I saw this phenomenal video the other day where this one guy showed how he painted a Grumman Wildcat using artist oil paints. I was blown away by it. A fair number of my builds are mostly US WW2 subjects. I was thinking of giving his technique a try.
If I stop by someplace like Michael’s to pick up some oil paints, will I find something like “Olive Drab” or “Neutral Grey” as color options? If not, what colors would work best/most closely replicate common WW2 camo colors? I have never worked with oils so this is unexplored territory for me.
i seriously doubt that you will find a line of oils with standard military colors like those you listed. But that’s not to say that you can’t mix your own using basic colors. Olive Drab is formulated from black and yellow. Neutral Gray from black and white. You just have to eyeball your own mix ratios to get the exact color you want.
BUT… why would you not use available hobby paints of your preferred brand(s). Oils, while extremely forgiving, have quite long during times. Any handling before they dry will mar them. And spectacular finishes can be obtained with pretty much any line of paints. It’s all in the user and their abilities.
First off, sorry for adding the quotes to this and any future responses of mine. For some reason, my computer is not letting me type anything whenever I try to add a response. It will, however, work if I include a quote. Very strange.
Stik, I totally agree with what you’re saying. I’m a lifelong enamel user. I was amazed at the last F4U-5 Corsair I did where I hand-brushed gloss sea blue on it using MM enamels. It dried/cured so glossy and so level that I could practically use it as a mirror! But I saw this video the other day (I’ll try to post it) where the guy used oil paints to create a camo pattern. Then he blended the demarcation line to where his hand-painted job looked like it was airbrushed!
Nathan, to answer your question, he did use the oils to also add weathering to it but he definitely brush painted the initial camo colors on using the oils.
All-in-all, I thought I’d give it a try to see if the technique could work for me. Sort of an “expanding my horizons” thing. Like I said, I have never used oils before so maybe it’ll be a boon or it could be a bust. Either way, it’ll give me an excuse to run out and pick up a cheap but fun little kit to try it on. [bgr]
I hope this link works. I rarely post YouTube links so let’s see if this works. You can skip to around the 2:40 mark where he starts to apply the oils.
Wow! I’ve used oils forever for toning and weathering, just for the reasons he so ably demonstrates: controlability and ease of blending. But it would literally never have occurred to me to use it for an entire model! I’ll have to give it a try.
I’m thinking RLM greys might be an excellent test-case…
Thanks for the link Eric. An interesting young man and a talented one as well. His technique is a very simple one that with much practice will yield great results. There is a brand of oil paint currently being marketed for model painting that has a lower oil content to help relieve the long drying time or you can place the regular artist oils on a cardboard pallet and give the oil time to wick out. There are additives available (dryers) that also will speed the drying time. The days of a room smelling to high haven of turpentines or paint thinners are somewhat reduced by using odorless thinner.
So, the possibilities exist to see a return to the paint brush (called a hairy stick by those airbrush aficionados ).
Good luck on your experiment. You may find many areas of modeling where the brush is the more functional of the paint applicating styles.