Weathering before or after Decals?
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Weathering before or after Decals?
Ive weathered kits before and after decal placement and have had mixed results. Some look good, some look like crap. Whats the best direction I need to go with this?
"There's only ONE ~'Return'~,.. and its NOT ~'Of The King'~... its ~'Of The Jedi'~.
Confucius 479 B.C.E
Confucius 479 B.C.E
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Lt. Z0mBe
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The question is what type of weathering are you referring to?
Some is done before and some after.
Fer instance:
Salt weathering is done kind of before and kind of after, in that a metallic or primer color undercoat is laid down, salt is applied over carefully applied water or other fixatives, and then the color and other topcoats are applied, as well as decals. Unless the decals conflict with said salt, then the salt will be scrubbed off prior to decalling, as the decals cannot go over the rough salt surface. After everything's complete, the salt is remved and you have a scale, "chipped" area.
I use pastel washes and ink washes. I add just a drop of LAUNDRY detergent (not dish) detergent to a mixing palette of water and then mix in said pastel (NOT OIL PASTELS) or Winsor & Newton inks. The wash is applied over a Future glosscoat. I set my decals with Future also, meaning they're sucked down about as damn well as possible - better than any setting solution and there's no annoying ridge around the decal. The caveat is when there are really, really thick decals like the old Monogram ones - I just airbrush a little more Future around the edge of the decal after everything is nice and dry - or if a decal needs to conform to a complex surface and will need solvent and all that stuff. That's more of a decalling issue. The point is using the water-based washes over Future with Future-set decals will not cause a problem, as the runs can be wicked away with the torn edge of a paper towel or swab. Some guys will use oil paints thinned with turpentine or turpatine over well cured Future. I've tried three times, and have not gotten this to work once - all three with the weak turpatine. The Future was compromised by the turpatine. But, some guys swear by oil paints as a wash over Future, and get great results. The principle is still the same.
On the other tentacle would be things like preshading and postshading. Preshading is where you darken areas around panel lines, recesses and major stress areas (wing roots, the base of vertical stabilizers, etc...) over the primer coat (or bare plastic if not priming) such that there is the natural contrast seen in the real prototype subject, be it a "real" X-Wing or a Panzer. Conversely, you could also lighten the high areas and centers of lightly colored undercoats for the same effect. The succeeding color coats are added lightly, with gradients to achieve the desired color gradient from center of panel or area to the edge; move to the next area and repeat. Postshading is the same idea...but in reverse. Add darkened variations of the colorcoat in recesses and along panel lines and high stress areas to achieve a color gradient. Again, the aim is to impart the subtle stressed look the prototype develops. Preshading must, by definition be done prior to decaling. Postshading can, depending upon location of decals, be performed after decaling, though it's not always a good idea.
Pastel weathering is something, in my opinion, that needs doing after decalling. Why? Fresh markings look toylike over pastels. I pastel, and with the type of flatcoat and recipe I use, I get excellent scale results. USe them along panel lines, or pulled from panel lines along a demarcation to impart subtle scoring like that seen on X-planes and sci-fi spacecraft. Make sure, though, you do not soak them when you lock them down with your flat coat, as they will run and look like dust that's been rained on, ruining an entire finish.
Weathering with Prismacolor silver pencils and number 1 pencils is often best done after decalling. Why? You're attempting to impart the appearance of wear with these items. The markings should be worn off too, and thus, covered by the pencils after the decals have been sealed and flatcoated.
Glazes are where Winsor & Newton ink (only use this ink for this, as it has no pigment - Thanks Terry!) is combined with Future and isopropyl alcohol. The solution is then applied to the model. You might use a light blue grey color over a light blue model with a lot of recessed detail, for example. Or, apply a thin black to a cockpit area. The glaze dries and, Future being self-leveling, it sucks down into the recesses. It produces a lovely, scale shadowy-gradient effect. This process is_not_reversible and is necessarily pre-decal. Do not confuse this with a wash. It is powerful kung-fu, and must be used wisely.
I used all of the above methods on this model (plus a lot of other tricks ).
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v161/ ... mo%20Zero/
I hope this helps. I could go on, but I need to get back to bed.
Kenny
Some is done before and some after.
Fer instance:
Salt weathering is done kind of before and kind of after, in that a metallic or primer color undercoat is laid down, salt is applied over carefully applied water or other fixatives, and then the color and other topcoats are applied, as well as decals. Unless the decals conflict with said salt, then the salt will be scrubbed off prior to decalling, as the decals cannot go over the rough salt surface. After everything's complete, the salt is remved and you have a scale, "chipped" area.
I use pastel washes and ink washes. I add just a drop of LAUNDRY detergent (not dish) detergent to a mixing palette of water and then mix in said pastel (NOT OIL PASTELS) or Winsor & Newton inks. The wash is applied over a Future glosscoat. I set my decals with Future also, meaning they're sucked down about as damn well as possible - better than any setting solution and there's no annoying ridge around the decal. The caveat is when there are really, really thick decals like the old Monogram ones - I just airbrush a little more Future around the edge of the decal after everything is nice and dry - or if a decal needs to conform to a complex surface and will need solvent and all that stuff. That's more of a decalling issue. The point is using the water-based washes over Future with Future-set decals will not cause a problem, as the runs can be wicked away with the torn edge of a paper towel or swab. Some guys will use oil paints thinned with turpentine or turpatine over well cured Future. I've tried three times, and have not gotten this to work once - all three with the weak turpatine. The Future was compromised by the turpatine. But, some guys swear by oil paints as a wash over Future, and get great results. The principle is still the same.
On the other tentacle would be things like preshading and postshading. Preshading is where you darken areas around panel lines, recesses and major stress areas (wing roots, the base of vertical stabilizers, etc...) over the primer coat (or bare plastic if not priming) such that there is the natural contrast seen in the real prototype subject, be it a "real" X-Wing or a Panzer. Conversely, you could also lighten the high areas and centers of lightly colored undercoats for the same effect. The succeeding color coats are added lightly, with gradients to achieve the desired color gradient from center of panel or area to the edge; move to the next area and repeat. Postshading is the same idea...but in reverse. Add darkened variations of the colorcoat in recesses and along panel lines and high stress areas to achieve a color gradient. Again, the aim is to impart the subtle stressed look the prototype develops. Preshading must, by definition be done prior to decaling. Postshading can, depending upon location of decals, be performed after decaling, though it's not always a good idea.
Pastel weathering is something, in my opinion, that needs doing after decalling. Why? Fresh markings look toylike over pastels. I pastel, and with the type of flatcoat and recipe I use, I get excellent scale results. USe them along panel lines, or pulled from panel lines along a demarcation to impart subtle scoring like that seen on X-planes and sci-fi spacecraft. Make sure, though, you do not soak them when you lock them down with your flat coat, as they will run and look like dust that's been rained on, ruining an entire finish.
Weathering with Prismacolor silver pencils and number 1 pencils is often best done after decalling. Why? You're attempting to impart the appearance of wear with these items. The markings should be worn off too, and thus, covered by the pencils after the decals have been sealed and flatcoated.
Glazes are where Winsor & Newton ink (only use this ink for this, as it has no pigment - Thanks Terry!) is combined with Future and isopropyl alcohol. The solution is then applied to the model. You might use a light blue grey color over a light blue model with a lot of recessed detail, for example. Or, apply a thin black to a cockpit area. The glaze dries and, Future being self-leveling, it sucks down into the recesses. It produces a lovely, scale shadowy-gradient effect. This process is_not_reversible and is necessarily pre-decal. Do not confuse this with a wash. It is powerful kung-fu, and must be used wisely.
I used all of the above methods on this model (plus a lot of other tricks
). http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v161/ ... mo%20Zero/
I hope this helps. I could go on, but I need to get back to bed.
Kenny
