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Pre-shading


Guest Byron Leal

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I just personally dislike the look of it - it's a fad at the moment (and was a fad for armour modellers a few years ago) and is usually grossly overdone, or done inappropriately. There are a few areas where pre-shading is acceptable: armour modellers often use it for areas in deep shadow rather than darkening their paint for instance, but in most cases, it just doesn't look like what people are trying to replicate to my eye.

Taking that Viggen as an example, pre-shaded panel lines would be waaaaay too wide on a model. It'd probably be better replicated with a slightly darkened, lightly applied wash over matte paint to let the wash "blend out", combined with a patchy overspray to simulate weathering of the panels and pastels for larger dirt stains. Much more laborious and time consuming than pre-shading, but more realistic in the end. IMO.

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Hi Dave,

I have to agree not all aircraft has that kind of look. But in my humble opinion, pre-shading is a great technique to provide a foundation, in the weathering process to an extensively used bird. To achieve a final look, resulted from paint fading, hydraulic leak settling over the panel, ..etc. I can't really find a good example, but take a look at the Viper pic. below.

Maybe the initial look straight after the process will have a funny look. But Steve, that's one excellent example! Quite extraordinary though :thumbsup: .

In a nut shell, I guess we do not stop after pre-shading. BlackDog's Wildcat is THE best example!

Pre-shading,

Patching/Whitening,

Post-shading,

Washing &

Finally, the near Finish!

If anyone is interested to read more about BlackDog's Wildcat, do a search with the Search Engine on the Keyword "Wildcat" in the "in-progress" forum. Very informative!

Having said these, I guess it is very much depend on our subject to be modeled. And of course, it is to one preference. The fun of the hobby is, there is 101 ways to achieve what you want your model to look like. ;)

hvh_f16_af95_421.jpg

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Hi MoFo,

You're right when you said that, the technique is more for armour modeling. In fact, that was where I first came to know about the pre-shading.

Can't agree more. Pre-shading indeed requires more advanced airbrushing skill on fine line. Just like any other techniques, over doing can be inappropriate. The buffer to cross line is especially small for pre-shading.

The ideal result for me is to have a subtle effect. I guess for most of us, who has employed the technique, more than often, the pre-shading was too faint and covered by the base coat.

Thanks for sharing.

:thumbsup:

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Does anybody remember the guy that used to make Toad Resins? I met him at a show and he was casually spraying a He 177 wing by masking individual panels and using slightly different shades of paint, washed out in the centre of the panel, darker towards the edge, but not necessarily to every edge. It looked utterly convincing, but he was making it look really easy, which I'm convinced it isn't!

Cheers

Peebeep

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In a nut shell, I guess we do not stop after pre-shading. BlackDog's Wildcat is THE best example!

Pre-shading,

Patching/Whitening,

Post-shading,

Washing &

Finally, the near Finish!

If anyone is interested to read more about BlackDog's Wildcat, do a search with the Search Engine on the Keyword "Wildcat" in the "in-progress" forum. Very informative!

Well, thanks for advertising my work, Pumpkin :thumbsup:

About pre-shading : I will add my 2 cents, but subject is touchy ;)

I actually used pre-shading on the underside panels of my Wildcat, before airbrushing the white paint, but was rather sceptic about the final result : the shading is barely noticeable (too much white paint i guess) but I was unable to use less white coats as the gray was showing under it until I applied the final white coat (I did it with very fine, diluted coats of Tamiya acryl).

I really prefer the techniques I am now using for most paint work : patching/whitening, post-shading, oil wash, as shown in the pics and the previous posts I did in Work In Progress. Pre-shading could give very good results (I like this F-2A), but is very difficult to master and control properly... And I do not even speak of multi-coloured camouflage schemes... It is still more difficult to get a good and even look with pre-shading... Problem is not really about drawing thin, straight lines with airbrush, but more about being able to apply the exact amount of paint on top of pre-shading lines for it to show with good effect.

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BlackDog,

seem like I have used your example on a negative demonstration to the idea I am trying to sell. :thumbsup: As for the heavy white coat necessary to cover the grey and eventually covered the pre-shade along the way, Steve tried to overcome the problem by having a white undercoat for his Eagle, prior to his pre-shading.

peebeep,

that is THE ultimate effort, one could have committed to weathering!

Brady,

I did a search on Pierre's Phantom on the in-progress forum. Didn't see him mention on his work of pre-shading. Care to lead the way?

cheers,

Undershading1A.jpg

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I guess for most of us, who has employed the technique, more than often, the pre-shading was too faint and covered by the base coat.

Thanks for sharing.

:thumbsup:

That's exactly what's happened to me. I've pre shaded two models so far and neither has shown ANY difference in the outcome. I'm going to try it on my 1/32 Tornado like Pierre did on his Phantom, but I'm still a little skeptical on the whole idea.

-Brady

Or Over Do it, like My case....

Take Care

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