A-36 Exhaust Staining

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

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.

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!

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

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

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

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

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