Weathering decals

[Foxbat]

I've seen some fantastic models with beautifully weathered paintwork, but markings that look brand new. I've got a long way to go to reach that standard of finish and I've already wrecked a couple of promising models trying to tone down the decals to match the rest of the paint job.

Given that I'm a brush painter working almost exclusively in various brands of acrylics (most often Vallejo, Tamiya and Akan), does anyone have some tips to pass on that will make my finished models look more... uniform? organic? Not sure of the right word, but I hope you get what I mean.

Andy

[James G]

There is a fantastic build of the 1/32 Su-27 Flanker by Romain Flechon here:

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=44533

He dry-brushes some oil paint on decals to fade them out, it looks very effective. The only other thing I can think to tone down decals is to carefully cover them with very thinned paint (having sealed them with a clear coat first)....difficult to do without an airbrush, mind.

[John Laidlaw]

Have a look at this page:

http://doogsmodels.com/2014/12/29/weathering-tamiyas-132-f4u-1-corsair-pt-1/

About halfway down, he talks about using Winsor & Newton's Transparent White to effectively filter and fade things like markings... the beauty of it is that it's a brush technique. I've tried it, and although - like everything - it requires practice, it does produce a sun-bleached look very well. If you want to introduce colour-shifts, you'll have to use different colours, and use less than you would of the transparent white, but you can have fun experimenting with them .

[Foxbat]

You must think I'm an ungrateful so and so, but truth to tell, I'd forgotten I started this thread. Thank you for your responses. I shall start experimenting. Fortunately the shelf of doom has many test mule candidates.

Andy