Jump to content

Painting German Aircraft Without Airbrushing


Speedbird 48

Recommended Posts

With the amount of Spitfires I have built, it would only be fitting to make some German aircraft to go with them. Unfortunately, the two attempts I have had at building German Aircraft were complete and utter train wrecks, thanks to my paint job. The paint would always come out looking much too thick and much too hard, whilst German Aircraft tend to have very clear soft camos. Are there any brush painting techniques that could be used to emulate their design? How good an option are spray cans?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have painted a few late-war Luftwaffe aircraft by brush relatively recently. I found the by far the most important thing was to use several coats of properly thinned paint to get the base colours to avoid brush marks and obtain a nice, smooth finish.

 

For example, I did an Fw 190D-9 in the RLM 75 grey-violet/RLM 83 dark green/RLM 76 light grey scheme. First, I did the lightest colour, i.e. the light grey. Maybe three coats of thinned paint, left to dry thoroughly between coats. I then painted the grey-violet areas using the same process then the dark green.

 

Where there was a soft or feathered border between colours, I very carefully went over the border with the lighter of the two colours, but quite heavily thinned, using a lining brush. I found that it took a bit of experimenting to find the right ratio of thinner to paint and also how much to load the brush, as you don't want it to flood out over your nice paint job! Again, this was left to dry thoroughly between coats. The idea is to slowly blend a very narrow band between the two colours. Whilst it doesn't look brilliant under high magnification, from three feet away it's actually surprisingly convincing.

 

For mottles, I used a highly thinned mix of the darker colour and, with a lining brush, carefully traced the outline of the mottle and then filled it in. The idea is to apply the merest hint of the mottle colour. This was left to dry and I then did much the same over the previously applied layer, but this time pulling in very slightly from the edge. This was then built up slowly until the required density was achieved. Again, from 2-3 feet away, you can get a pretty reasonable approximation of a sprayed mottle.

 

It's a slow process though, and requires plenty of patience.

 

Good luck!

 

Mark.

 

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's possible that I took some rubbish pics with my mobile phone. I built them probably 5-6 years ago. I actually made these at work, where I kept a few kits which I would make at lunchtime, or if I was having to sit with a laser whilst it was being tested during overtime. That's why they weren't airbrushed!

 

Just had a look through my Photobucket and the quality of the photos is worse than I remember. I'll post them though. You may need the "Photobucket fix" patch to see them.

 

The D-9:

Photo-0040.jpg

 

A Revell A-8. Pic even worse!:

Photo-0039.jpg

 

They aren't going to win any competitions, but considering that I was working with very limited resources and I'd just come up with the technique, I didn't think they turned out too bad. And yes, I'm well aware that I hadn't fitted the inboard cannons!

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are amazing examples of brush painted Luftwaffe camoufalge by a good friend of mine, Isomi-san.

0010603.jpg

0010603_2.jpg

 

For more photos of his works, visit the following links.

 http://www.hyperscale.com/2018/galleries/bf109g5as48ki_1.htm

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Airfix Modelling Club kiyokazu

 

Jun in Tokyo

https://www.flickr.com/photos/horaburo/albums

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Speedbird!

 

I have been using the following technique for years:

 

- Make sure that the painted surface (e.g. RLM 65 or 76) is smooth; when the paint is dry sand carefully over the surface with grade 800 or 1200 Wet and Dry. Clean the surface by blowing

- Take a round tipped brush, soak it in water and cut with a fresh blade to get a "blunt tip"

- thin the paint you are going to use

- Load your brush and remove excessive paint by painting a surplus piece of plasticard; do not use paper towel as your brush will then be loaded with small dust particles

- Paint the mottle simply by touching the surface of the model with the brush tip. Brush must be perpendicular to the surface.

 

Possibly the most important piece of advice is: practice with some old model until you find "the touch".

 

I have also used make up sponges; they are actually very good.

 

Hope this helps:)

Antti

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Speedbird ... Heres a  Fw-190F8 i did about two yrs. ago. I didn't have my airbrush then so I rattle-canned the base colors and then brushed the intricate camouflage. The camouflage is authentic and from an Fw-190D series from the eastern front, i just copied it to the F8. The model represents a plane from late 1944. 

rVQGq2u.jpg

Sqpf0tj.jpg

mFb5MTh.jpg

Its up to you if this is good or not ? I think it is but i will let you decide. 

 

Dennis

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if this helps or hinders...

 

8462415105_96b7bc11d7.jpg

 

Eduard Me262-B1 - Wing uppers in Vallejo's take on RLM80, Fuselage in RLM76, mottling in RLM80 and 81, underside in black.

All brush painted, I had experimented with trying to spray the mottling originally but the test was a bit inconsistent hence brush painting, the paint blotches were then stippled with RLM76 dry sponged on top and then a filter of RLM76 to tone it down further.

 

IanJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...