Faded Olive Drab Paint

Airbrush the panel lines with black paint. Then paint the olive drab over top of it. This will accent the panel and give it a sun faded look.

thanks

Jason
Or you can use different grays. This will also give you different tones in your panels. nwilliams is correct aswell
I myself use "scale black" as a base coat(once in a while I'll use diff grays). Not only does this give me my tones but it also creats "natural shadows" where shadows belong.
Flaps up,Mike

Jay,
Model Master makes a " Faded OD". I dont have the exact FS # but on the bottle it shows #2051
Flaps up,Mike

There are many different ways to do that type of thing. Here are a couple of my faves:

Use different mixes of the base paint. Mix in a bit of white or other light color to lighten the OD.

There are also many different OD's out there on the market. Find a couple that complement each other and use them together.

With either of these two methods, start off with the darkest color. Then gradually add light coats of the lighter colors until you get the results that you like.

Some of the early OD used on B-17's took on a slight purplish haze when they faded. That's another avenue you may wish to explore, again mixing colors.

The bit about accentuating panel lines is my forte, actually, although I generally use a mixture of pastels and washes. The "pre-shading" technique mentioned by NWilliams is a very popular method. I've yet to really give it a serious go myself, but I've seen stunning results had by it.

Fool around on some scrap pieces or whatever you may have laying around. Try out a bunch of techniques, combine them, modify them to suit yourself and see what you get and which you like.

Fade to Black...

Like blackwolf said, there are a number of options out there. Find your favorite and go for it! I like the preshading with black, myself! -Ed

Look for original color photos, but bear in mind that the photos themselves can be wrong. Some seem to show that OD deteriorated to a brownish tan, but some aircraft, especially P-38s, seem to have a reddish or purplish tinge. I think the most thoroughly faded OD I've seen was on the South West Pacific P-40s and P-39s at Guadalcanal and in New Guinea. Sun and salt spray and lack of time for maintaining the appearance as opposed to the function of the aircraft made them a very light tan on the upper fuselage and wings, and a medium brown to tan on the fuselage sides. This is a very tricky area, and it is very hard to know the precise shade to apply to a given model.

I dont think that shading would really be a problem. Just like jcarlberg had mentioned, what are the conditions that the a/c will see, be in and how were the ships maintained.
One thing to remember is that no one a/c will weather the same
Research and reference checking will also come into play on how you want your a/c represented.
You have to experiment to see what you like best. You never know you may combine what Blackwolf,jcarlberg,nwilliams and myself have said in the above or find a totally new way. How ever you do it, you have to be pleased w/ the results.
Flaps up,Mike

For O.D., I have had my best luck using grays to "fade" it. I have seen so many different faded looks of O.D. that it seems that you could get away with just about anything ! I also use the masked panel line method. I don't accent the entire panel line, but "skip around". I even re-use the same piece of low-tack tape over and over - just lift it up and move it to a different spot at random. I do the same thing for control surfaces. I have also used this method for doing the different blues on Navy and Marine aircraft as well. The above is what I feel comfy doing, but have used some of the other described methods as well.

Per jcarlberg's post, I remember reading many years ago that it was thought that some O.D. P-38F's & G's sent to North Africa were re-painted in the desert pink color. Cool ! Soon after, I read that the supposed desert pink was in reality just very badly faded O.D. ! Bummer ! I had visualzed how it would look, and was all set to do it ! I thought about doing it anyway just to see what it would look like (and to bait the know-it-alls).

Jim

As was already mentioned, each aircraft faded differently. Also remember that non metal control surfaces did not fade like metal did. They looked less faded. Also the bottom of the aircraft would fade less. Trying to get the gradual fading from top to bottom, for me is a nightmare.

There was also an article in the latest FSM re: YB-40 and faded OD paint.

In the 70's, Pactra published a chart of paint colors used by various countries developed by IPMS Tidewater. It lists 2 OD's, a fresh and a faded. I know Pactra is out of business, but the formulas and codes are

2 parts flat black F1 2 parts anti glare green F5
2 parts flat yellow F5 1 part roof brown F10
2 parts anti glare green F5 2 parts orange yellow F12
3 parts primer white M2
6 parts dark earth M20
The faded OD looks brown. The chart suggests white to lighten and anti glare green to darken. Flat yellow is close to chrome yellow, anti glare green looks like green chromate, dark earth is a chestnut shade, roof brown is reddish and orange yellow looks orange to me. I've used the faded OD on 2 monogram razorbacks and like the effect. Imrie / Risley had an OD at the same time. they suggested lightening with khaki and darkening with a dark green.

I used Testors ModelMaster "faded OD' and regular WWII OD on this model of my Dad's plane:
http://members.fortunecity.com/jpayne/SQUAW013.jpg

Compare it to a photo of the original:
http://members.fortunecity.com/jpayne/dad/squaw.gif

I painted a base coat of the "faded" and weathered it with darker olive chalk pastel around the panel lines, then simulated the touch up areas seen on the real plane with regular OD.

If you want, airbrush a little of the regular around the panel lines here and there too, maybe lightly streak the wings with it, etc.

(if Fortune City refuses to link the above pictures, just go to the sit itself:
http://members.fortunecity.com/jpayne/dad/squaw.html)