Ok, when I discovered FSM in 1999, I also discoverd the “wash”, we all know it and most of us use it in addition of the “Dry brush”.
However, since I’m also reading the Dutch/Belgian magazine called “Modelbouw” I have now as well discovered (or at least I keep reading about it) the “Filter”. I haven’t used it myself, and for some strange reason, I don’t see much about it on these pages nor in the FSM magazine (which I only buy occasionally, since they cost about 18 dollar a piece here (13 euro)). Is the filter maybe not as popular in the Americas as it seems to be over here in the Low Countries, or is a filter just a waste of time and materials perhaps ?
IMO filters are one of the best weathering methods available.
Washes are intended to enhance detail by creating shadows in low points, much like shading on a figure. Washes, contrary to popular belief, shouldn’t be used as “dirty” weathering, more as shading.
Dry-brushing is okay but most experts again recommend it to be used very, very sparingly and only for highlighting and not really as weathering.
The filter is essentially thinned oil paint applied over a flat-finish surface (so it doesn’t run) which when applied in careful layers, gradually changes the tone of the base color, providing subtle or pronounced color variation and fading. It’s a very useful technique, doesn’t take much to master, and best of all produces much finer results than the usual combination of washes and dry-brushing.
Filters a primarily used by armor modeller to increase color depth. The discriptions in “modelbouw” are a bit short, the is no real explenation of the filer and it’s use.
Here’s an article on the use of the filter,
http://www.missing-lynx.com/rare_world/rw02.htm
Been using this technique for 15 years (mostly on monotone aircraft like SR-71’s, F-117’s, P-61’s and the like, but it works well on camo, too)…never knew it had a name. [;)]
The filter is not as well known in the US since it seems to have European origins, but once the word really gets out, it will catch on. Most US modelers are still very much stuck in the trends first created by railroaders years ago, then adapted by the armor community: highlight paint/fade, etc, dirty wash and drybrush. Some of the machines are now so drybrushes that they look comical and many washes I have seen look like thinned paint applied…exactly what they are!!!
I have read about Filters for about a year now, first from the fichtenfoo site (referring to the missing-lynx article) and other Mecha sites. Seems to catch on faster with the mecha community. I plan on trying it out one of these days. From what I gather, it is exactly that, a FILTER that removes a particular spectrum of light that is being reflected from the models surface, slightly altering the appearance but not to the extent of a wash, nor as localized.
Definitely something to practice with using a scrap model or other surface, not something I want to try to learn on the latest and greatest!
David
filters are more in use by armor modellers
but they can be helpfull to give some panels a different look
i use very bright colors for it, like bleu - yellow - orange -…
just try it on an older model
Jan