I am working on a couple of Italian fighters and am wondering what the best way to do the lines for the North Africa style camflage is. I have an air brush but not sure whether I should try to free hand it or use some kind of stencil.
Thanks
well, i would freehand it if it were me, but it will take a steady hand, some really thin paint, a double action airbrush, low airpressure, and plenty of patience. if you wanted to mask it, you could paint the color of the squiggly lines first, then, mask it off by rolling up some poster putty or elmer’s tak (found at walmart in the office supply section). cut off a small amount and just roll it up into some very small strings, cut a section of the string off, and attach them to the subject in various shapes and sizes, then spray the desert yellow color on. good luck. later.
This is one of those camo jobs that only freehand will do.
The main things to remember are to thin your paint so that it is a little thinner than you would normally spray with, this is to allow you to spray at lower at PSI, where you will have more control over paint flow. You also need to get in really close if you want to fine lines.
The other thing to do is practise, practise, practise!!!
Hope this helps.
Karl
Thanks
I was wondering if you would suggest drawing lightly with a pencil first to mark where you want the lines. The Italian style is oddly shaped “circles” so I’m a little concerned about meeting up with the starting point of each. First time trying this and fairly new to the air brush thing. Guess I better get a piece of cardboard to practice on for awhile first. I know that equipment varies but what would you suggest as a starting point.
Aaron, fine lines are really tough on the beginner friend!! if you’re just beginning, you’ve picked a heck of a way to start my friend!! i’m certainly not saying you can’t do it, but if you aren’t familiar with a double action airbrush, you are gonna go through some frustrations applying this difficult camo pattern free hand. cardboard is ok to practice on, but you need to practice on something 3D and nonporous like a coke can, old toys, or slap together a cheap kit for airbrush fodder. its much different spraying on something flat and something with compound curves and such. please feel free to ask for help on this wonderful forum anytime. let us know how its turning out for ya!! what kind of airbrush are you using? compressor? paint? later.
Thats a good point about practice material, I guess I’ll strip the labels off of some 2 liter bottles to practice on.
I’m using a Paashe VLS double action, with a craftsman compressor with a regulator. I mostly use acrylics but when neccessary will use others (acrylics are just so much easier to clean up). Sounds like I may make these East front aircraft (sort of 3 lobed spots instead of lines) all depends on how the practice runs go. I’ve used the air brush a bit but mostly as a glorified spray can (large surfaces of one color) this is actually the kind of work I wanted the air brush for.
Edited because I figured out what kind of air brush I have
Do you have a gravity feed cup attachment to go in your airbrush? In my admittedly limited experience doing fine line work with my airbrush, I found that I had to adjust my paint thinner ratio pretty consistantly. I’d add either a drop of paint or a drop of thinner depending on how my brush was spraying. Either the paint would be too thin after a bit of spraying, or a bit too thick. It was pretty easy to tell the difference and adjust accordingly. With some practice you’ll get the hang of it pretty well. I might put a base coat on that bottle before I painted on the bare plastic. That way it’ll behave the same way it would on your plane.
Yes I have a gravity cup but I’m not at all comfortable using it. I’ve tried it a handful of times and keep dumping it over (turn the airbrush to far), but I’ll keep it in mind.
Thanks
To do that camo your cup is your best option. Thin down to a little more watery then milk and drop below 10 psi is you best bet. I would also almost be down on the plastic, using both hands so make sure you model is secured before hand, and at the right angle. Enjoy.
Remember if ya screw it up, just paint the base color again and try once more.
-Jeff
How do you put a gravity-feed cup on a Paasche VLS which is a siphon-feed airbrush? [:p]
I am assuming you mean the metal color cup instead of the glass jar, correct?
Also, it may be tough getting a VLS to feed reliably at 10 psi as was mentioned.
Mike
when I bought the tamiya HE219 it came with a 48th scale sheet of the camo pattern - so I photocopied it and yes - I cut out all the little grey bits with an x acto and very gently sprayed the camo using the sheet full of holes as a soft mask.
A lot of work but it looked great - until the test flight off the shelf