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Fading on a aircraft


Zglossip

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I ask alot of quistions and i know you guys probably think im anoying but this forum is the only link i have to other modelers so this is just one more quistions is it better to fade an aircraft paint jobt with drybrushing or pastels a quick answer wouild be appreciated

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Z: Do NOT worry about questions...THAT'S what this forum is for!

 

By "fading" I suspect you mean getting the surface colors to have some lighter variations in them so that the colors don't look so monotone. Most of us use an airbrush to do that. Simply take the color you used to cover the surface and add a few drops of white to it to lighten it up. If you're afraid that white will make it too light too quickly, you can also use a very light gray to lighten the original color. Do this in a separate container from the original color bottle, go slowly, and add no more than 5 drops at a time. Check the difference between the 2 colors by placing a drop of the original color on a white index card, and then place a drop of the lightened color beside it. When you see the lighter shade you want, use that. Spray the lightened color on LIGHTLY, in very thin layers! Spray it in the center of panels out to very close to their edges. Don't worry if it's a bit too light at this point. Get all of your fading done first.

 

Once the fading is done, if the panels now look too light in the middle (too much contrast), take the original color and thin it out greatly (75% thinner/25% paint) and LIGHTLY spray that over the whole model. This tones down the overly lightened center panels. It takes some practice to get a balance of light/dark that your happy with.

 

Keep in mind that another way to make the panel centers look lighter is to darken their edges. This can be done with a wash in the panel lines and/or by spraying very tight darker lines along them. Some people do "pre-shading": painting all of the panel lines with black before painting any colors on the model. Then, if you apply the top colors in very light layers, you can put just enough on to still faintly see those black lines under the surface colors. You can also "post-shade", but you need a lot more control for finer lines and have to use very thin dark grays to avoid overdoing it.

 

If you don't have an airbrush, then I suggest trying to use pastel chalks, as long as you can find the colors you need. They're very safe, since you can use a damp cloth to wipe them off if you don't like the way it looks! Follow the same procedure as above, except use a soft brush and the chalks instead of the paint and airbrush. Dry brushing paint could also work, but it would be less forgiving of mistakes. There's also the possibility of the paint you're dry brushing eating into and softening and smearing the original coat of paint if you apply too much too wetly, unless you add a barrier coat of Future (or some other clear coat) first.

 

If you Google "pre-shading" model paints and/or "post-shading" model paints, you should get some links to some examples on some different web sites. Practice and trial and error will teach you how to achieve what you're looking for! Best of luck!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Thanks alot im in a stage of building the model ehere i cant use the airybrush so i will probably use the drybrush thanks for the advice i realy appreciate it

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