First shot at mottling..how did I do?

Tim has point there. It does already look good.  :)

Up to you, mate. Do you want to try a new idea that may or may not work? Or leave it as it is?

We all face these decisions. Boldy go forth, or play it safe? Red pill, Blue pill and all that junk lol.

I cant wait to see what you do.  :) have fun lol!!

ManCityFan

I don't know if this happens to you, but when I first finished, I thought it looked great.  Then some time passed, and I thought, maybe not so great. So the feedback has been very helpful.

Ihave often "second guessed" myself and tryed again... only to discover it was better the first time.

Your first time is awsome!  Dont overthink it ... let the "force" flow.

Thanks PJ. I did all of that with the hairy sticks, too. Remember that? Lol! My AB was on the fritz and I couldn't get anything but spattering out of it. I was still a newb with the AB lol!

Edit: um, admittedly I am still a newb with the AB. There are still some things I can not do.

Well Mike it looks like a very good example of the late war 109 G and K schemes. I like the spots on the rudder. I have a couple of G-10's and K-4's that will look awesome in the late war paint.

M. Brindos

Oh yes, as Greg said, you can go back over with the base color. You mist it over the mottled area to fade it back out a bit.

Also I was thinking earlier ; are you mixing your Vallejo paints outside of the AB, or mixing in the paint cup?

I've found that Vallejo works best I you mix it to your preferred consistency outside of the AB first. For some reason is just flows better if you mix it and then add it to the paint cup. Less spatters, better consistency, and less dry tip issues.

I hope that will help you.  :)

 

Thanks Mike and Greg,

I will try misting on the base color to tone it down.  I mixed in the cup, which is not my usual procedure.  Greg, you are spot on with the Vallejo.  It did NOT like a light touch from the airbrush, and the dry tip was much more noticeable than with general coverage. 

Hoping to get some more bench time this week so I can get this kit done soon.  Then I can weather up my PZKW II, and start a new project (or more likely 2).

Thanks again all,

Dwayne

No problem, Dwayne.

I had the same issue with my Me109-G10, where i first liked it and then not so much lol.

I turned this:

Into this:

Which then ended up as such:

So you don't have to be happy with it if you don't really want to be lol. You can always change it lol.

Thanks again to all who replied and all the kind words.  After all the positive responses from forum members I respect highly, I guess I will have to accept that this was a good job.    

I don't know if this happens to you, but when I first finished, I thought it looked great.  Then some time passed, and I thought, maybe not so great. So the feedback has been very helpful.

I did mean to respond to each reply, so I hope you don't feel I am being rude for thanking you as a group.  It's hard to find anyone with any interest in my kit building, so I am very thankful for this forum. 

Happy building!

Dwayne

Oh yes, as Greg said, you can go back over with the base color. You mist it over the mottled area to fade it back out a bit.

Also I was thinking earlier ; are you mixing your Vallejo paints outside of the AB, or mixing in the paint cup?

I've found that Vallejo works best I you mix it to your preferred consistency outside of the AB first. For some reason is just flows better if you mix it and then add it to the paint cup. Less spatters, better consistency, and less dry tip issues.

I hope that will help you.  :)

Not bad at all for a first go. Mottling is challenging, no?

I might like to mention that IMO you used what may be the most difficult paint to mottle with. Mottling works well with a light touch on the trigger, and Vallejo hates that (recipe for dry tipwith Vallejo, as you said).

It can be done, though. The flow improver will help you a lot. Also, when mottling you can always go back and forth between the base and mottle color til you get what you want.

for taking the plunge, period, let alone doing a respectable job.

I'll be brutally honest with you MCF, everyone has said it looks good, and I agree with them! 

Looks good-a tip I picked up here  on the forum is to mix your base coat with thinner-very thin-and spray over the mottled area-tones it down a little

Looking good!

Well D, it looks pretty good to me too. Remember that the mottling done by the German boys is kind of like an over spray and may or may not be dark in places so it's up to the reference pictures you are using.

I personally do not use acrylics specially for mottling. I use enamels and thin the paint at least 50/50, then dial down the PSI to 8 or so and shoot thru an extra fine tip. Some mottling can be quite simple and others are more complex. 

I know some guys have excellent results using acrylics so it's just a matter of taste.

Thanks for all the replies.  I almost talked myself out of trying this, but then decided that I won't learn if I don't try new techniques.

Thinning the paint more is the key, as pointed out in a few of the comments above.  I used Vallejo model air straight out of the bottle, and tried using a retardant to cut down on tip dry.  This didn't work out as well as I hoped.  Vallejo flow improver is definitely in my next hobby order. 

Thanks again for the comments and support.  If I didn't belong to this forum, I would not have had the courage to even try this.

Pretty not badespecially for a first go. As otehr have said, best to thin the paint down more than normal.

Your mottling looks absolutely fine to me especially for you first attempt.  Much better than my first attempt that's for sure.

Toshi

Looks great to me Dwayne! I haven't had the guts to try it with my airbrush yet. Maybe one of these days.

Jim  

Looks great!  I tend to mottle with thinner paint than I'd use for the base coat.  I usually use 75% thinner to 25% paint.  I slowly apply in thin coats building up the color.  Seems to works better for me than applying a single thick mottled application. Your off to a great start!

Looks good to me as well. :)

That looks pretty good to me.  The last mottling I did, I used a sponge makeup applicator.  I don't think I'd change what you've done.