Chipped Paint...

I can't find my copy of this at the moment to verify this (if I'm wrong, I apologize in advance), but I believe that in the October 2002 issue of FSM, there was an article in which the author discussed how he did something like this. If you have that issue, you might want to take a look at that article.

Building Ike Kepford's Corsair
by Scott Murphy
Murphy's Law for creating a show stopping model: Take an old Revell kit and add resin and scratchbuilt detail.

I use a silver pencil. Be subtle.
Mal

I used this method several times and was surprised how well it worked...

Put a based coat of silver/aluminum on the leading edges that you want "chipped". (I used an enamel) Then paint the surface as you normally would with an acrylic paint, covering over the "metal". After it has dried, just chip some of the acrylic paint away with a knife or rub it away with a fine sand paper.

I was able to brush on the enamel without leaving any brush strokes - it wasn't that difficult. I think that using the two different types of paint is necessary for this method. If you used all enamel or all acrylic, I think you would have the paint layers sticking to each other so much that it wouldn't work.

Another way to simulate chipped paint is to apply a base coat of aluminum paint. Once it is thoroughly dry, use a grease pencil with the tip sharpened and mark out the areas where you want the paint to come off . Paint the top color coats on, most paints will look pretty bad where the grease pencil marks are. Once the paint has thoroughly dried, using a soft washcloth and some liquid soap, scrub the areas you put the grease pencil on until you have removed all trace of the grease pencil and the paint covering the marks. Using a magnifying glass and a number 11 exacto blade, you can then flake some of the edges to make it look more realistic. I would suggest that you practice on some spare parts trees or other similar plastics until you get the effect you want. Be aware that this takes a little practice to make it work right.

Thanks for all your replies, I'll have a go at all of them, see which one works the best for me

Try using Silver Leaf, Rub n Buff.
I use this for all my chipping and really like the results.
When you are ready to apply the chips give the model a coat of semi-gloss,
and let dry (I wait at least 24 hours) .
Start out with just a little Rub n Buff on your brush and add more as needed.
If you make a mistake or want to change the shape of a chip, use a soft cloth, warm water and a little soap and the Rub n Buff will come right off.
When you are happy with the results give the model a final coat of clear coat to set the Rub n Buff.
If you try this, please post a note and let me know how it went.
Sink

I've got another couple of methods for chipped paint you might want to have a go at.

The first way I learned how to do this sort of thing was to put down an overall coat of aluminum paint , then paint your chosen color sceme over it. You may want to put a gloss coat over the aluminum paint first though.

After your final paint scheme is dry, make a loop of masking tape, sticky side out, around two fingers on whichever hand you write with. Find out where on the real aircraft the paint would chip. and press gently with the masking tape on these areas of the model, pull the tape directly off the models surface (do not roll or peel it off) and some of your final paint scheme should come away with it , leaving the aluminum undercoat showing.

I strongly suggest using a low tack masking tape for this as it will give you better control over how much comes off. You don't want to overdo it.

Another method I've heard, but not tried yet. Is to take a small piece of sponge, wet it , and use it to apply small amounts of silver or aluminum paint over selected areas of your final paint scheme. I'm told its a good option if you wish to simulate worn and chipped paint in decal areas of your models if you don't wish to risk damaging your applied decals but still want them to look worn.

I've recieved good results with the first method and seen good results achieved with the other.

I hope thats of some help to you.

Also, remember what kind of metal you're trying to portray! Not all aircraft were made of aluminum! Magnesium has a rather dull finish when the covering paint is chipped off. I mainly do 32nd scale helicopters (Vietnam Cobras!) and I've found that a light dappling of a light ghost grey with a #000 brush around access latches works wonders. BE VERY SPARING with this method. As with anything, too much ruins a good finish.

I've also built some Japanese aircraft using enamel Aluminum as the undercoat and acrylic IJAAF green for the top coat. Using a piece of scotch tape, I simply touched it to the finish and allowed it to pull up the acrylic paint. It took off large sheets in some cases, but with a 1944 Ki-61, that looks perfect.

Hope that helps!

Jon

Thanks for reminding me of that.

Its really important to remember the different materials that can go into aircraft consruction, especially in this day and age of non metalic composite materials.

Though its also good to remember with older aircraft (DeHavilland Mosquitoes and Vampires for example) that some aircraft are of a combination metal and wood construction and may not chip in places you'd expect them to.

Paint behaves very differently on wood than it does on metal, so do your research and make sure you know what parts of the real thing were made out of what materials.

Heya,

I want to try and do this on a PBY 5A Catalina so I assume its aluminium. I have heaps and heaps on pictures, mostly black and white - most are in flight, or pictures of the Catalina from a distance, no inservice pictures taken up close. Altho I have a colour picture of one at a scrap yard waiting reconstruction. It has alot of chipped paint around the cowlings, along the leading edges, and on the propeller. But thats all you can really see - alot of grease around the landing gear depressions as well - gotta find out how to simulate that (never done much detailing work before)

Thanks for all that help, I have some 'models gone wrong' that I can practice these techniques with.

Sink - I am in New Zealnd, so I don't know if i can get same product, like Rub 'n' Buff, but I will try and use another product thats used for the same purpose. I'll let you know how it went.

The Catalina also had a good amount of fabric in its design. I believe all of its control surfaces (ailerons, elevators and rudder) were fabric covered metal frames.

I've heared that paint didn't chip off of fabric surfaces, but instead cracked over time, giving what is often refered to as a "crackle" appearance. That's something you may want to research.

I also suspect there was fabric in other parts of the Catalina's construction as well, as I've heard that there were some inspection panels on the tops of the wings that opened and closed with zippers.

Anybody out there who can confirm these things? I haven't researched that particular aircraft extensively enough to know for certain if these things I've heard are true.

As for the grease on the wheel well areas, a bit of gloss black paint here and there, streaked in the direction of the airflow over the aircraft should do the trick, you might also be interested in simulating hyraulic fluid near any hinged areas on the aircraft, faint red steaking is what you want for that.

Good luck, hope this was useful to you

P.S. There was a short research article published in Finescale Modeler shortly afte Monogram first released its 1/48 PBY-5A kit, thats probably about 5 years ago.

AS for the grease effect, try using artists oils. Particularly a mix of burnt umber and black. Thin these with oderless turpentine or something like Testors Airbrush thinner to reduce drying time. Drop the wash on and gently blow in the airfloww direction. It works great!

Hey,

thanks for that. If there is any material on the aircraft i could proberly simluate the crackling using a technique i found when i forgot to fully mask a cock pit one time. I had painted the cock pit all the colours needed, but i hadn't put on the Canopy. I sprayed on a primer over the whole aircraft, but some of the cockpit wasn't properly masked, and so the primer got onto some of the paint. After it had dried, little craks had formed on the Primer - looked something like a parched desert. If i can find out if there was materila used, i could proberly use this method to simluate that 'crackle' .

I haven't tried this totally yet, but i miht experiment with it. Maybe afterwards i could paint on a gloss coat or a clear coat to seal it in, then the paint scheme on top.

Cyas laters

I have another good way to simulate grease. Use mascara. Just plain black mascara, not a lot, or you will over do it. I suggest using a q-tip to or your finger to apply, the brush will have too much on it.

I wouldn't suggest attempting to simulate the "crackle" effect.

I've seen it on actual aircraft and I'd have to say that it would probably be invisible in most model scales.

If you want to show a difference in metal and fabric components, study the fade rate of paint on metal as opposed to fabric. Differant types of paint are used on those materials on real aircraft, so the fade rate can be quite noticeable. For example, you could paint a metal wing with a cloth covered aileron the same colour at the same time, but because different sorts of paints are being used, you may see one part fade significantly over a period of time while the other part may seem to fade very little over the same period.

In regards to your Catalina, do your research very carefully, remember the salt water environment it operated in was much harsher on all components and coatings than an inland environment would have been.

Take your time, It'll be worth it

I like to use a silver gel ink pen for simulating chipped paint. Works pretty good
for small areas.

HTH,
Mark

Rub n buff--

Works great!. This is how I did it. I applied rub n buff (silver leaf) to the model before painting the base coats. I then did my preshading, base coats, and some post shading. After the tamiya acrylics are completely dry, start out with some masking tape and just "pick up" the paint off the model. Because the paint will not stick too well to the rub n buff, it comes up and looks remarkably realistic. Now, I was building a tamiya j2m3 which hisytorically had considerable paint degragation anyway. I then used an exacto blade to further enhance where the chips needed it. After that, I used a little aluminum acryl and a very smal brush to touch some of the panel lines, like the gun panels where there would have been significant wear from maintenance.

www.armorama.com is where I wrote the article for the BEST method by which you can create realistic paint chips....
follow the links on the home page to ARTICLES then to GENERAL MODELLING and onto CREATING REALISTIC PAINT CHIPS.
I cannot go through all the typing again!!
Ta.

Martin

I usually use a small brush with a very small amount of silver mixed with gunmetal almost to a drybrush amount on the brush and just touch the side of the brush to the leading edges here and there...
Then again, another good method is to use "baremetal foil" on the leading edges before painting; Let it dry for a bit, and use scotch tape around your finger to lift off the paint where you want the metal to show underneath... but BE CAREFUL! a heavy finger will result in too much paint being removed fr the scale of the kit...

Here again, good references are essential. Different aircraft, different location or climate, different paint damage. Propellers will sand off their finish with time, especially in the Pacific with crushed coral airstrips. They are also tricky to repaint, since they must be balanced. Chipping will also be more evident when the operational tempo is high, when the aircraft is at the far end of a supply line, such as AAF China, RAF Burma, or Japanese after 1942, and if you look at photographs you will sometimes see repairs with a slightly different tone, or even a completely different color. For instance USAAF aircraft in Italy, especially Spitfires and P-40s which were originally in British desert schemes, were often touched up with Olive Drab.

the 'Crackle' effect..!

answering LLuv3ggs comment much earlier on, I've also experienced this thing..! It's got to do with the kind of paints you use. I remember a catastrophic crackling effect on the purple of a Fed-Ex DC-10 I did a few years back. I used a lovely Tamiya purple over an automotive white primer, then coated with an automotive clear gloss. Looked fantastic for about a day, then the crackling appeared...

Another accident that actually gave me a better effect than what I had been planning was the use of acrylics, oils and wood glue to replicate water... I had been planning to get a prehistoric reptile coming out of the water and grabbing at a passing flying reptile. My water was made from plaster, then painted with various shades of blue, brown and green. Mostly enamels if I remember well. When I had something that looked decent, I 'painted' wood glue over the water and onto the emerging monster, to give the wet look. After a day or so, the water started to crackle. Instead of tossing the whole thing in the garbage can, I actually re-painted over the 'tiles' formed by the cracks, with other shades of green to replicate the look of algaes on the water surface. A little dark wash into the cracks gave the 'depth' to the water. The finished thing looked really good, like a ptach of normally undisturbed water covered with algaes that was suddenly 'exploding'. Might be worth trying and experimenting for floatplane dioramas, or even dried salt lake kind of environment...

You can use the same type of paint using the chipping method. I use Tamiya enamels (which I think are not available here in the US). First, I sprayed my Mitsubishi Zero with Flat Aluminun. After it has set, I sprayed three coats of Future Floor polish. This is an acrylic polish so it wont harm the enamel. The different coatings was done after the previous coating has set. After the last coat dried, I applied the body color (also using Tamiya enamels). I used the tip of a hobby knife (blade no. 11, but i guess it wont really matter) to simulate paint chipping in the places there should be. then after that, voila! real chipped paint! I even tried to chip the paint off some raised rivets using the knife-tip (this is kinda tedious but its fun). Im very satisfied at the effects. I recommend this technique because it's not really as hard as it sounds when you are already doing it.

Take a look here:

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TQCuBEoWMmeLgK4eq871*7isplEI!qlL*c6uLB7JexkFILzGoJzb1Eap8Ex1U6gykmJLO7xVaGOF743kH7Ju9Gq7h7CXKc7zflFpX7yS3xcHZLf5OY3iIA/Hell-fin-7.jpg?dc=4675406887326569828

It is my F6F-5 Hellcat, paint chipping done with a silver pencil. Take a look around.

I think you might need this:

http://groups.msn.com/armorama/malsmodels.msnw?Page=5

Mal