Modulating black models

[Anatol Pigwa]

May I draw on the collective knowledge of britmodeller on techiques of painting black models (in my case modern jet aircraft in 1:72 scale) to give them more variance and avoiding an uniform toylike look?  I found out that preshading doesn't really work due to the drak pigment s of the black completely blocking any lighter grey/white pigments.  

Edited September 21, 2020 by Anatol Pigwa

[Duncan B]

First thing is don't use black as the base colour. I use a mix of browns and blues to create a scale black but something like a NATO Black straight out of the bottle would work too. As the base is not a solid black you still have the option to use a solid black to pre or post shade with.

 

Duncan B