Handpainting camo?

I use my airbrush for camo shemes. But you can hand paint them. Its a fact that german armor were delivered in the yellow base coat and the camo was applied in the field. it was sprayed on if possible but often it was applied by a brush, a rag or a sponge. To apply camo with an airbrush, you should have an airbrush with a narrow nozzle, mine is 0,2 mm, thin paint, and low airpressure, I use 15 - 20 Psi. Good luck. Try asking in the techniques forum they may have some good tips.

I used to brush all mine on, but it looked to hard edged for my tastes. I prefer a softer feathered look, though some of the late war Panthers and King Tigers had a more hard edged look. Go with what works for you. Once you weather it you'll hardly notice it.

I use an airbrush exclusively for all of my camo jobs , I use a paache VL double action with the finest nozzel I have as well as the finest needle . Lube up the button works with wd40 or 3 in one oil so they don't stick at all and barely pull back on the button ( this keeps paint flow to a minimum) Set the pressure under 20 PSI ( usually lower than that , around 12 to 15 psi) this also helps paint control . If you are using spray cans there is almost no hope of constant pressure , it fluctuates way too much , and freezes as well ! To achieve the "faded " feild app camo,commonly seen on german armour, thin the paint more than usual and lower the air pressure even more this will give you the faded lines you are looking for I think . Good luck !

German Armor tended to be sloppy and the tank's camo scheme was almost always field-applied (except Tiger II's in late-war times). Sorry, didn't read the top replys before posting this. Even though the paint was quickly rushed and slapped on, I still use an airbrush. I realized that I can still pull off a great-looking camo job that looks like a rushed camo job with an airbrush. I've heard of using Q-tips (cotton swabs for everyone out of the states) for the scheme. Yes, I tried it and no it did not look pretty! If you hand paint the camo it will turn out to be inaccuratly done because of the high contrast, unless if you can carefully blend the colors to make it look real. But not every camo pattern was perfectly feathered, like this pic below. I tend to avoid hand painting due to the brush-marks that are left after. If I can do the same quality job with a brush and airbrush, it's going airbrush.

I just use my good old brush

I do both, check your ref's and see if there's a scheme in a photo you like and deal with it. As long as you're your worst critic, it'll be fine.

i painted my 251/1 with a brush, it came out prety good , only comment i can say is thin out your paint a lot so the brush marks don't show and apply in many thin coats and let it dry between each instead of trying to get it done quickly.

pic of model in question

Thanks for the input guys, I have a badger 150 and a passche H so maybe I need to go to the badger for fine lines. Will try it tonight on an old model to see how it goes.

My Paasche isn't as good for fine lines either. I keep my other airbrush configured with a thinner nozzle and better needle for fine lines. That, and much thinner paint/low PSI in a couple of coats for the lines. Also, you can cut shapes out of post it notes and stick them on. Since the notes don't adhere to the model surface, the edge looks a little feathered, but still prevents nasty overspray.

Prior to my acquisition of an airbrush, for obvious reasons I hand painted the camo. If it's a soft-edge camo scheme you're going for, first draw out all the outlines but thinner than need be. So let's say you're drawing a line that ultimately should be around 5mm thick, draw it 3mm thick. Then dip your brush in paint, and wipe most of it off, same technique that you would use for a dry brush, but even dryer. LIGHTLY brush from the line outwards. This will allow you to 'mimic' an airbrushed line. It takes a lot of practice to get good results, so maybe practicing with your airbrush instead might be easier. Try the above advice for that :)

My Paasche will do very fine lines , I just use the finest needle and tip I have , it won't push floquil with that tip however ( you have to thin that crud way down ) but tamiya it does very nicely !

Since I only build 1/72 scale Armor, I always hand brush my camo patterns.

Another way to 'feather' your lines with a brush if you're using acrylics is to paint the base on, then just as it's dry to the touch, paint on the second color. Then moisten the brush with a bit of waterand go over the line between the two colors. This will moisten the two colors and cause them to run together somewhat, thus leaving a fuzzy line. I did that one a plane once, and it came out pretty good. Don't let the paint get too dry though or it wont work.

I don't use this technique on my tanks though, they're too small.

I will have to try the post it note thing with my passche, see how it works, as i dont have any bottles for the badger. Dont know what happened tot hem have to get new ones:-)

Hey miller 41!

I used to paint with a brush, because I could'nt find an airbrush where I live.
I finally got one while visiting in new york and ever since then it's good bye hand brush!

I've always wanted feathered edges and I have years of experience with hand brushing, and never made it.

If you allready got two airbrushes PRACTICE!!! and you well get it right! it is so different you will be amaized! Airbrush finish always looks better (even if you dont know what youre doing)

GOOD LUCK!

...and by the way, dont ruin a good tamiya kit, practice on some junk like... italeri.

I have a Paashe VL. I kinda screwed up my camo job on my M10. Don't fret though, I'm still a new recruit when it comes to an airbrush, this was my first multi color job. I don't think I thinned it enough cause it came out kinda chunky. I use Model Masters. They work great for airbrushing (except this time). Good luck!

Okay, I'm going to give up one my secrets

Miller,

This what I do to get a nice hard edge camo with an airbrush. I use Tamiya acrylics for airbrushing thinned w/rubbing alcohol. - I can't sat if this will work with any other set-up


1. shoot colors for scheme - allow overlap and a flaired edge do lightest color first and then move to darker
2.Use the thinned down paint mix that you just shot through the airbrush and hand paint the outline of the camo colors -definetly using the darker color as the overlap. Use quick smooth strokes. The paint is thin so it flows smooth. Because it is thinned the thinner will actually cut away some of the overlap allowing a nice blend.
3.You will get a slight hazing in the areas where you hand paint. Don't be alarmed. First coat of flat overcoat makes it disappear.
4.Touch-up if necessary.




Hope it works out.

I work with 1/72 scale models and use a brush excusively, perhaps it's the smaller scale, but I'm able to produce some good looking camo schemes. As was mentioned above, the key with a brush is to thin down the paint and apply multiple layers, this makes the lines less defined and largely removes the concerns about leaving brush strokes. I haven't tried my hand at a larger scale yet so I'm not sure if the same technique would work.