I was wondering if its possible to get a decent looking camo pattern on a Spitfire without an air brush?
Deffinatly, long as it’s a hard edge (is that the right term? ) anyway, I think even if it isn’t it’s still possible, but a bit harder… As I haven’t really done camo, I’ll let somone else explian, if they can… (Which I hope they can… )
Sure… the easiest way would be to mask and spray it (i.e. with a rattle can). The harder method would be to use a brush (only because I find it impossible to get rid of the brush stroke lines).
Either way, you’ll probably be OK… the RAF usually had hard edged demarcations between the colors anyway.
RAF disruptive camo had a fairly hard edge, so masking & spraying with a rattle can would probably be the best bet. Brush painting can give good results, depending on your skill with a brush. Neither will look as good as an airbrushed finish, unless you are exeptionally skilled with a brush.
Regards, Rick
Listen, I have a simple, foolproof way any novice can make a soft-edge camo pattern using spray cans if he or she has no airbrush (or, as I’ve so often plugged, that good old Testors spray gun at $14 including the air can). Copy your camo scheme off the instruction sheet, blowing it up to 1/48 or whatever scale on a Xerox machine (I said novice, you can’t be a complete moron and do this). Cut it apart along the color lines and tape them to the plane with that thick two-sided tape used for hanging posters. That raises the pattern off the plane just enough to give you a barely soft edge. I’ve given you the short version, but it’s really easy once you look at the materials. Don’t even think of doing it with a paint brush. Only one in a thousand modelers has the talent to pull that off respectably.
Now, somebody straighten me out on RAF wartime camo. I keep hearing they used rubber mats to do assembly line camo painting on fighters, but then I see all these very clear wartime photos, many in color, showing soft edge camo. I learned from much observation and research that, beginning with the Condor Legion in the late 30s, the Germans had a razor sharp edge on the splinter schemes of their a/c. But as the war went on, it got softer and softer until, at the end, it was downright sloppy on new a/c, especially those coming from FW factories.
Tom
Shark, for every picture showing “soft” RAF disruptive camo, you can find dozens showing it “hard”. Some of this discrepancy certainly resulted from field repair of battle damage or other wear & tear on the airframes. Good reference pics of the actual aircraft being modeled is the only way to be confident in the accuracy of your build, if that is important to the modeler. German Splinter camo was hard edge, but most of the FW-190’s, as well as late war 109’s, were done in more of a disruptive camo pattern than a true splinter & some of it was very soft indeed, or sloppy as you say.
Regards, Rick
My set up: A pointed testors brush, acrylic paint, and some water, and ta-da, no stroke lines 
Just need to use the water the right way, and all… (I’m still mastering it… )
Also found some brushes I only use for metalic enamel that leave barely any stroke lines…
Anyhoo, sorry for the off-topicness