Hi all,
Is there a techique to paint this kind of camouflage? I’ve tried airbrushing it free-hand, but can’t seem to find the correct thinning/air pressure combination to get it to look right. Then I though of cutting templates out of transparencies, and it worked better but it’s hard to get the templates to conform to the compound curves on the fuselages, so it’s not 100% foolproof. I still get some spots looking more ‘defined’ than others.
So, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know [:)]
Thin the paint at a higher ratio of thinner than for broad coverage painting. Set the compressor to the lowest possible PSI that will still deliver some paint. Keep the AB as close as possible to the model surface & spray in short bursts. Some mottle will look more defined than others, but that was true on the real AC as well. Practice on a scrap piece & get a feel for what works for you. Avoid too high a PSI or you will get the dreaded spider splash. Practice makes perfect, or reasonably close in my case[:)].
Regards, Rick
I agree with Rick. Paint thinned a little more than normal and low pressure are the key to this technique. And a LOT of practice. Ideally, you should be spraying less than an inch from the model. Practice on a scrap styrene sheet or junk model. If your airbrush has paint flow control set it to the minimum that you can produce a dot or a thin line of paint with (also saves you frustration just in case you accidentally pull back on the trigger – I’m assuming you’re using a dual-action AB). Once you’re confident that you can control the ab, then you’re well on your way to creating those mottles. Don’t worry, I wasn’t satisfied myself with my first mottling job, but it got better after the next ones. With enough practice, there’s no reason you won’t be good at it yourself. Hope this helps and good luck!
[#ditto]
You just have to get that paint/thinner and pressure mix right, and then just practise, practise, practise.
I posted a similar question a while back, and some of the advice that served me well was to count the time it takes to produce a mottle when pratising, and then apply that to your model. So if you take 2 seconds to produce a mottle, just spray for 2 seconds then stop. It sounds a bit stupid, but it prevents you overspraying and ending up with little spiders all over your model like I did at first.
Best of luck.
Karl