Preshading

[MiG Mongoose]

Hi there. I am about to start my 1/72 ESCI AV-8 harrier and would like to preshade the panel lines as they are too fine to give a wash. As I do not have an airbrush at the moment, is it possible to apply the preshade colour with a brush and still get an acceptable result?

[dpwatson]

Are you brush painting the final coat?

[MiG Mongoose]

I might, I have a grey tamiya rattlecan that I can use, or I could brush paint it, which would you recommend?

[Chuck1945]

Other than one abortive attempt I don't preshade, but brushing the darker color could work. The camouflage color will probably need to be sprayed on so you can vary the density and sprayed with enough control so that you can let the preshade show through at the panel lines but heavy enough to blend in the demarkation where the pre-shade stopped and bare plastic (or primer) begins.

I tried brushing black on panel lines once on a vac He 59 that was to be an overall white aircraft and I wanted to break the monotony of all white. The problem I had was getting a blended in look of white over the pre-shade black. By the time I completely blended in the transition, virtually all the pre-shade effect was gone as well. In retrospect, I probably should have used a grey instead of black and extended the color further on each side of the panel lines to give more room for spraying and blending the white.

[datahiker]

My $0.02 -

Preshading takes a lot of practice, even with an airbrush. I certainly think you could brush it on, but I don't know how you would blend it into the base color with a brush or rattle can. Are the panel lines really so finicky that they won't take a wash?

Good luck and let us know how it goes - I have the GR.3 sitting in my stash waiting to be built.

[pookie]

I don't use any preshading. Here is my technique. I use water based acrylics. Paint the model as you normally would. Let it dry overnight. Pour 1 drop of black paint on a piece of white plastic or glass. on a separate cup, pour about two ounces of water and one drop of dish washing soap mixing it thoroughly. Now drop a few drops of water on the drop of black paint and thin it down until it is very, very thin. Now go over the panel lines with a brush dipped in the thin black paint. You want to start with the paint very thin, let it dry and then try it again if you want a more noticeable effect.

Another trick is to use the same color you just painted the model with and add a few drops of white like the black paint method. Thin it with water/soap solution, use a brush and make random patches of discoloration. The trick is "random", you don't want to make it look like a camo pattern.

Look at pictures of the real plane and see where discoloration is more prone to happen.

I wanted to achieve a very worn and weathered look on this model and I used both techniques plus a bit of burnt siena wash. You can use this trick to make as lightly or as heavily weathered model as you like.

[MiG Mongoose]

At the moment I am experimenting with brush applied pre shading and the results do not look positive. The brush application does not give the soft edge required to create blending when the additional coats are added. This has spurred me on to consider the purchase of an airbrush, which ultimately may be the only way.

Anyhow, I still have a few more coats to add to my experiments and I may post photos of the final results

[Matt]

Don't get hung up on 'pre shading'.

Its just one particular method of obtaining variations in colour and tone across a surface, one that tends to be easier done with an airbrush, and happens to require fine control over the density of the covering coat of paint, which may be harder to do with a brush.

Consider a technique where you apply these colour variations after the initial base coat is applied (so, a post shade).

That might be easier accomplished with the brush.

As far as getting that 'blended' look you see from the airbrushed examples, look into brush techniques used by figure painters.

There are various blending and dry brushing type techniques that will provide a feathered or blended edge for the brush painter.

Cheers,

Matt

[MiG Mongoose]

To see if brushing or spraying the final coat made a difference to the preshading effect, I scribed and preshaded an ice cream container lid and sprayed one, brushed the other.

The results show that while the brush preshading does not have the desired soft edge, the similarities in tone create the illusion of blending. The preshading grey for the brush sample was too light and is extremely difficult to see. If I can find a good grey for my preshading, I can probably use it on my Harrier. I would love to know how you interpret the results of my experiment. Thanks.