I currently working on Italeri’s M60a1. I would like to do the hardedge camo of the tank “Hangman” that is on the box top, in the instructions, and on the cover of Squadron’s M60 Patton book. I’ve tried the Silly Putty technique and I’m not very good at it. I also do a lousy job brush painting large areas. So I had this thought - what if I airbrushed the tank as a softedge camo and then go back over the edge with a paintbrush to give the edge a hard look? Has anyone tried this? If so, what are the pitfalls? Any help would be great.
i’m sure it could be done but i wouldn’t. if you’re brush painting the edges, why not just brush paint the whole thing? if you airbrush the center and outline in brush the consistency of the color will be different unless you add the edges slowly in thin layers: could be done but probably more trouble than its worth. why not just mask it off with masking tape? i actually don’t know the camo pattern you’re talking about but if you could do it with silly putty, you can do it with tape. why not just try the idea you’re talking about on a spare piece or something?
The camo is four color. The tank also has a lot of nooks and crannies making masking difficult. The problem I have with masking and silly putty is the paint ridge that can develope between colors.
You could try a liquid masking agent such as Humbrol’s Maskol.
Simply brush this onto the surface in the shapes required, then A/B into the area to be sprayed, thus avoiding undue paint build up, which leads to ridges.
I brushed some hard edge camo a while ago using Vallejo Model Colour thinned with a little water and you cant tell the difference between that and the AB’d base…just use a good quality sable brush.
I get the paint ridges also with Silly Putty. I let the paint set a while, then remove ridges by rubbing them with a Q-Tip. The cotton can polish the paint a little, but weathering, clear coats, etc., should nullify the effect.