Shading and paneling

[Digger1]

Hoe can I get realisic looking panels on a spaceship wither with or without an airbrush. I'll be getting an airbrush for Christmas so it should be fairly easy (I guess).

I already asked Thom of Thomas Models just a minute ago but I figured that I'd get more rsponse if I posted here too.

Here's an example of the shading/panels that I'd like
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/S ... O_-_41.jpg

[rpauly]

Steel wool?

[Mr. Badwrench]

This may not be the best method, but it works for me. I paint the model a solid color, say gunship grey with a touch of flat sea blue for the Sulaco. Then I put two pieces of masking tape on the model at right angles to each other. Into the corner formed by the tape I'll airbrush a little of the base color, lightened with a few drops of flat white. Or you can do the opposite, darkening the base with a few drops of dark interior grey or whatnot. By placing these little soft corners all over the model you'll get a paneling effect like the one shown on the Sulaco.

You can also preshade the model, but this works best on lighter colors. There are a couple ways to do this. One is as simple as painting the model in a light shade of primer, (flat white works really well, but so does Mr. Surfacer, which is a light grey color). Then drawing on the panel lines with a wide black magic marker. Once it has dried, airbrush on the primary color in several light, fine coats. You don't want the paint to completely cover the drawn on panel lines, only obscure them a bit. You can get more subtle panel shading by airbrushing on the panel lines first instead of using a magic marker.

There is a third method where you start with a dark base coat, black will work well, then slowly build up layers of a light primary coat. It takes a lot of work to get this to look right, but the results are fantastic. Kylwell is a god when it comes to this method.

[Zen-Builder]

Don't want to burst your bubble but it will take quiet a bit of practice to that type of shading using an A/B.

A similar result can be achieved by using a good dry-brush and a bit of practice.

I still do a lot of shading and weathering using brushes, rather than using an A/Bas I can get better random results this way.

HTH.

[Jonas Calhoun]

There's an excellent article in this month's FSM on hand-painting a heavily weathered Corsair. Check it out.

Dan

[Zen-Builder]

There's an excellent article in this month's FSM on hand-painting a heavily weathered Corsair. Check it out.
Dan

I wish I could get FSM or AFM over here but the shipping alone is more than the subscription itself.

[Romulan Spy]

I use an airbrush for this sort of thing, and I use 3x5 index cards to keep my lines straight and sharp. Simply hold the card a little above the surface of the model and spray away. You can make your shading sharper or fuzzier depending on how far away you hold the card from the model. Post-It notes work well also. Just stick them wherever you need them.

[captain_mills]

I mask tape the lines I want, grind some graphite from a pencil (or use colored pencils for diferent rust effects) onto fine sandpaper, and use a paint brush in the graphite to add shade...

[TER-OR]

It depends on how stark you want the lines. I do aircraft paneling with post-shading. base color, dark panels, light countershading on upper surfaces, then the base color again to meld it all back as needed.

You can get some idea from this:
http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/alli ... slepv1.htm

[TREKKRIFFIC]

You can also use gel ink pens for shading.