aircraft camoflauge?

I haven't tried the silly putty idea yet, but it seems to be the way to go. As for the soft edges, try leaving the edges of the mask rounded or slightly elevated from the model and spray as perpendicular to the mask as possible.

for starters, you want to use the C&T brush. Everyone keeps talking about using silly putty or some other masking technique to get soft edges but I always do freehand. If you thin your paints properly , spray close (less than an inch) with low pressure (less that 10psi) and angle your brush away from the edge of the pattern you can get a very defined but soft edge with little or no overspray. I use a Iwata Eclipse HP-CS and I never mask and I'm very happy with the results and I build mostly 1/72. Masking seems to have too many pitfalls and it's hard to get a consistently soft edge.

One way to mask for a soft edge is to use dampened newspaper. Tear the patterns
from the newspaper for a soft edge. Cut them for a sharp edge. Make the paper just damp enough to stick.
Ray

I do something that is probably not different, but let me describe. The camo is usually of course on the top side and fuselage. I paint the bottom of the plane the light color, while, blue depending on the country. I then apply the lighter of the base coat on the top and fuselage. After adequate drying, I cut the shapes out of small index cards. I then apply the shapes to the plane with some rolled up masking tape fitting the borders of the mask. I leave a few mm overhang in terms of the mask index card to the masking tape. Then, I use my single action Badger airbrush and apply the darker color. The masking tape with the index card overhang allows for a gentle strem of paint which sort of fades in. It really is very easy and works great on the FW190, the ME262 and the ME109. I am pleased with the results. There, however, it is sometimes tricky because there is a 3rd dolor, a blue grey to deal with as well. But, pateince pays off and it looks great. That is my two cents, I hope I was accurate for you.

I have used the silly putty method a few times, but only as a mask around items that I just couldn't get anything else to stick to, or cover up. I was really impressed with its results!

I had never thought of using the dampened newspaper method. Thanks for the idea Ray!

I just won an Iwata HP-CS this last weekend at an armor show in Colorado Springs and have yet to really use it! Maybe masking will be a thing of the past now for me.....

My friend,

Don't start airbrushing camo on a nice kit. Purchase yourself a cheap kit. Then using your airbrush and compressor (I'm assuming you have a compressor). If you don't end of discussion. But if you do, you can easily do camo with free-hand. YES THATS CORRECT, FREE-HAND! Adjust the pressure on your compressor between 5-10 PSI and adjust your needle. Position your airbrush about 1 cm or a bit closer and start airbrushing. Practice this over and over until your satisfied then you'll be ready for applying camo on a nice (expensive) model. Hope this helps, I have other techniques but this is the best.


Esteban.

I just went through my own self-learning indoctrination on camoflage myself. I've done the soft edge style by either spraying very close (and lightly) to get the basic outline (border) of the pattern and then fill in the interior of the pattern with more flow and more distance from the model. I use a double action Iwata HP-CS, so I can control the amount of paint that is being dispersed.
For crisper edges, such as a 'splinter' scheme on WW2 German aircraft, I have used frisket paper, masking tape, and 'Post-It' notes. The frisket would almost always pull up the previous color coat. The masking tape (Tamiya's, don't use regular masking tape, nor even the blue type) worked well on contours and canopies, but I backed it up with Post-It notes to completely cover the spray area. If you want the soft edge, but straight line look, Post-It notes work great, as they really don't want to adhere tightly to the surface.

Best way I REALLY learned to spray irregular patterns and develop control was to use the remaining paint in the cup (say, after spraying an overall base coat) and spray it on just about anything at hand to practice on, like another Post-It, an old FedEx envelope, the cat, whatever is at hand. I probably put more paint on my test scraps (ask the cat) than I do on my models, but the practice is worth it to get it right when spraying the model.

Best advice I can give is to be willing waste a bit of paint for the practice part. It's a lot easier to do that than to commit to yourself to something you've spent so many hours of assembly on, and then still have to sand it off and repaint anyway (believe me, I KNOW that part.)
Also, if you prep your models with a sandable primer you can kind of experiment that way on the actual model. I think it's kinda funny that when I casually spray primer over a filled-in joint, the result is a better camo pattern than I would have achieved if I'd done it deliberately!

Anyway, don't be intimidated by the whole thing. Try a few things as a test, breathe, get yourself relaxed and go for it..

well, its now january and my post was in november and after numerous hours with the omni 5000 i have finally got the results im looking for without masking. the post above this is exactly right. number one problem i found was the paint i was using. i switched from polly scale and model master acryl to tamiya acrylic and just fell head over heals in love with it. next, i usually thinned my paint 50:50 to try to achieve fine lines and thought that this was too drastic. spraying at about 15 to 18 lbs with a gravity feed and still getting orange peel, i came across this article on the tamiya website. the dude was applying a primer coat on a cammo p-47 using gloss black (tamiya ofcourse) and the thinning ratio was 90% thinner to 10% paint. im not saying that this will work in all airbrushes, but my omni 5000 absolutely adored this mixure. given it takes quite a bit of time and patience, a cranked my air pressure down to about 8 or 9 and layed a beautiful two color cammo sceme. now, im working on the post shading with the same mixture (which i lighted and darkened from the original) and........wow, such control, such excitement, such joy, im nearly speechless guys. im very satisfied with the results. preshading is quite exciting to me as well. thanks for the help guys.

Well where are the pics then?

I must agree with nsclcctl on using card stock or ordinary bond paper with rolled masking tape to raise the paper slightly above the surface. I have used this method for a few years now and find it to be effective. Patience is the key.

Hey saltydog - Glad you found peacce and happiness in the airbrush world.

Don't worry about what mixtures your using. What works for you is what counts.

As madda asked - where are the pic's?

Can you also give us the Tamiya link that you referred to? I'd be curious to read it.

later - stinger

i dont own a scanner as of yet fellows so youll just have to trust me on the finish. im still working on the post shading anyway. i would really like to post some pictures in this forum to get some constructive criticism. ive just finished my first build in my life and got it hanging over my computer (P-51D, my favority wwII bird). i love the artwork maddafinga, excellent work. ill have to uplink some of mine as soon as i get a scanner and a good camera. as for the article..........http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/plastic/tips/realistic_painting.html

Well thanks! Get that scanner running and put some up, I love seeing people's artwork and models both. What do you like to draw or paint?