Hello happy to be part of the community. First post here. I’m sure it’s been asked/spoken about, but can I get some help with the order of operation when it comes to painting 1/48 F-15C. The model is primed and at this point I’m not sure if I should airbrush panel lines, or do them later with Tamiya Panel Line Accent. My big question is the “C” model I’m building has the two tone gray soft line camo. Any tips on how I should attack this. I’m sure somebody has asked something similar on this forum before, so if I can be pointed to a thread or schooled a bit I’d appreciate it. Thank you all, I look forward to contributing and participating as aircraft modeling has been a long lived hobby of mine. Thanks. Ted.
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Unfortunately I can’t answer your question her, I’m sure someone will soon. Just wanted to say welcome to the forums.
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For soft camo I like to use the ‘noodle’ technique. Here I’m using Elmers tac but a lot of folks like silly putty or other clays.
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I’m going to guess you paint the ENTIRE model with the lighter shade first then hide the portions of that shade you want to keep LEAVING the areas exposed that you want to paint darker?
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Hi Ted,
Funny you should ask this question because we just answered a similar question for the May/June 2025 FSM issue. If you want a soft edge, use poster putty as a mask. Is you want a hard edge, Silly Putty is the way to go. You shape them similarly, but they create different results.
Here’s a tutorial we did for using Silly Putty
And in the July/August 2024 issue, Aaron used poster putty to paint soft-edged MERDC camo on an M48.
Hope that helps.
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HH60gblackhawk. I use .the same method as keavdog , it takes some practice but it works better than free hand .I didnt take pics of the poster tack and tape .
The nose wasnt cemmented in place yet, which F-15 kit your building ?
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Thanks. Building the Tamiya F-15C. I’m going to model the Eglin AFB 33 TFW, 59 TFS. I was stationed there in the late 80s and worked C shop flight line avionics. I loved being on the line with those aircraft, I truly did!
I have built two Hasegawa F-15C’s. I do have a Tamiya F-15C but I haven’t looked at in in some time, mine is from the Forida National Guard.
I planned to build jets from Florida.
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Wow, that looks great! Panel lines? I know we have some options here, did you do yours after prime and before paint? Or did you do them with Tamiya Panel Line Accent? Plane looks great!!
yes, with a black base and white blotches. The panel lines are with Tamiya panel line accent you do need to gloss clear acrylic first
thank you for your comments I do like passing on info.
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I already primed grey. What do you or anyone else think of using Tamiya flat black and mottle the surface panels then go with the first coat of the light gray camo over everything? After all camo, gloss coat, then Tamiya Panel Line Accent, decals and decal set, then Matt coat? What do you think? It’s been a VERY long time, lol. Please be critical as I love to learn. Thank you. And again, your model looks awesome!
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What i do is with a pencil draw out camo pattern so when spraying light ghost grey that way it doesn’t cover all the mottled paint
Tack rolls around area of darker grey adjust accordingly
Yes good plan slow one step at a time it’s supposed to be fun
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This is my return to aircraft models. It is an ancient MPC F-15A. The decals were shot but I was able to use most of them after some work. It is 1/72 scale, the fit was not good, my skills arent contest grade, but for the camo I made tracings of the wings, stabs and fins, drew the pattern, cut them out and used poster putty to place them. The colors arent exact, but the result turned out ok for me anyway.
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Thanks for submitting. I really like the way you created and used the patterns. Model came out nice man, especially for not building in a while.