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Showing results for tags 'pre-shading'.
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Hi, I may be completely off the mark but I wonder what the physical reasons are that result in pre-shading in the modelling world. Apologies if this has been covered before. Please point me in the right direction. I see many pre-shaded effects on model aircraft. They look good and I like the look. They are a compelling look. But it got me thinking. Generally the lines along spars are given a darker effect. If this is the case on real aircraft, so be it. But why is this so ?
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I'm inviting your comments and votes on something which fascinates me. I've spent an interesting afternoon looking at colour photos of RAF WWII aircraft. (I appreciate that the colours themselves are unreliable evidence due to differential fading and wacky 1940s emulsions, BUT the tonal variations are clear.) I've also had a quick look at web pictures of more modern aircraft. The funny thing is that I can't find a single clear photograph of an aircraft with stripes such as I depict with pre/post-shading techniques. I see mucky marks caused by fitter's feet and spilt oil. I see random fading, chipping, and a host of variations from flat blocks of colour. But I can find nothing to suggest darkened stripes, however subtle, around panels or mechanical hinges, or emphasising internal structure through the aircraft skin(!). The pre/post-shading fashion seems to have started about ten to twelve years ago. I remember seeing a copy of Fine Scale Modelling about that time with a cover photo of an Avenger looking as though it had been quilted. I scoffed back then. Yet now I do it. I've been doing it because everyone else seems to like it. Ready for Inspection posts with lots of stylized shading always attract much praise for the paintwork. But now I'm thinking I am blindly (lol) making my models less representative of the real thing with my strange stylistic habit. The panel line wash craze is similarly baffling to me. I've always thought they were spurious and today I've been looking for evidence to refute my opinion. Well, from time to time I have found a panel line, occasionally a really dirty one, so I'll accept that sometimes a panel line wash is true to life. But on most aircraft this simply isn't the case and when it is apparent, it's only one or two lines. I think its really ironic that as moulding technology has improved and surface detail become ever finer and more representative, I increasingly exaggerate it with dark inks and powders, making finely etched plastic resemble the old Airfix/Frog/Matchbox kits of my youth perhaps How did I ever get so weird? I think I am copying each other's models instead of looking at the real thing. Come to think of it, I've seen many comments saying that a modeller will use another modeller's model as a reference. Hmmm. I think I'm going to stop using either of these techniques. I'm going to 'work from the original' (original photos, that is) and paint what I see. I'd probably better not enter any competitions though... (Edited to remove what might be interpreted as criticism of other people's methods or making fun of their work. After all, it's only a hobby!.)
- 36 replies
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- weathering
- panel lines
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I have been doing some reading on getting a competition finish to one's model. I fully understand the use of pre-shading and applying washes. However, my question is do you do one or the other or both?
- 27 replies
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- detail
- pre-shading
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