I have read a few articles of late concerning “filters” for weathering armor subjects. The best that I can make out is that there is a difference between washes and filters but what that difference is, is not clear to me. Can anyone explain?
Good question Gawga
I’ve always called it a “blend” coat but here is my take on a “filter” coat. Realize that this is a guess because I don’t know what the official definition of a “filter” coat is.
If you airbrush a very light and even one coat pass of any color on anything you will be able to see through it but it still has colored the surface. This is the way airbrushing is. I consider it to be an airbrush fundamental. Lets suppose you paint a NATO camo scheme: light green, orange and black. But it looks cartoonish and maybe has some overspray in the light green areas. Spray a “filter” coat over the whole model somewhere in between light green and black. In this case the filter color is a “tint” of the black color. You could really use a tint of any of the 3 original colors. The camo colors magically “blend” together but are still very apparant and not cartoonish anymore and most of the overspray dissappears. I do this with almost every model for camo blending, panel shading, and dust effects.
There is plenty already written about washes.
Above explanation is probably as easy to understand as it gets. I only recently started using filters, and really, they’re great for blending in all elements. In fact, the scenario described above is very similar to what I actually needed it for, and it did a great job.
CHeck out this link, it has descriptions of some very useful techniques, filters amongs tthem:
http://www.missing-lynx.com/rareworld.htm
Interesting technique. Regarding airplane models, can anyone tell me if the filters are applied with a brush or airbrush? I read the article on the above link and it talked about brushing but that was with an armor build.
This thread goes back a ways, but I am ready to start using a filter for the first time.
Has anyone developed a methodology of application for color schemes?
The previous explanation of mixing a filter somewhere between light green and black leaves a lot of interpretation in my mind…is it more green, or more black?
I have read, read and re-read Mig’s original article and am still not grasping which colors will work to modify our paint accordingly.
thanks for any help and light you can shed on the subject!
David