Best Fading Techniques???

[ooshnoo]

Hello again...

Looking to get feedback on what most people do to get a nice sun-faded effect on the wings of older prop planes, specifically from WWII.

I've tried pre-shading the panel lines with black but that never seemed to come out right. I've also tried applying a lighter variant of the grays, greens and browns over the initial coat but again..can't seem to get the effect I'm looking for, at least not one that's realistic looking.

Thoughts??

Thanks!

AV

[Jennings]

Very easy - Just lighten up your base color with white or light grey.

[Hal Marshman Sr]

My preference runs to a lighter shade of the base color. White has a tendency to wash out the base color, and gray changes the tonal value. I'll give you a couple of examples of what I mean: for OD, i use RAF Middlestone, for Sea Blue, a few drops of RLM 65. for greens, either RAF, Italian, or Japanese Interior Green. Hope you get what I mean. Hal Sr

ui

[Edgar]

One of the biggest problems is that paint does not fade in nice neat little squares and oblongs; try that and, as a friend observed, you finish up with a patchwork quilt.

There's also a tendency to assume that worn paint always = bare metal showing through, so a few stabs with a silver pen will suffice; however, the Spitfire, above, as with all of the type, was camouflaged over a grey primer, so what you assume to be bare metal, on the wingroot, might in fact be a light grey.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Edgar

[a4s4eva]

I'm not a fan of pre shading or fading the centre panel. Sure it looks nice but I don't consider that real/accurate.

I tend to spray the main colour then post shade randomly with lighter and darker versions of the base colour, sometime s I even use enamels or oils over the clear coat to allow me to remove any effect I don't like. Once I apply the flat coat I use pastels to add further tonal variation. Is this perfect, nope but it doesn’t look so symmetrical as preshading and shading the centre of panels

Here's some examples

[Hal Marshman Sr]

This is probably the most heavily weathered model I've ever done, and I worked from a series of photos of the real bird. I applied a slightly lightened Sea Blue, then streaked it gently with lighter and darker shades on the Sea Blue. The nmf chip work was done with a Prisma Silver pencil. The panel lines were done with a black pencil crayon. Kit decals were used. The seatbelts and buckles are scratch,. A coat of Testor's Dullcoat, thinned with laquer thinner was applied overall. I also used eye shadow in place of pastels, scrubbed into the paint, and then removed, leaving a residue that creates effects.. MV railroad reflectors were used for the landing lights, ID lights, and wingtop marker blue lights. The engine is wired. In the pic of the undersides, the flash washed out some of the weathering effects. Hal Sr.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Hal Marshman Sr

[billw]

This is probably the most heavily weathered model I've ever done, and I worked from a series of photos of the real bird. I applied a slightly lightened Sea Blue, then streaked it gently with lighter and darker shades on the Sea Blue. The nmf chip work was done with a Prisma Silver pencil. The panel lines were done with a black pencil crayon. Kit decals were used. The seatbelts and buckles are scratch,. A coat of Testor's Dullcoat, thinned with laquer thinner was applied overall. I also used eye shadow in place of pastels, scrubbed into the paint, and then removed, leaving a residue that creates effects.. MV railroad reflectors were used for the landing lights, ID lights, and wingtop marker blue lights. The engine is wired. In the pic of the undersides, the flash washed out some of the weathering effects. Hal Sr.

Very, very nice. Beautiful work sir.

BW

[chuck540z3]

You might try salt masking. I have a "how to" thread here:

Salt Masking

[ooshnoo]

Very nice ideas fellas. Thanks for the tips!!!

[B-17 guy]

Hal, how did you do the recognition lights under the right wing?

[Hal Marshman Sr]

MV model railroad reflectors, available at any good RR Hobby shop, or through Walthers in Milwaukee.

[Hal Marshman Sr]

MV model railroad reflectors, available at any good RR Hobby shop, or through ;Walthers in Milwaukee.

Edited March 8, 2013 by Hal Marshman Sr

[RKic]

The key is to be subtle and random.

Like a few folks mentioned above, real paint doesn't fade out in cute little squares.

Shading is pretty easy when you have a single color camo. You just add lighter color paints and spray some random cloud patterns within your panels.

I like to start with a very dark shade, then add on a very lightened shade, but then tie it together with a mid-range shade misted onto the model. That last step seems to be key. For this shade I mix about 3 parts thinner to 1 part paint.

Things are a little trickier on multi-colored camo schemes. You can do it the same way as described above, or you can simply mix in a drop (NO MORE) into a clear coat and mist it onto the model from about 5-7 inches away from the surface.

Obviously concentrate on the wings, fuselage spine and tail.

You can also try it with pastels and seal them in by misting on a flat clear coat. Take several light misty passes though or your pastel will clump up and ruin the effect.

[Yuri61]

I lighten up the base coat and add about 80% thinner to make the lighter coat more transparent.

[matrixone]

What I do to represent sun fading on uppersurfaces of my models is to use a lightened version of the base color and thin it way down and then spray on small mottles or streaks but I try to keep it random to give it a more natural look so as not to give the model the look of a quilt. I should add here that anytime I spray such highly thinned paints I also lower the P.S.I. on the air regulator.

Below is a ProModeler Me 410 I am building and in these two pics you can see some of the paint fading I have done on it.

After the markings are put on I will be doing more paint fading with the airbrush to help blend in the decals...it does no good to fade the paint if the decals are still clean and new looking.

Matrixone

[Yuri61]

What I do to represent sun fading on uppersurfaces of my models is to use a lightened version of the base color and thin it way down and then spray on small mottles or streaks but I try to keep it random to give it a more natural look so as not to give the model the look of a quilt. I should add here that anytime I spray such highly thinned paints I also lower the P.S.I. on the air regulator.

Below is a ProModeler Me 410 I am building and in these two pics you can see some of the paint fading I have done on it.

After the markings are put on I will be doing more paint fading with the airbrush to help blend in the decals...it does no good to fade the paint if the decals are still clean and new looking.

Matrixone

That's exactly what I was refering to and what I do also. Much better than fading the centre of a panel which does not look real. Great fading on the model, I really like what you have done.

[matrixone]

Thanks Yuri,

Below is the same model after the decals are on it but they have not been faded yet, as they are in this picture they look like decals and are too stark for my taste. Proper fading of the markings will blend them in and make them look almost painted on.

Matrixone

[Yuri61]

Thanks Yuri,

Below is the same model after the decals are on it but they have not been faded yet, as they are in this picture they look like decals and are too stark for my taste. Proper fading of the markings will blend them in and make them look almost painted on.

Matrixone

Many people miss that part. They apply the decals to a really nice weathered finish and then do nothing to fade the decals also. I would think you will use the surrounding fuselage color to fade them and blend them in? Can't wait to see if finished.

[matrixone]

Yuri,

I used highly thinned RLM 76 for fading the decals, the model looks better now and as soon as the paint is fully dry it will be getting a thin coat of Future to seal everything which will prevent the thin paint from being rubbed off during handling of the model.

Just before I sprayed on the thinned RLM 76 I added a little paint chipping around the wing roots, by adding some of the chipping now and doing the rest later I hope to give the impression the weathering was done over a period of time and not done all at once.

Matrixone

[Falcon50EX]

i agree with Hal and Calum on this one.

-d-

[JTHOMAS]

I've faded and weathered paint finishes on AFV's by exposing them for fairly long periods to sunlight and precipitation. I hesitate to say that would work or be desirable for aircraft with protective coatings over decals, however. I'd stick to replicating fading with tints, pigments and paints if you don't have the time or patience for a "natural" exposure method. Bear in mind, though, that heat and UV light in combination can have unpredictable and interesting effects upon certain colors that just lightening base colors can't duplicate. I've seen photos of European Theater Dodge ambulances, for example, with distinctly purple hues and almost-pink red crosses on their most-exposed OD surfaces. Getting contest judges to accept these less-observed effects as real might be difficult but evidence for them exists.

[matrixone]

In the pic below the paint fading I did on the Me 410 can be better seen, also the toned down markings are easier to see. Not much more weathering will be needed on this one except the flat clear coat.

Matrixone

[matrixone]

Here is this Me 410 model after the flat clear coat has been sprayed on, now you can better see the paint fading I did with the airbrush, doing it this way fades the paint and markings nicely and helps keep the model from having that 'quilt' look that is caused by only lightening the inside of each panel as is often seen on attempts at fading paint on models.

A model with desert camouflage would be even easier to do with the technique I use.

Matrixone