I’ve just finished painting all the details on the ACES II ejection seats for my F-15E, but because a lot of the seat is black most of the details are hidden. I thought this would be a great time to try dry brushing, but I want to know what color would be best on the black. I was thinking neutral grey or silver, possibly grey on most of the seat and silver on parts that see a lot of wear? What do you guys suggest, it’s my first time dry brushing. Any help or tips would be great!
I usually use chrome silver (very dry) so as to not over do because it seems to show a little better, especially on 1/48 or smaller.
I agree with Reasoned. Also, using a very dark grey as opposed to black as a base color allows the details to show.
Hmmm
50 shades of grey is what you need…
Only a modeller would see nothing odd in having 50 shades of grey, green, olive drab…
neat silver may seen a bit harsh, I would get some pencils, BB to HB, as well as a set of ‘metallic’ pencils, sharpen them & dry brush the graphite with a small stiff brush.
This aught to give a more worn metal look, but if you don’t like it you can wash the graphite off & start again, good luck
I often use a dark or medium gray as a wash, and dry brush Testors Steel. The latter is to represent wear down to bare metal. I also dry brush the steel on the rudder pedals. The steel color to me looks a little more weathered than aluminum or silver, which would be a fresh major scrape.
That would be my concern in using the chrome silver that I have- it seems to be too bright to accurately represent the dark steel color of worn down parts. That’s one of the reasons I was thinking of using grey for most areas, and only the silver for very heavily abused areas (I don’t know particularly what areas that would be yet, as most seats I have seen in the F-15Es seem very well maintained).
I would use a grey, chrome or silver may be a bit stark in contrast, I also use Vallejo Natural Steel as it is duller than chrome and silver.
Cheers
My personal preference is aluminum as I feel it’s not as bright as silver or chrome and on actual seats the chips tend to be REALLY tiny where the metal shows through.
On the seat pads themselves I like to paint the base in olive drab, then hit it lightly with a little dark tan, followed by a really light hit of flat white. The white won’t really show as white, it’ll look light light green. It’s all a matter of personal preference though.
Now on the cockpit itself on I generally dry brush with a light gray as it’s closer to the semi-translucent plastic-like material the faces of the instrument panels and switch panels are made out of before they are blacked out.
Groot
Thank you all for the great advice. I really like the idea of using aluminum or steel, that way it’s still a metallic color yet isn’t unrealistically bright. I also think I’m going to use the tan over the olive drab on the seats as RobGroot4 suggested, to highlight the cushions some.
You can always mix paints of same brand and type. I often mix some flat back into Testors steel to tone it down even further. For instance, for something like forged or rolled steel, or steel shafting, it needs to be darker. For aluminum castings I mix about half and half flat light gray to flat aluminum. Cast aluminum weathers very rapidly to a flat grayish patina that is only slightly metallic in appearance.
I’m surprised I never thought of doing that… now I think I’ll try mixing a metallic paint with a flat paint. You guys keep coming up with new stuff and changing my mind. I’ll have to test out the different ideas and see what looks best to me.
For your base color, add some medium gray to make it more of a faded black. If you do a wash, use black, then use a medium to dark gray for dry brushed highlights, and your steel or aluminum for the accentuated worn bare areas.
Gone and forgotten
Are the worries of the day
With a single brush.
(My brushes don’t drip… They’re just marking my territory.)
What I’ve always done for that worn metal look is a mix of Testors silver and an artist oil, usually burnt umber. It gives a nice subtle metal sheen without it looking overdone, and the best part is that, because it’s mixed with an oil paint, you have ample time to wipe it off and try again if you mess up or over apply it. It also works great over flat black for a gunmetal effect.