OK, this may be a tough one. I want to simulate the spotty camouflage on German planes WITHOUT an airbrush. How do I achieve the soft blending on the edges without an airbrush. I know everyone loves using airbrushes but I live in a small apartment. They are to much trouble. I like using spray cans. Does anyone have any ideas???
If you are talking about the mottled look, try using a Q-Tip to make the splotches.
Missile
I thought of that , but you wouldn’t get that soft blended look with a Q-tip. Good suggestion , but I need something that will produce the soft blended look .
To get a good effect and avoid the lint a Q-Tip often leaves behind, use women’s makeup applicators. They are little more than plastic sticks with fine, tiny sponges on the ends, and you can get them in any number of sizes and shapes. Check out the makeup section at your local Walgreens or Eckerd’s or any other large chain drugstore with an equally large makeup department. They are quite cheap, like a buck for four or five of them, and you can use them over and over, cleaning them like paintbrushes.
Obviously, practice on a piece of scrap first. I’ve seen non-airbrushed camo done really well by die-hards who just refuse to use airbrushes, and I have seen many disasters, which the builder was quite proud of.
Tom
If i use a small amount of paint, like when drybrushing, using these makeup applicators will I get soft blended edges.
I always used to use an old brush, usually a size 1, with the bristels cut of about 4mm from the ferrule. This leaves a stump of short ,stiff bristles, with which to paint with.
What you then do, is dab the bristles in a little paint, preferably so that only the very ends have paint on, then dab off any excess. Then gently dab the brush on you model , so that you leave the smallest amount of paint. With a little practise you can create individual mottles, or even a soft edge to camo using this technique.
Karl
The technique described by Karl is called stippling & is a good method if you don’t have an AB. Takes a bit of practice to do it right, so plan on doing a scrap piece until you have enough confidence to try it on a model.
Regards, Rick
Rick, I could not for the life of me remember what the technique was called!
Thanks for that.
Must remember…stippling stippling stippling stippling stippling …
Karl
Something else you might want to try is to use an organic sponge and use that to lightly apply to spots.
Or, you could cut out stencils of the size and shape spots you want, hold the stencil a few or several millimeters away from the model (depending on how soft you want the edges), and spray with your spray can.
I’ve used the method that KJ200 described. Also I use a piece of crumpled paper toweling dabbed in the paint and then blot the excess off until I get the pattern I want and start bloting it on the plane. I will try to post some pictures of some models i’ve done this on.
Stippling:
Paper towel blotting:
