Hi guys. I’m still plugging away at my F-4U 1A Corsair. I’ve got the tri-color scheme done. I’ve come to a tough spot in the build though: What’s the best way to fade the paint? I should have done this before but it didn’t dawn on me until now. Would a very thin coat of gray or white do the trick, or should I remask and paint with lighter versions of the base color? Thanks!
You could try just fading out the centres of the panels by adding a little buff to the base colour, and apply a very thin mix, about 90% thinner.
To pull it all together afterwards you can apply a simialrly thinned mix of buff or deck tan over the upper surfaces to give a sun bleached look to decals and paint alike.
Karl
What Karl said. Using a light overspray of a lightened (buff is a good lightening shade) version of the base colour to blend everything together and soften contrast can be effective:
I know that these are all military vehicles, but often, you can be more creative with military vehicle colour schemes than you can be with aircraft.
Cheers,
Chris.
Thanks guys! Have you ever tried this technique over white? That’s what I’m most worried about on this build…
White doesn’t fade so much as get dirtier.
A very dilute mix of Tamiya Smoke mixed 90% thinner applied over panel lines and in recesses will help dirty up the white.
You want it so that it takes 3-4 passes with an AB before you can see the effect, as it needs to be subtle.
Karl
Karl, I was thinking of a light gray but smoke makes much more sense. Thanks a bunch!
I guess my main concearn is if I get some buff on the white it might muck it up. I guess we’ll just have to see. I’m going to post photos later!
The fading paint should have been planned from the outset before paint hit the model…You could have added a bit of white, and applied the paint ever so thinly over a NMF or appropriate primer to get the worn faded look of a real aircraft.
