How to paint hull paneling?

[dreadpyrat]

Hi all, about to buy my first airbrush so I can paint my scratch-built spaceship. I'd like to get a n effect of the hull that looks like this:

https://s14-eu5.ixquick.com/cgi-bin/ser ... 214ed7bd97


Cant find any reference online for how to accomplish this. Any tips?

[EVApodman]

After the drag you off to a padded room can i have your models?

But seriously folks what you want to do is start with a base color that you paint the whole model. Then you start masking off areas that you want to paint the next color, usually a darker color.

Follow these steps until you have painted all the colors you want. then peel off whatever you used to mask with and hope to heck that it doesn't peel off any paint, which it probably will in small areas and you will have to retouch by masking off and re-painting.

Note: his may start an infinite "for/next loop " where every attempt at repairing damage creates more.

After all the painting is done then an overall "light" spray in a light color to help blend in the colors. After this is done then you can start weathering the surface.

[dreadpyrat]

Haha, thanks very much! Great advice. I will try that and I suppose I'll have to experiment with masking so as to minimize lifting undercoats. Appreciate the advice!

[Rocketeer]

If you're airbrushing you can probably get away with using Post-It Notes to mask off panels. The low-tack adhesive is less likely to peel up paint. Airbrushed paint goes on in light layers which dry quickly, so if you're bold, you can also kind of mask "on the go": Use Notes to mask a couple panels, spray them, peel off the masking, mask a couple more, spray, etc. Until you drop the model, and have to take a break to swear.

In the pic you posted, the painter had also either gone around the edges of the panels with a darker shade, or used a lighter shade in the center of each panel; probably the former. You could probably also get this effect using pastels after the paint has dried.

If your panels are separated by grooves, you'll probably want to accentuate the grooves with a wash of a dark grey, again after the paint has dried. If it were me, I'd give everything a coat of Dullcoat as a sort of barrier, then use oil paint thinned with odorless thinner (Mona Lisa) on a brush to gently flow paint into the grooves.

[EVApodman]

Another possibility to one I mentioned that is probably quicker and easier is to use a mask placed over the surface and then painted over. I have used Frisket which is an artists material that uses thin film with a sticky backing.

First you cut out shapes in the Frisket and peel it off the backing and then place it over the surface you want to paint. After the paint is dried carefully remove the frisket and then you can shift it to a new position or use another that has a different pattern cut into it. The result will be a set of different colored panels over the surface.

Note: This method works best with smooth, flat surfaces. curved or complex ones will be harder to do. Also the sticky backing will adhere at most 2 or 3 time before loosing adhesion. I had to use Datacote sprayed on my mask to make it stick many times.

This method will give you a sharp edge if it adheres to the surface. If you want a more fuzzy line then cut a mask out of acetate and hold it close to the surface while painting. This will give the paint a fuzzy edge. It all depends on what kind of effect you want.