What wash on black Beaufighter?

maybe a burnt sienna or dark umber... if you want the weather worn look the "slightly lighter" same color of black would work ok...

future your model (or use a gloss coat), spray a light overcoat of the lightened fuselage color over it... it will settle int he planel lines BUT aslo settle a bit on the surfaces of the plane.. you might need a second coat to give it an even look.. but just use a LIGHT coat again... dont go heavy with this..

if you arent using an airbrush just go for the panel lines but in a brownish color...

Some people use a dark gray wash. Have you thought about painting the aircraft really dark gray instead (for example Models master aircraft interior black is really a very dark gray).? You can then use black as a wash. The dark gray will look black but allow more details to show. By using different levels of this 'black', you can weather panels tool.

Have you thought about using grey pastel chalk to simulate black paint fading, I like to model Australian aircraft based in the pacific...so always lots of fading. The pastels look OK.....and if they don't you just wash them off and start again!

Simon

I'm actually having trouble finding any reference pics of black aircraft, anything good anyway. Plus no one seems to be building black aircraft because I've been all over (MM, Hyperscale, FSM, ARC, etc.) and can't find anything. So, a dirty black with a black wash, eh? Should I lighten any of the panels with pastels or did they not fade very much? A little back ground: this is the first model I've done in almost 20 years (started an A-1 last year, but became very intimidated by the kinda simple camo pattern). I went with an all black aircraft with hopes it would be a little less challenging. Thanks guys, appreciate all the info

Here's a build of a P61 blackwidow on MM

http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/allies/us/spahrp61.htm

P61 is a good one to look for, as it was a dedicated nightfighter, you can also look for reviews of the F117 if you want a jets reference.