I’ve been wanting to try this for a while just to see if it was worth the effort. So I grabed a box shaker and decided to give it a go.
Pre-shading, I gather, is supposed to represent dirt and grime that would accumulate along the panel lines, which can also be done with pastels. The down side to chalk is that it wears off, and cause the dreaded fingerprints [:(!] I personally like to see some weathering on models and a little panel line emphasis can’t hurt too much. Subtle is the key.
So I glued up this Spit and loaded the AB with some flat black, and crossed my fingers. First pic is just paint along panel lines
Then I filled in the panels with under color
Finally I sprayed the entire bottom to blend everything together
Over all I’m happy with the results. I just hope I didn’t go too far. The camera seems to understate the overall effect. It was a little labor intensive.
I would say youve done a bang on job of it. I personaly would go forward and highlight the panel lines with a wash,just to bring them out that litle bit extra.
I preshade alot… last one on my spit I can post it but this is your thread.
What I do is black just like you did… good job (cleaner then mine ) . I come back with full strength over all color working inside the preshading. I let this set and cure. I then go with same color and blend it in. then take color and lighten 10% with white and hit the CENTER of the panel. keep lightening with white as per how much you wanna weather. come back and wash the panel lines as usual and pastel it… works great.
Dragonfly The pre-shading looks great, well worth the effort.
You might find that you lose some of the pre-shade affect on the darker upper camo colours, as pre-shading does not seem to work as well as post shading on darker colours.
I know I pre-shaded my entire Hurricane Mk1 night fighter, only to have it all but disapear under a coat of very dark grey!!!
I ended up post shading, and using the panel centre high lighting technique that Jeff mentioned.
The subtle mix of panel shades really breaks up a monchromatic camo scheme while adding depth and interest.
Looks very good. The finished effect looks very subtle and under-stated. Just the way I like it. Keep trying those new techniques, they can only improve your skills.
Although the pre-shading’s somewhat lost on the topside, you’ve still made a great job of the camo. Think I’ll be pre-shading when I finally get my spray booth set up one day. [;)]
Great job you’re doing there! In my early days of spraying and pre-shading, I almost always killed the effect by either spraying the paint on too thick or spraying too close to the model. With a little practice, I managed to get the right mix, right distance and made sure to always do two or three coats of pre-shade just to sufficiently darken the panel lines and immediate area around them. But like Karl said, you’re fighting a losing battle when it comes to pre-shading prior to the application of darker colours and I’d seriously consider post-shading if you’re up for the challenge [:D]
) . I come back with full strength over all color working inside the preshading. I let this set and cure. I then go with same color and blend it in. then take color and lighten 10% with white and hit the CENTER of the panel. keep lightening with white as per how much you wanna weather. come back and wash the panel lines as usual and pastel it… works great.
