I was thinking about this question while answering a question about flat finishes. I’m working on the Eduard Moraine Saulnier at the moment. I’m just about to start wiring and if I’m not forgetting any it currently has:
Preshading, First color coat, Second color coat, Third color coat (these are all applied in thin layers) then trim colors, Clear gloss lacquer, acrylic wash, clear gloss lacquer, clear gloss lacquer (after decal application), acrylic wash, clear gloss lacquer, dirty flat lacquer.
That’s 11 and probably will put one final coat of flat after the rigging is done to make sure not reflectance differences are present from the CA attachment of the rigging.
I’ll post pictures when the coat I just sprayed is dry if I get a chance. This is typical for me and I was wondering how you all do your finishing.
Well, one of the most recent aircraft kits I’ve made (some months ago, now - too many military vehicle review builds recently) was an Academy 1/72 Me.163 Komet. Painting as follows
White primer overall(3 coats)
RLM04 nose cone (3 coats)
RLM76 overall (3 coats)
RLM82 on wing uppesurfaces (3 coats)
RLM81 camo on wings (2 coats)
mottle of RLM81/82 on fuselage, followed by thin overcoat of RLM76 to blend everything in (3 coats in total)
Future overall (3 coats)
Another coat of Future after decalling
oil wash in panel lines (burned umber uppersurfaces, Prussian blue undersurfaces)
3 coats of Mattcote
So that’s 27 coats, not counting brush-painted details and weathering, on a model roughly 5" * 3". I’d say that was fairly typical. Obviously, it will depend on the complexity of the colour scheme and the mattness, or otherwise, of the finish. I recenlty also completed a Fujimi 1/72 F-4S in ‘Black Bunny’ markings:
where the main colour scheme was done in only 11 or 12 coats (memo to self -do not use flash when photographing gloss-coated models…). At the other extreme, I don’t even want to start counting the number of coats of paint that went into this:
but, in total, and including interior detail,
, both figures and the base, it must be well over 100.
Good thing they’re models and not the real deal with that much paint, lol… You’d have to leave your ordnance on the ground because the bird would be carrying more weight in paint than fuel…
Myself on aircraft , one coat of base color, one clear satin or gloss, depending on the decals, some brands work just fine over satin finishes with no silvering, then one flat to seal. If it’s a two-tone upper camo, it gets an extra “half-coat” of the second, darker color painted over the darker base color… I don’t mask camo patterns for the dark coat, I just shoot the whole upper with the lighter color, then mask and squirt the dark one… Any weathering done with pastels I can lock down with artist’s pastel fixative before I apply the final clear coat, so as not to alter the pastels. My Armor models get a bit more paint because of the amount of handling during the weathering they’ll have to withstand.
Altogether, I’d say I average, on aircraft, 4 coats…
Noticed some pebbling on your Phantom, Chris… Air pressure issue?
Yes, Hans - doesn’t look so bad when photographed in natural daylight. It was a review build for SAMI earlier this year, and I got quite bored by it, otherwise I’d have stripped it and started over. The photos in the magazine don’t look anything like so bad It’s amazing what you can do with Photoshop…[:-^]
I learned years ago during my stint in the automotive repair and refinish business that the only finish harder to make perfect than black is GLOSS black… EVERY little flaw shows in that type of finish…
I was hoping to get some good responses. I think it’s important to demonstrate to the newer modelers just how many thin layers of paint it takes to build up the kind of finish that folks like to oooh and aahhh over. I didn’t count any of the interior detail painting and touch up, etc. I probably should have to give a more accurate picture of the degree of layering involved.
Here’s my Moraine Saulnier N-1 still with it’s gloss coat and no rigging yet.
Most of my models get a couple of coats of primer at least, sometimes more depending on how good a job I did of building it in the first place!
Most of my builds have at least three camo colours, which means at least four coats of paint for each of those, followed by Future, then another coat of Future to seal the decals.
This is followed by a watercolour wash, then panel shading along the panel lines, followed by a filter coat.
Finally a coat of matt varnish.
I make that about 20 to achieve what I would call a completed model.
I was expecting to see some replies from the less experienced modelers in the group. I know that when I was building prior to 2000 (still better than 20 years experience on an airbrush) I’ve have been lucky to put three coats of anything (Note: If there are three colors on one layer I’m thinking of that as one layer for this discussion.) onto the model. Now it seems (and looks like this is supported by the other experienced modelers who have commented thus far) that as long as the coats are thin you’re going to do much better with many coats by the time painting, decaling, weathering, etc are completed.
With the exception of large silver aircraft, I do everything by brush. For the last 15 years I have been using Tamiya acrylics exclusivley. For most colors, two light coats, followed by two coats testors glosscote, followed by decals and either two coats glosscoat or dullcote depending what sheen I want. Aluminum normally takes 4-5 light coats, red takes 5-6 light coats. For large aluminum models like the Monogram B-58, B-29 and B-36 I used Testors aluminum rattle cans followed by the two cotes gloss and two coats flat.
On the last one, I think I only used 3 coats (if i remember correctly). But then again, it was flat black on black styrene, so there wasn’t any real need for primer, I thought.
Normally it depends though. But I’ve found through my own experience that lighter shades tend to require more coats. Not sure if that’s just me though…
Haven’t dared to attempt NMF yet, but I’m hoping to give it a go in the next few years.
