I’m going to write a short FSM article on the many uses of Smoke, both the Tamiya and Alclad variants. I’m sure many of you have uses for it that I haven’t thought of. So, what do you use Smoke for?
I use Tamiya Smoke as a post shade over panel lines when the aircraft has a complex camo paint job or when there are multiple colors. This way the shading is consistent.
give your carbon fiber decals a coat. some of the silvers in them are far too bright and look awful. smoke can tone down the contrast.
give tail lights a coat to tone down the too bright clear yellows and reds and make them look less toylike.
While I haven’t tried the Alclad formula, with Tamiya’s Clear Smoke: Mixed with Future as an oily wash and diluted thinly to force shadows in various clear overcoats (auto finishes). Also used in post-shading to build up stains, streaks, shadows and panel lines.
It really is a versatile product.
I use Tamiya smoke for the lighter exhaust stains farther back along the fuselage. It’s also good for subtle weathering.
I used to use Tamiya smoke - mainly for exhaust fumes and - sometimes - for accent panel lines.
I have used it only once on a mig 29, the references showed it to be so dirty that literally every panel line was visible so smoke was applied along with various pigments.
Thanks for the input so far. As Dre posted, it’s such a versatile product, I thought an article showing some of its uses would be helpful.
Thanks Darren for starting this thread. I’m still a newbie, and this gives me some ideas!!!
[dto:], Darren! By the way, I’m a BIG fan of all your articles that you’ve written for FSM. Very good stuff.
I use Tamiya Smoke to weather radial engines. It gives the cylinders a nice oily-smokey-used look Here’s a thread on how I do it and it provides some examples.
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/149327.aspx
I have no experience with the Alclad product, but if its anything like their other offerings, its probably fantastic…
Joe
I use Tamiya Smoke over metallic parts, like landing gears, it improves sheen and adds depth.
Thanks for all the responses. It’s really interesting all the uses that Smoke has. Thanks for the kind words Devil Dawg. I always try to write something that reader’s would interesting and helpful.
Forgot to add this- I sometimes use a drop of Future-thinned Smoke on some IP lenses to give them a hint of depth and shine. This works better on older radar scopes and the like. I also use it on the clear lenses of seeker heads on missiles to give that hint of mystery.