finishing process. This will be bit by bit over the next two weeks and I hope will build up to a usable reference for inexperienced modellers to start weathering.

[Guest]

Well done Barry this is what the forum needs a very interesting project.

Are we allowed questions and to suggest alternative solutions we each use? That is without disrupting your thread o_O

Laurie

[Dave W]

This is a great idea Barry.I have always admired the way you get your models to look used and weathered like the real thing.Apart from a panel wash and exhaust staining I don't know how to do these finishes you are so good at.So I am very interested in this thread.

[BarryW]

Laurie - please go ahead and ask as many questions as you want. This is here to help.

I will post again when I get a chance to spend some time, tomorrow morning latest.

[Guest]

Very interesting thread Barry.

I'm nearly to start my painting stage on the Stuka (looking for a hard used and weather model) so I will be very attentive to learn!!

[BarryW]

This post is about the tools and materials I will be using with the Spitty.

1/ An airbrush, H&S Evo with a 0.4 needle

An airbrush is essential as you can lay down very thin multiple coats that do not obscure the detail and get the right effects. Experts can get a good result with a hairy stick but it is much harder and different techniques have to be used.

Beginners, I suggest should not use anything smaller than a 0.35 needle. I do sometimes use a 0.2 with a thinner paint for detail but it is a lot easier with the bigger needle but in this case I will stick with the 0.4.

If you don't have an airbrush and want to get one it don't have to be expensive and low cost Chinese a/b and compressor kits can work well but do get a gravity fed double action a/brush.

2/ All the paints I use will be Vallejo Model Air.

The exception to Model Air will be Vallejo Primers. I will be spraying unthinned at 20-25 psi unless I specify differently.

If you are not familiar with the Vallejo range be careful, while Model Air is made for the airbrush they do have other ranges such as Model Colour that is not good unthinned for the a/b. By spraying mostly unthinned this makes for a much easier job for a beginner and that is the beauty of Vallejo.

Some details will be done with Model Colour and a hairy stick, I will specify where.

3/ Where I use thinners it will be Vallejo's brand thinner made for Model Air.

4/ Varnishes - the gloss coats will be Humbrol Clear and the Matt Coat Vallejo Premium.

The Clear will be sprayed unthinned but I will thin the matt slightly.

5/ External washes - Flory Dark Dirt will be used.

This is a clay based wash that very forgiving and can be manipulated.

6/ White Tac - as part of the masking process.

White tac does not leave a oily residue.

7/ Tamiya masking tapes (or similar types of tape)

Various widths.

8/ Prismacolour Silver artist pencil

For paint chipping and wear effects

9/ Oil Paints

Burnt umber for oil leaks.

10/ Vallejo Pigments

For dust and smoke effects with a fixing agent.

11/ Superglue

For some final fixings

12/ PVA glue

Canopy & transparency fixing

13/ Microsol and set

For the decals

That is about it for now.

If I missed anything it will emerge in a post.

The next post (tomorrow morning) will include photos and will cover the first surface preparation stages up to the first base coat. But before that I will post pics, with notes, of the sub-assemblies and the parts that will await 'final fixings' at the end.

[flyjoe180]

Look forward to this tutorial Barry, thanks for sharing your information with us.

[dave]

Also looking forward to this and thanks for putting in the effort to do it.

[BarryW]

First of all I must apologies for the pics. The flash has brightened the colour and some or the more subtle effects are not very clear in the final wing photo. I did delete a couple completely as they were worthless. I will try harder with the pics tonight and, anyway, the effects I am trying to demonstrate will be clearer on a darker paint.

First of all a pic of the parts awaiting 'final fitting' after all the painting and weathering is done. I have still not received the paint maskes so the canopy is unpainted still and there are a couple of light transparencies not in the pic.

[ATTACH]86166.IPB[/ATTACH]


You can see parts still fixed to the lolly sticks for painting. The paint chipping on the spinner was the Prismacolour silver pencil. The tyres (which look lighter i the pics than they actially are) were brushed with Vallejo Burnt Umber pigment with the brush slightly 'wetted' in the Vallejo setting medium.

Now to the main stage.....

Models at this stage look a bit messy, some overspray from painting the inside of the cockpit, sanding marks, filler marks and some cement marks marring the surface. So we need to do achieve two things: prepare the surface for painting and make sure we identify and deal with any surface imperfections that can be difficult to see on the 'messy' model. This picture did not come out at all and was not worth posting.... but we all know what I mean.

First I wiped the model over with i.p.a. (rubbing alcohol to the Americans) - wonderful stuff. This gets rid of grease marks from the mould and whatever is acquired from fingers.

I bent a paperclip so I could insert one end where the spinner fits and hang the model so the paint can dry (and while I spray where I was holding it...)

I used the Vallejo Bronze Green Primer because it offers a good contrasting colour to the grey of the model and I need a dark colour ready for a later stage. I sprayed in very light coats making sure not to swamp the model, turning to air only at times to dry down the paint a little.

I then left the model hanging to cure for 24 hours - this is important. The paint cures to a hard tight coat that brings out the detail while filling tiny sanding marks. It also brings out into stark relief any flaws in the construction, a bodged rescribing, a join not properly hidded or whatever. This is the last chance to coorrect such flaws and they should be filled/sanded as required. Note that the primer feathers well when sanded, important at this stage, but only when it has cured properly and that can depend on atmospheric conditions. The minimum to leave it is 24 hours between painting and sanding. You then re-spray the treated area with the Bronse Primer. Ideally use some disposable gloves at this stage to avoid grease marks on the model when handling it. below are some pics of how it looks when this is done.

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I really enjoyed looking at it and handling the model at that stage. The primed model really shows off the graceful clean curves of the Spitfire while it looks like a single piece of plastic rather than a collection of parts. It seems so perfect but now we must ruin that perfection in the cause of a realistic model.

The next post covers pre-shading and why.

[BarryW]

So, why pre-shade.

Look at a real aircraft and you will see that the paintwork does not look uniform all over. That is because of the play of light at different angles on different surfaces and that is without wartime wear, fading and inconsistent paint quality. We need to try to recreate that in miniature.

This stage though is not about wear and tear or dirt. It is about modulating the colour to emulate the play of light and shade and also sun bleahing where appropriate.

It is also about 'scale effect'. I wont go into a detail explanation of this, you can Google it. In short it suggests that the colour used on a scale model should be lighter than on the real thing. Some people have been very scientific about this and suggest that at x scale you need to lighten a colour y%. I do not take the scientific approach and work on a 'if it looks right it is right' principal. Anyway, particularly for wartime aircraft, the colours fade in different ways in different places plus the effect of light means there is no exact right colour intensity.

Pre-shading is only the first stage. After that we apply the base colour, then a lightened thinned base colour in patched, then a filter of the base colour... All will be explained.

There are two schools of thought with pre-shading. Some say it should be totally at random over the model, other say you should follow the panel, lines. Both have a point and I think a mix is needed for the best effect. Done well you can also get a hint of creating the image in paint of the 'stressed metal effect' people are raving about on the new Airfix 1/24 Tuffy.

What I did was use Vallejo Grey Primer and sprayed it in thin coats roughly inside the panel lines. Yes there was overspray, yes it is inconsistent, yes the resulting dark lines around the panel lines are not neat and even - this is all deliberate. Yes, I even had some odd 'blotching' not a lot and, take my word for it, it really does not matter.. All will be fine at the end. Do not be scared of this you cannot go wrong. The pics.

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.

[BarryW]

Looking at the pre-shading pics above they seem understate the contrast between the dark and light areas.....

Anyway - next stage the underside Medium Sea Grey. I used Vallejo 71.049.

I sprayed a light coat over the underside and built it up slowly and stopped, well before the contrast between light and dark achieved the effect I thought appropriate. This biggest risk here is in overdoing it and losing the pre-shading. Remember it looks different dry and dry down each light coat with air before the next. You should stop at a point when it does not look 'right' when there are areas that need more colour.....we will deal with that seperately.

This next stage has less effect on lighter colours and is needed more on darker colours specially where you want a sun bleached effect.

I mix a drop of white into the colour cup with the base colour. Do not worry about making it too light, better too light than not lightening it enough. this is a very easy and ultimately controllable process so you do not have to worry about getting too much white in the cup. In this case I mixed in about 20% white. I also thinned it by 50% and dropped the air pressure to 10-15 psi.

I then went over the model spraying mostly in the centre of panels lightening them. Again do not worry about overspray, or being rigid about just panels. You are trying to deepen the contrast between light and dark. There will be some dark areas though that will just be too dark and you can spray lightly over these. There are other places you can spray this mix, perhaps where you had a blotch showing through to blend it in for instance, or areas you think should be a bit lighter than others.

The model at this stage looks very blotchy. No worries..... My pic of this also did not work out, apologies...

Now we need a filter coat of the base colour to do two things:

To blend it all together.

To control and create the final effect you want.

To blend in any 'odd' areas that do not look right, blotches for instance.

Clean the a/b and you want a mix of the base colour and thinner, 1 part base to 3 parts thinner. You then 'mist' the mix over the aircraft. Push the pressure up to about 30psi and spray from a longer distance than usual creating a 'mist'. Between each coat I dry the model down with air. Gradually the model will lose its blotchy appearance and the colour will blend to a 'whole', dark areas are very gradually lightened and light areas are darkened until you get the effect you think is right. You might want to do extra localised coats of this mix as well. be careful - do dry it down between coats taking your time and checking the effect.

Think: The underside will be less 'sun bleached' and usually a lighter colour so the effect will be more subtle than on the topside. Remember this is not to replicate 'dirt or wear' that is later.

A photo of the final effect on the underside of the wing is shown below - sadly the effect does not show up well in the pic but it should show up better when I do the topside. Overall you should end up with a colour slightly lighter than the base colour for scale effect but with darker and lighter areas, the darker usually around the panel lines and/or detail.

[ATTACH]86173.IPB[/ATTACH]


The flash has turned the colour blue and lighter than it is!!! It is Medium Sea Grey on the actual model.... You can 'barely' make out some of the colour modulation in the pic. Hopefully I will get clear pics when I do the top-side.

I now need to leave the model for 24 hours to make sure the underside cures ready to take masking without pulling away.

I will next run though the masking process and first topside colour. I will do my best to get better pics. Hopefuly I will post tomorrow.

[Guest]

Very interesting so far Barry.

Thank you for your time and effort, it's fantastic and very useful

[Guest]

Barry. Like your tyres.

"The tyres (which look lighter i the pics than they actially are) were brushed with Vallejo Burnt Umber pigment with the brush slightly 'wetted' in the Vallejo setting medium".

Bit more info if you would please. Take it obviously tyres were black to begin with. Take it you dip in the Setting Medium then in the pigment. May seem daft question got the ingredients but not used this at all.

Laurie

[BarryW]

Barry. Like your tyres."The tyres (which look lighter i the pics than they actially are) were brushed with Vallejo Burnt Umber pigment with the brush slightly 'wetted' in the Vallejo setting medium".

Bit more info if you would please. Take it obviously tyres were black to begin with. Take it you dip in the Setting Medium then in the pigment. May seem daft question got the ingredients but not used this at all.

Laurie

Hi Laurie

I painted them a dark grey, I used Vallejo M Air 71.115 Blue Grey, painted by hand as I have no masks for the centre. I spill a little of the pigment into a tray and then with a 'cut-off' brush slightly wetted in the setting medium dipped it in the pigment and brushed it on. You can get quite a dusty effect if you wish or just a dirt one.

[Guest]

Thanks Barry timely piece as just about to paint and weather 6 Merlin Wheels in desert type finish.

Laurie