Hi guys, when pre-shading, do I spray a base coat, add the black, and then add the base coat lightly over that again?
Thanks, Anthony.
No. Pre shading is just that. Black or a very dark color and then a lighter base coat. The idea is that the daker color will stay in the recessed parts of the kit and when you base coat it stays on the upper surfaces. If you preshade and then heavily base coat it kind of defeats the purpose.
What i do is simply this: lets say i’m about to paint my Panther A, I will proceed to spray a coat of flat black. After about 30 min of drying (acrylic paint), i proceed to spray a very thinned, heavy coat of black. This spray should be tainted thinner, not thinned paint. What this does is the solvent kinda attacks the paint and then subsequently smooths out the surface. Next, i take straight dark yellow thinned 70% thin, 30% paint, and a couple of drops of future for good measure. It should look still pretty dark. i then use subsequent coats of lightened d.y. (dark yellow) until i am satisfied. I usually keep the d.y. lighter in the middle, and darker around the out side on panels and sides. Be sure to spray @ 20 p.s.i. and at a really fine setting of your airbrush. Email me if you have more questions and then i can send you the pictures step by step…[|)]
Preshading works best on vehicles with one color. The effect can get covered by elaborate camouflage patterns.
Indeed. In fact, almost any scheme that is not a single colour tends to cover the effects of preshading almost immediately. If doing a multi-colour camo scheme, it’s better not to pre-shade, but to take a thinned dust colour and ‘fade’ the various panels.
But as for your question, I do not think a basecoat is neccessary. Just spray the black right over the plastic, then several fine layers of the basecoat.
I’m am putting the pre-shading on a very dark green, should I prime white, or some other light colour, then add the black?
Thanks, Anthony.
There is no need to prime the model unless you are using p/e or resin parts. If the kit is all plastic just spray the black onto the kit.
Maybe it is just me but I never had much luck with preshading. The effect ends up being too suttle and not even across the vehicle. I then have to go back and post shade to repair the pre shading. I now do just the post shading before weathering. This question is for those who are happy with their pre shading, what is the difference in the final appearence between pre shading and post shading?
I find it very useful for camo and mono color schemes. The M10 below was sprayed entirely with flat black before the various shades of OD were laid on. This gave me depth and shadow around details on the turret and engine deck, suspension etc.-
The panther ll was also sprayed in flat black before the camo was applied:
To be succesful with using preshading IMHO, you have to be very careful and selective of how you apply your finish paint, and not overpaint or destroy the shadowing. Precise misting coats are required to get the maximum out of it. Neither of these models received a “wash” of any sort, panel lines and depth was acheived entirely with the airbrush.
LOL
Steve
[#ditto] That’s what I was trying to say but didn’t very well!! I like the pre shading also. I think the trick is to lay down the main colors in very gradual steps and the pre shading will enhance shadows other wise tough to achieve with washes.