Question About Pre Shading?

DangeRuss66 · Post by **DangeRuss66** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:56 pm

I'm interested in trying my hand at pre-shading my next model kit and found this site a few days ago:

http://www.naritafamily.com/howto/F14D/day9.htm

I've been studying and reading how he constructed and painted his kits for several days now. When he pre-shades the F-14, it's an ugly mess, but the end result is beautiful.

My question is this, after the pre-shading is completed and you go to put the top coat of paint on, do you actually thin your top color down and paint OVER the pre-shading as well, or do you paint "around" the preshaded parts and "fill in" the holes, so to speak? Are there any good articles or links that I can refer to? Thanks for your help!

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 11:03 pm

They way I do my preshading is to start from the center of the unpainted areas with your cover paint and then slowly build up more and more color, misting in over the pre-painted areas.

Try Codys Coop.

I really need to write an articel for SSM on this don't I? Or somebody does.

DangeRuss66 · Post by **DangeRuss66** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:50 pm

Thanks for the tip! I'm looking forward to trying it out soon. I have some spare R/M BSG Viper kits that I'm going to try it out on soon. If I screw them up, oh well-- I'll just strip the paint off and try again.

So if I understand correctly, after the pre-shading is applied, I go in with the cover paint from the center of the unpainted areas working my way outward, and very lightly cover & mist over the pre-shading? I assume the paint needs to be thinned down quite a bit, and use a very low pressure from the air compressor?

Anybody else have any experience or tips? Thanks!

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:10 pm

Thin as you usually would. Helps to have a doubel action airbrush so you can spray as little paint as needed. Think of it as shading with a pencil. Press hard you get a lot of color, press lightly and you get very little and can color over other colors, letting the original color come through.

One thing I have notice about pre-shading with acrylics is that the colors will darken considerably when dry.

Post by **TER-OR** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:36 pm

I start with a base color, paint darkened along shadow lines and panel lines, then light on upper surfaces or faded areas, then come back over the whole area with base color again - toning the effect down as needed.