Brush painting camouflage on planes

The key to brush painting, as in airbrushing, is to thin your paint. I don't hand brush camo but a ratio of three parts paint and one part thinner should give you good, streak free results. Also , you need fairly quick brush strokes as well.

What kind of mask do you use for the camo pattern?

You don't use a mask. Basically, you apply the base colour and wait for it to dry. Then you draw the camo pattern witha pencil and re-trace it with your paint brush using the next colour. After that you fill in between the lines.

Don't forget to start with light colors as a base. Paint the darker ones later.

Masking with handpainting would be a disaster. Just eyeball the camo pattern and pain it with a fine tipped paintbrush.

Thanks all for your input! I'll definitely follow your advice!

QUOTE: Masking with handpainting would be a disaster.

Why? I used to do it all the time years ago. Before I got an airbrush and needed a good, even demarcation between two colors, for example the change in color on the side of a car model, I frequently masked areas. (Well, admittedly for something like the side of a car I would have used rattle cans but you get the idea)

The masking tape sold in places like Lowes and Home Depot are is normally for use when painting inside houses. Handy for masking things like window casements or light fixtures when painting walls and ceilings. How many people use a spray gun when painting like that? Most of them use a brush or roller.

^I think he meant masking the camo then paintbrushing it. I myself use Tamiya tape to separate colors on my models, but I am at a loss if I can use the same method for camo.

For hard-edged camo, there's no reason why you cannot mask, particulary with Tamiya tape which I think is overall the best as far a sealing and peeling without lifting paint is concerned. The real trick is to avoid flooding the tape edges with paint, otherwise you run the risk of serious paint leakage and thus having Tankmaster's disaster.

Andy

^ Question: If Ido use Tamiya tape, how do I get the curved shape? Tape it on first, slice the shape into the tape using a knife? Or slice the tape first, then tape it on?

Put the tape onto a non stick surface, such as formica or a self-healing mat and cut the tape first with an Xacto knife. Depending on what you are doing, it may be helpful to do some trial-and-error work with a paper template to see what the best curve shape is, and then use the template to transfer the basic shape to the tape.

Andy