bsg viper: battle damaging decals

I assume you are using an airbrush? If you are then you got it. It takes a lot of patience to get the right look of wear on decals. A little base color spray, scraping, base color, wear spots get colors. You have to layer colors and alternate scraping the decal. Go lightly when spraying base color over the decals because you'll probably have to spray a couple of layers of fine paint that will build up. Don't get scared but dig in and have fun. The ship is suppose to look worn with scuff marks.

Click on my "Connie" down below and you'll see the different layers of colors, scrapes and damage to the ship.

I wish I WERE using an air brush...then perhaps I could have just used a mask and got the stripe painted without all the gross brush strokes.

I'm trying to get one pretty soon though, so I'll take a look at your suggestions. Thanks!

if you are trying to prevent the tape from letting the paint bleed underneath it, spray a light coat of clear on first, that will seal the tape and if some clear goes under the tape, its clear, so no worries.

Maskol works better than any tape, for canopies, camoflage, everything

Its hard to prevent bleed thru with brush painting - the clear coat first will help. Since its stripes, I would suggest getting a spraycan, warm it in warm water first, shake it up well, start spraying before the model and stop spraying after pass in the model in a stroke. Go fast and try not to cover in one pass - always keep moving. You can always make 2nd, 3rd, etc. passes. But you can't take away too much paint..

As for decals, yes you take your base coat color and paint over the decal. That works.