Raised panel / cockpit detailing ??
Jerel Earl
aircraft, so I was wondering if anyone had any input to the following:
I seem to get the best results in doing cockpits by the following:
1. Prime everything in silver, not the delicate metalizers, but good,
durable silver. Everything looks terrible at this point, if you build
natural metal finishes, my hat is off to you! (nuff said).
2. Go over the silver with the base color. As I understand, Interior
green is standard for U.S.Army aircraft interiors, but what about U.S.
Navy aircraft, I've heard interior green & green zinc chromate? (Im also
building the Monogram hi-tech Kingfisher on the side. I only build WWII
aircraft subjects.)
3. When the base color is nearly completely dried, I "weather" the
cockpit by scratching & chipping the base coat off leaving the silver
exposed. To me this looks very realistic for simulating worn areas where
the pilot/crew climbs in & out.
4. Brush paint black & other colors over the base where needed. I usually
thin enamel paint with airbrush thinner before brush painting, as it
seems to make the paint smoother & easier to apply. Finally,for the
really small details (indiv. instruments), I use a white pastel pencil to
draw on the gauges & such where needed.
5. Your comments here! Any additions or comments would be greatly
appreciated, I'm always looking to improve, & if you learned something,
just as well!
By the way, the AMT A-20 kit is excellent, good panel lines & detail all
around, I'm very impressed, thinking about getting the A-20B/C after the
G! I cut out all the control surfaces without a problem, excellent mold
work. Keep em coming AMT!
later,
Jerel
MadMat
<snip>
>1. Prime everything in silver, not the delicate metalizers, but good,
>durable silver. Everything looks terrible at this point, if you build
>natural metal finishes, my hat is off to you! (nuff said).
SnJ spray metal and Alclad are EXTREMELY tough finishes... don't
confuse them with Testors or Gunze's metallizers. Once you've put them
on, only sandpaper is going to get them off. DUCT TAPE won't pull off
dried Alclad!
Natural metal finishes are not a problem with Alclad/SnJ.
>2. Go over the silver with the base color. As I understand, Interior
>green is standard for U.S.Army aircraft interiors, but what about U.S.
>Navy aircraft, I've heard interior green & green zinc chromate? (Im also
>building the Monogram hi-tech Kingfisher on the side. I only build WWII
>aircraft subjects.)
At this point, you may want to use an acrylic zinc chromate or
interior gray, since that will be easier to "chip" in step 3...
>3. When the base color is nearly completely dried, I "weather" the
>cockpit by scratching & chipping the base coat off leaving the silver
>exposed. To me this looks very realistic for simulating worn areas where
>the pilot/crew climbs in & out.
I find that "masking" the chips with little dabs of rubber cement
works well. Once the interior color dries you just rub off the cement
with a gum eraser to expose the "chips".
>4. Brush paint black & other colors over the base where needed. I usually
>thin enamel paint with airbrush thinner before brush painting, as it
>seems to make the paint smoother & easier to apply. Finally,for the
>really small details (indiv. instruments), I use a white pastel pencil to
>draw on the gauges & such where needed.
A technical pen with a good drawing ink in it works well, too. I
really prefer the silver Prismacolor pencils (art supply store) for
the really tiny details.
>5. Your comments here! Any additions or comments would be greatly
>appreciated, I'm always looking to improve, & if you learned something,
>just as well!
You got em...
>By the way, the AMT A-20 kit is excellent, good panel lines & detail all
>around, I'm very impressed, thinking about getting the A-20B/C after the
>G! I cut out all the control surfaces without a problem, excellent mold
>work.
Ditto.
>Keep em coming AMT!
But not like the XB-70, PLEASE!!!
MadMat