A Paint Conundrum

Hello!

What color? I'd say probably white in that case. Hope it helps, have a nice day

Paweł

Hi

Thanks for the reply.  Actually I tried white and aluminum on some extra stuff I have laying around.  Instead of doing something awesome like I hoped, like highlighting the textures and metallizing them, the aluminum just dirtied down my white.  No matter how much white I put in.  I put in so much that you could barely make out the metal flake, and the mix was still considerably darker that both white and aluminum alone.

I did try one thing that seemed to work a little bit since I posted my question.  The decks on this destroyer are some sort of navy blue (go figure).  I think it was 70% flat deep sea blue, 20% tank gray, and 10% flat white.  Nice color really.  So I mixed it half and half with aluminum.

Then I dipped a brush in there and wiped it off and rubbed it out and generally abused it for about 5 minutes.  I mean I could not get a thing out of it.

then I went to work dry brushing that terribly dull, flat grey paint job.  I brushed and brushed, and finally I started saying to myself, "is there something there?"

Eventually a very very faint blue started making the textures stand out and the aluminum was shining it up but just a wee bit.  I looked okay, and not filthy.

The problem:  That was one heck of a lot of work.  This ship is like 30" long.  I still need to find a better way.

Thanks again

W

Well, I thought silver will make white go darker. How about you post some photos, maybe that will give someone an inspiration? Good luck and have a nice day

Paweł

Usually rivets are painted the same color as the assemby they are used to fabricate, so I usually do not  highlight rivets, except a spot of rust here and there.  I also dry brush to simulate metal patina, but only for things that are unpainted, natural finish steel or aluminum.  BTW, Testors makes a steel color that is darker than their aluminum,and that is what I dry brush to simulate steel.  I generally dry brush over a dark or medium gray flat primer.

The ship you are building was made of steel, not aluminum, so when paint wears off it will reveal a DARK metal, not light, with no flake.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/9ac4d8e927ea849b.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/05b79ca18708285a.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?imgurl=479ad767ac14132e
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/647198aa9dfd82cd.html

Naturally, I say this with the caveat that it's your model and you can have it look any way you want to...

Aaannnd of course the new site screwed up my links.

images.google.com/.../9ac4d8e927ea849b.html

images.google.com/.../b4b5efd6c9e4b920.html

images.google.com/.../05b79ca18708285a.html

Also, except in the worst of conditions, anything readily reachable was kept in good paint.

The hull could show some rust, some wear, but, "worn" spots spots should "show" as neat rectangles of new paint (or primer, if interrupted).

In USN practice, there is an entire division of the crew dedicated to topside activities.  The Deck division gets the task of  scraping & needle-gunning worn/chipped paint to bare metal, then priming that repair, and painting over that in the prescribed color of paint.

It's dirty, hard, monotonous, mind-numbing, work with strong chemicals and complicated surfaces, all on a moving vessel subject to drills and alerts.  It is great fodder for the hands to generate most excellent griping.  It is the measure of the officer commanding in how much of that griping is good natured versus unfettered B&M/whining/real distress.  As with any deceptively simple task, it needs doing well, and with the full "buy in" by the personnel involved.

Oh, and painting often gets 'better" the closer to the bridge on some ships--this is not always the case, but it is one that can catch the eye.

That is very cool info.  Thanks

I know that the ship was made of steel.  what I'm going for is something very, very subtle.  If a person is waling around on the deck of a ship that is freshly painted in dead flat light grey, that person is still gonna see rivet heads and seams and whatnot.  I'm not trying to turn this boat into Reynolds wrap!

But like Don says above, the steel color that Testors makes is darker that both their silver and their aluminum.  I decided to use the least dark of the three.

I appreciate the advice.  I think I just about got it figured out.  Super dry

W.