PRESHADING....HELP

Preshading is a technique used to accentuate detail such as panel lines on aircraft and is most often utilized as a weathering technique. The methods of applying this technique are varied, but the basic idea is to paint the desired areas a dark color (usually black) before applying the actual camouflage colors.

Here's a preshading article from Hyperscale that you may find useful. I personally don't care for this fella's actual application of the technique, but you may.

My personal method is to paint the entire model black and then build up the color in the desired areas. I may be doing a how-to on this for my website, we'll see...


Fade to Black...

Junkman,
I've had great results using the pre-shading method - not by painting the entire model black, but by using a fine tip on my airbrush and painting the panel lines themselves in black. Then I hit the model with the color coat, which has been fairly thinned down. Concentrate on the centre of the panels a little more than the panel lines, and when you're satisfied with the depth of color on the panels, you should have slightly darker areas on the panel lines. This method works well for single color paint schemes, but if you're painting a camo scheme, the second color may very well completely cover the Pre-shaded panel lines.
Just something to watch out for.
Cheers,

LeeTree