Pre-shading questions

There is no reason to control preshading. Just pick a dark color and follow the panel lines. It doesn't have to be neat. There are many different techniques, but once you understand the airbrush, you will see that it is really very simple. In the areas where you want the dark contrast, you simply apply less paint, to let the darkened shadowing come through. I usually "frame a panel by misting around the periphery section by section, then filling in with multiple mist coats until I get the level of pre shading that I want. Just practice on some scrap until you get the hang of it, after that it is just a blast!



Steve

QUOTE: Originally posted by LedMonolith -Is it viable to pre-shade the panel lines with pastels rather than an airbrush thus having more control?

For that matter you can use a sharpie for preshading.

Crockett showed a good example of preshading so I'll show a bad example hehe

Here is my puma all preshaded and ready for some paint:


Problem is I put way too much paint and obliterated most of the preshading. Lesson: go lightly and take your time.

Testors has a really good on-line video tutorial on pre-shading (and lots of other things). I can't find a link to the webpage, but it's worth doing a search for.

Yea, search for testor's workshops. It was by brett green I think. only thing that hasn't been addressed here would be the multi color camo. I end up alway post shading it like they had on one of the painting guide from missing-lynx.

http://www.scaleworkshop.com/workshop.htm

QUOTE: Problem is I put way too much paint and obliterated most of the preshading. Lesson: go lightly and take your time.

I-beam is right. I've oversprayed over the preshading a few times before, all that hard work spraying the preshade for nothing! definetely take your time and spray lightly. if the overcoat is too light, you can always spray additonal paint.

Remember if you are doing a multi colour camo pattern, you can always touch up the pre-shading prior to application of the top coats.

Obviosly hard edged, particularly Luftwaffe camo patterns are easier to pre-shade, but it can still be done with soft edged patterns, it just takes a little patience and planning.

I always apply a panel wash, even with pre-shading, especially on those panels which had a tendency to acquire a healthy deposit of dirt, ie behind exhausts etc.

One of the problems with pre-shading is decals, the rest of the paintwork looks faded but not decal markings, therefore an element of post shading is always required, either with paint or pastels. Best bet is to apply an overall 'filter' coat in a light shade such as Tamiya Buff, thinned about 90% thinner to 10 paint over the entire model. This knocks the brightness back on the decals, then follow up with a similar mix of darker shades, I use Gunze Soot & Rust, about 8 parts Soot to 2 thinned to the same ratio as before. Apply this mix with your AB to those panel lines which bisect decals until the shading matches that of the surrounding panels.

I sounds a lot scarier than it is. With a little practise it becomes second nature.

Karl

I like to paint the entire model black and then spray the main colour lightly to get a nice weathered look.
Glen

I find it works nicely to pre-shade really dark and opaque and to make my regular paints ever so slightly transparent by cutting them with future. The model gets a matte coat later to cut down the gloss a bit.