First Time Painting Camo, What Should I Lookout For?

[notflip]

Hi Guys, I'm on the verge of painting the following small piece of camo on the nose of my Spitfire.

 

Now I'm wondering how I should do the curves? Should I start with putting down a base of the lightest color?

Then try masking it off and painting the darker side?

 

[Xavnl]

I would paint the nose and mask it. 

First the green layer, mask it with tape or whatever you use, and paint the grey part. Or the opposite, it looks like it's gonna be quicker to mask the green though.  

[notflip]

2 minutes ago, Xavnl said:

I would paint the nose and mask it. 

First the green layer, mask it with tape or whatever you use, and paint the grey part. Or the opposite, it looks like it's gonna be quicker to mask the green though.  

Thanks, So you wouldn't first paint everything gray? And then paint the green over it? 

Since if the mask isn't a 100% correct I'll have gaps where there's no paint, right?

[Xavnl]

I would apply: a primer

                       apply the N grey

                       mask the contour with either tape or masking putty

                       apply the M green

                       mask the painted area and apply the G grey

 

Are you using brushes or airbrush? Tape should work better with brushes.

You don't have to follow the camo pattern 100%. You could print the camo scheme, easy to find a pdf version of it on scalemates.com, cut it and hold it in place with a tiny bit of tape. Works great with rattle cans and airbrush.

[Graham Boak]

General rule is the lighter colour first.  For something this simple, I do it freehand with a brush, but that's in 1/72.  Whether to do overall grey first then add the pattern, or lay down the pattern and fill in, is a matter of taste which will come with practice. For a first time it doesn't really matter.  Better to do it than spend time agonising over it.

[notflip]

3 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

General rule is the lighter colour first.  For something this simple, I do it freehand with a brush, but that's in 1/72.  Whether to do overall grey first then add the pattern, or lay down the pattern and fill in, is a matter of taste which will come with practice. For a first time it doesn't really matter.  Better to do it than spend time agonising over it.

Freehand would work, but in general it would need multiple layers, right? So you would have to go over it a second or third time, and follow the exact same pattern? Without going outside the borders, isn't that difficult with a freestyle hand brush?

[malpaso]

If brush I would freehand, for airbrush I use the blutak sausage method.  That’s how I’ll do MJ250 when I get around to it.  Some people suggest the camo engine cowlings are just dirt and fuel stains but that wouldn’t be any fun.  As this was a plane stripped to NMF in theatre, I think you can ignore the instructions and save all the stencil decals for another Spitfire!

Cheers

Will

[notflip]

40 minutes ago, Xavnl said:

I would apply: a primer

                       apply the N grey

                       mask the contour with either tape or masking putty

                       apply the M green

                       mask the painted area and apply the G grey

 

Are you using brushes or airbrush? Tape should work better with brushes.

You don't have to follow the camo pattern 100%. You could print the camo scheme, easy to find a pdf version of it on scalemates.com, cut it and hold it in place with a tiny bit of tape. Works great with rattle cans and airbrush.

I'm using a Brush! I'll see if I can order some Tamiya tape, using cheap diy store tape at the moment, the edges are a bit rough.

[Graham Boak]

11 minutes ago, notflip said:

Freehand would work, but in general it would need multiple layers, right? So you would have to go over it a second or third time, and follow the exact same pattern? Without going outside the borders, isn't that difficult with a freestyle hand brush?

I assume you'd have an undercoat anyway?  I have used Humbrol approximate colours for the first coat then the accurate colours from Colour Coats or Xtracolour for the top.  Getting the curves right just takes care.  The straight edges of the borders can be masked with tape, if you've already done the metal finish.  Tamiya tape is a great improvement on household tape.

 

If you did get the curves slightly wrong, it wouldn't matter.  Few would notice, fewer would care, and there was some slight variation on the real aircraft anyway.  Of course these qualifications can be exaggerated, but I did say "slightly".

Edited July 22, 2019 by Graham Boak

[notflip]

13 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

I assume you'd have an undercoat anyway?  I have used Humbrol approximate colours for the first coat then the accurate colours from Colour Coats or Xtracolour for the top.  Getting the curves right just takes care.  The straight edges of the borders can be masked with tape, if you've already done the metal finish.  Tamiya tape is a great improvement on household tape.

 

If you did get the curves slightly wrong, it wouldn't matter.  Few would notice, fewer would care, and there was some slight variation on the real aircraft anyway.  Of course these qualifications can be exaggerated, but I did say "slightly".

This is my first ever model, didn't want to spend too much money on it for now.

So I only have the Revell Aqua paints, no primer whatsoever. Is there a big difference with a primer? There's so much to know and to learn in this hobby.

[Retired Bob]

26 minutes ago, notflip said:

I'm using a Brush! I'll see if I can order some Tamiya tape, using cheap diy store tape at the moment, the edges are a bit rough.

To get nice sharp edges when using masking tape (even Tamiya tape) using a steel ruler and a sharp scalpel blade to trim off the rough edges, or make narrower strips that you can bend into curves.  Try "Frog" tape from DIY, it's similar to Tamiya tape, but cheaper.  Really cheap white masking tape will cause too many problems, especially if left on for a few days, it can leave the adhesive on your model.

[Graham Boak]

I don't find primer as such to be necessary, normally, but if there's any concern then give the parts  a wash before painting.  An undercoat does help to highlight any flaws,  give it a rub down/polish between coats.  Most modern paints require more than one coat, but I've no experience with Revell Aqua.

 

Somewhere there's a line between trying to get things Right, and just getting on with it.  It's different for each one of us, but there's a lot to be said for "suck and see".  You'll learn what works for you.  This is supposed to be fun, it's just a model, and if you don't like the result there's another one along in a minute.  Plus you'll learn as much if not more from your own attempts as from others' advice.  At least you'll collect a new set of questions!