A-36 Exhaust Staining

Airbrushing would be best.  Just practice on scrap before committing to th e kit.  Or you could try pastels but that can be tough with the heavier staining that the A-36 had.  Nice build by the way

Thanks for the compliment on my build. This is my second attempt at the A-36. I wasn't happy with the first one, so I'm especially concerned to get this one right. I'm not quite sure how to get a relatively thin stain that's wider near the exhaust and then feathers out. FWIW, I have a Badger 150 dual-action airbrush. Any tips greatly appreciated.

Larry

If you use pastels, make sure the surface has a bit of a bite to it.  It will be much easier to build up the layers and you can get it as dark as you would like. There is nothing like a pastel exhaust; however, I usually use both pastels and airbrush for my exhaust stains

I use my badger 150 at around 5 psi and thinned MM exhaust metalizer. Very light coats until you get what you want.

To tone down the edges you can use very light coats of pastels.

Steve

I am working on that same kit, but am not quite ready for that step.  I was thinking of trying to dry brush the stains, having had some success in the past with other models, but it has been many years.  Thoughts and opinions, please.

John

Hey Larry,

I, like SubarooMike, like to use pastels.  I've tried using my airbrush like Steve, but I have more control with pastels.  In addition to pastels, I like to use make-up.  Specifically eyeshadow.  (Yes, you read that right: eyeshadow.)  I picked up a couple of small eyeshadow kits for a few bucks.  From what I've seen, they're very similar to Tamiya's weathering kit but way cheaper.

The good thing about pastels and make-up is the fact that you can "erase" any unsuccessful attempts with an earbud and some water.

If you're interested, see how the make-up and pastels worked on my Hasegawa F4U-4.

Good luck with your build!

Cheers,

-O

PS: Your A-36 looks sharp!

Airbrush very low pressure first with a slightly wide swath of burnt Umber or dark Red Brown heavily thinned at about 10:1, followed by a similar ratio, tighter swath of RLM 66 and then an even tighter swath of pure Black. After that has all dried take a mixture of white and Black pastel mixed to a light smokey Grey and brush the middle of the swath. This is what you get.

Airbrush very low pressure first with a slightly wide swath of burnt Umber or dark Red Brown heavily thinned at about 10:1, followed by a similar ratio, tighter swath of RLM 66 and then an even tighter swath of pure Black. After that has all dried take a mixture of white and Black pastel mixed to a light smokey Grey and brush the middle of the swath. This is what you get.

Not meant in any way to hijack your thread but I just wanted to show the result I got with my method

I've used chalk pastels on my allison mustangs, but the gray/white never sticks as well as the black. Maybe smearing on a little umber acrylic before chalk pastel would help. Since your model is already sealed maybe you could apply acrylic and wash it off if it doesn't come out.

Great ideas, all. Thanks - I'm learning a lot.

In addition to low pressure on the airbrush, I realized this morning that I have a fine needle and head that I could put on in place of the current medium ones. That might help, I think. We'll have to see after work today.

Personally I find a medium or wide tip gives more feather to these kits of stains, but I agree with low pressure and dialing way back on flow.  In order to work with the low flow I typically thin a little more than usual.

I use chalks for exhaust staining, too.  For white, I don't have an artist's chalk stick, I have a piece of good, old-fashioned schoolhouse blackboard chalk.

It's true, a matte surface is best, to allow the powder to bite.  I usually apply the chalks after decaling and after the matte coat.  If I have to apply more matte coats, it's usually necessary to apply more chalk, because the sealing coat will knock the intensity of the color down a bit.  But they're pretty easy to use, once you get a little practice with them.

Working on my technique. Hope to have photos to post soon.

Apache looks good. I'm building the same model now-my third of the AM Mustang series. I'll get one right one of these days. I've been using them to practice various techniques; I'm going to paint my Apache in a NMF--my first foray with Alclad II.

I've tried both airbrushing and pastels on these kits. My exhaust's edges come out too hard. I just don't have the technique down, and feel like my control is not where it needs to be to risk wrecking my model at that late stage in the game. Also, making the exhaust look the same on both sides of the fuselage is a crapshoot for me.

I recently bought the Tamiya master weathering pastels. They're like little makeup kits. Although I made the mistake of applying the pastel-exhaust over a clear coat (sprayed on for decal-application), they nevertheless worked very well. I had much better control over the finished product (AM's P-51A). I'd post a pic, but I'm not at home now to take a photo).

I've got three more of these AM Mustangs to practice on before I dig in to the higher-end section of my model stash. Good luck with your Apache. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

Well, I took at shot at it. Mixed some MM sand and neutral gray, thinned it about 50% and tried spraying at 5 psi. It's not great, but OK maybe. Thoughts?

Thanks,
Larry

Looks good but I'd add a lot more! Those A-36s stayed dirty! I've noticed the staining usually arcs upwards from the exhausts and gradually curves downward as it passes over the wing. Also nice choice on the scheme, the only A-36 ace!

That's looks good, however the light color was created by the exhaust heat, so you need to add a little soot to the top of the heated paint. Like GS said, the exhaust followed the airstream, so it would rise up and curve following the shape of the airfoil.
 

If you are worried about the shape of the stain, you can always make some sausages out of Blu Tack. If you are careful to not spray TOO close to the sausage, you can get a nice feathery look, and get what ever shape you want.

It looks like I've got a bit of reshaping to do after work. Good thing I've got plenty of olive drab paint on hand.

I agree that exhaust stains should be sprayed on. It's hard to get a feathered edge otherwise. I use gouache water colors, available at any art store. Mix up what ever color you want and spray at very low pressure, <5 psi. If it beads up the mix is too thin or the pressure is too high. Build it up slowly.  Very realistic appearance. The best part is there is no pressure or worry. If you are not happy it can be wiped off with a wet q-tip and just try again. Takes a little practice.

Jay

Here's my latest attempt. I think the size and shape of the stain is better. I need to reapply my burnt umber wash to a few panel lines and add some soot (probably with black pastel) to the exhaust stain, but I think I'm getting there. BTW - in the background you can see a 1/72 Monogram X-15A-2 that I shortened to the original X-15 configuration (following an article in FSM!). I'm practicing rescribing panel lines that were lost in the surgery.

Yeah, that looks better.

I've added a bit of soot to match the war time color photos that I've been able to find. I think it's about right.  My understanding is that they ran these aircraft with a really rich fuel mixture and that some uncombusted fuel was exhausted. As it dried, the lead remained behind and resulted in the stain. In the photos I've seen, it looked like the lighter colored deposits covered the soot deposits, so that's what I tried to duplicate.

As always, feedback is appreciated, especially if it means that I learn something new.

If anyone's interested, I've posted a build log on my Web site. You can see it at

home.comcast.net/.../A-36.html

Larry

Here's my latest attempt at the exhaust staining. Still not sure that I like it, but I'm pretty sure that if I keep messing with it, sooner or later I'll break something. I've also included a photo of my first attempt at modeling the antenna wire on a Mustang.

Larry

Jug that ME-110 is awesome!!

Did you make those exhaust pipes or did they come with the kit?

Also how do you apply your mottleing effect?

Great work!!

Not a A-36 but here is the light exhaust staining I did on my F-51.

Melgyver, very nice. Very subtle. I like that. How did you do it?