blitzkrieg65

Thanks Craig,

I will bookmark this post, I am going to have to have at least one tank or Gun inplacement that is Desert ready![sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

The Blitz

googlydoogly

Streetsquid, Do you have any preference for a specific brand of watercolor?

streetsquid

googlydoogly,
There are lots of brands to choose from and like just about everything else - you get what you pay for. The higher the quality paints means the more money you're going to pay for them, sorry for stating the obvious. By higher quality, I mean the ingredients that are used are of a higher grade, and usually have a finer ground and more dense pigment. Which means less paint covers more, and colors are more vibrant.

Good quality paints can be purchased at most hobby and craft stores such as Michaels, and Hobby Lobby here in the states. Top of the line companies such as Grumbacher, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Windsor Newton all offer several grades of quality. Water colors, like artists oil paints can usually be found in individual tubes or sold as sets. One level below "Artist's Quality" is referred too as "Student Grade" and is designed specifically for art students.

Seeing that we are using these on models and not painting masterpieces to be hung in museums or sold in galleries, I have found that student grade paints are more than acceptable. I have also found that I mostly use just a few colors in almost all my model making, regardless of whether it is aircraft, figures, or armor. So you can buy individual tubes instead of complete sets.

Most commonly used colors are Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, and Paynes Grey. I have artist's quality tubes of each these colors from Grumbacher, and Windsor Newton and have not noticed a significant difference between the two brands. I also have a complete set of cheaper student grade water colors by Reeves, and they seem to work just as well for this application as the more expensive brands.

I think I paid about $3-4 each for the individual 1/4 oz tubes of Grumbacher artist's quality and about $14 for a set of 18 1/2 oz tubes of Reeves student grade water color paints. For my money buy the Reeves set, you'll have enough variety of colors to tackle any modeling project and enough paint to last 15-20 years of modeling. Well worth the fifteen bucks it will set you back!

Sorry that's probably way more than you wanted to know! (LOL)

Squid

streetsquid

OK tonight's addition,
We'll start by softening and blending any of the stark areas and hard edges caused by the filter washes drying quickly. While the water colors are still wet it can be difficult to move them around, but once they dry you gain a tremendous amount of control.

Using a soft flat brush moistened with water simply brush areas where the paint has caused a hard edge. Using vertical strokes works better here as any streaking that may result will look like stains from rain or moisture that has run down the sides of the vehicle.

Once I have gone over the entire model, it takes on a very blotchy and modeled appearance. I then take a soft cotton cloth (t-shirt material) dampen it slightly and lightly wipe over the entire vehicle. This helps to eliminate brush strokes and tie all of the filter washes together into a single consistently random finish. How about that for an oxymoron?

streetsquid

Once I was happy with the over look and tone of the base color with the filters applied and softened, it was time to move onto adding a pin wash.

A pin wash is simply a very thin wash applied with a small round brush to help details "pop" or stand out. Pin washes are relatively easy to apply and can add a lot of depth to the finished model. These washes are generally applied to panel lines, rivet details, recessed areas and to outline raised details such as headlight mounts, hinges and haspes.

I chose a dark brown (raw umber) for my pin wash. I will usually choose a dark color as it really helps to accentuate detail more than a lighter color. You definitely want to show contrast to the base color, and this is what makes molded in panel lines look "deeper" as if the panels are truly separate pieces joined together. Try to avoid black, it's entirely too stark and ends up looking toy like. Stick to dark browns and grey, or a mixture of the two

During this process you do not need to be precise. If the wash flows outside of the panel line, no worries! We'll clean that up once the paint has dried.

streetsquid

In these two pictures it is easy to see the before and after shot.

The first picture shows a brown pin wash applied to an outer road wheel. You can plainly see that not a lot of care was taken to make the wash evenly spaced or a consistent diameter.

The second picture shows the same wheel as the wash is being pushed into the raised lip between the rim and the rubber tire. The staining around the center hub has also been softened, to help create a more realistic look.

You can use the brush and water almost like a pencil eraser. Erasing, thinning, and softening the dark lines as you work. You can use this technique for highlighting details, creating oil or fluid stains, or just adding contrast to different areas of the vehicle. This is one more area that you should try and work as "loosely" as possible. Try not to become to rigid, let the brush and water flow around details and carry the paint where it naturally want to acumulate

streetsquid

Overall I'm pretty happy with the filters and washes, and the variations are subtle yet apparent. Moving forward the next step will be some detail painting, and adding paint chips and scratches. Then we'll finish up the project with some final airbrushing and pastel work.

These pictures have all seem to come out a bit yellow under my halogen work bench lamps, but I think you get a pretty good idea of the variation you can achieve.

Tomorrow night we'll paint the tires, and interior seating, and hopefully get into chipping the paint, adding some slight rust streaks an exposing bare and weathered metal.

nomobux

My Feedback: (4)

What a super thread ! Even I may be able to handle this !

cmryan

Fantastic job Streetsquid. Now I can see where I have gone wrong with my Tiger. I used oils for the wash - can they be removed or thinned once dry?
Regards,
Chris

googlydoogly

Thanks squid! I'm heading out to buy those watercolors later. I always do washes with enamel and while I do get good result with them, it's extremely tricky and it could ruin your work if you're not careful.

Your technique is much better since you'll not likely ruin your paintjob with water.

ManMachine

[streetsquid, this is a fantastic thred, thank you so much for sharing your way of painting with us! And it's not only a good thred, you are a brilliant painter! Most inspiering this is, gives me ideas to more projects (already working on a few) but I just have to stop getting nice project ideas.

bowlman

some of this is starting to come back from art class in high school for me that was 30 years ago wow nice work there streetsquid .

thanks
jimmy

pattoncommander

Hey squid. Been following your thread and it is really great and very well presented. Thanks for your time and great photos. After so many years working with 1;35 scale, I can see many benefits of using water based colors. Also the Windex trick on weathering, which I have not tried as yet. Have to agree completely, that there is a distinct difference in doing 1;35 or 1;48 as opposed to 1;16. Although the larger scales allow you to apply more detailing, it also opens up everything for closer scrutiny so that smaller details have to be more exacting. Shadowing and weathering are also quite different in some ways and even black washing can be stubborn. Working with mobile models instead of static vehicles presents even more challenges, to have something work, yet try to stay within realistic detailing. Threads like yours really give this site a nice boost and lot of us guys who have been modeling for years can always learn new and interesting methods.

ksoc

Not sure what camera you have, but some have a "White Balance" adjustment. You take a photo of a white sheet of paper under you current lights, and it should adjust for the halogen lights.

I took the following shots from your thread and ran one through Photoshop Elements "AutoFix" (BEFORE on the left, AFTER on the right) Is this any closer.

Regardless.. keep the thread rolling......... we know we'll get some pretty picts when it is all done.

streetsquid

nomobux,
Thanks! What I'm trying to demonstrate the most is that this really is easy, and there is no hidden secret. Take your time, experiment, and if you don't like it wash it off and start over. That's the beauty of water colors over acrylics.

Squid

streetsquid

cmryan (Chris)
I don't know of any effective way of removing oil paints once they are dry, I'm pretty sure most thinners or solvents used to remove them would most likely mar or start to melt the plastic underneath. That being said you might try mineral spirits, depending on how long the oil paints have been dry, it may work.

But I would also like to clarify one thing. This thread was designed to share with everyone my technique for using water colors over acrylics, and they certainly have some advantages. But I have also used oil paints for washes and streaking, to great success. So I wouldn't say that using oils is necessarily what went "wrong" with your Tiger.

Oils paints are completely different and require a completely different technique, to use them effectively. I personally prefer water colors over oils, because they are low odor, cheaper, but most importantly faster to work with, and truthfully I'm impatient. I'd rather paint a figure in 1 or 2 nights rather than the 3-4 weeks it can take allowing oil paints to dry sufficiently enough to go onto the next step.

To help illustrate my point here are a few detail pictures of a 1/35th scale Horch I did earlier this year. It's painted in acrylics, but all of the filters and washes are done using oil paints. It has a different look, but overall I was pretty happy with the results.

Squid

YHR

.

This will be like watching one of those time continium episodes of Star Trek. When you get to the end it will all make sense.

Squid.

Acrylic paint and water color are both water based. If you spray windex on you will remove the water color weathering and the acrylic paint. Do you mean you are using acrylic over enamel???? Please clarify this.

streetsquid

YHR,
You are absolutely correct! For this thread I have used Tamiya Dark Yellow (XF-60) acrylic paint as the color coat for this 251. I actually stated that in one of my very first posts, so I apologize if somewhere along the way that got lost or I have made that confusing.

I believe my only mention of Windex glass cleaner came in a reply to mackem on the first page.

Mackem,
Glad you found something useful here.

I have used water colors for a long time in my model making. You have an incredible amount of control and versatility while painting and even after it has dried. In fact when using acrylics and watercolors right up to the point that you seal the paint you can completely remove it back to bare plastic using nothing more than Windex brand glass cleaner. Besides filters, watercolors are also great for adding washes and weathering to bring out detail, which you'll soon see if you stick with this thread until the end.

Squid

And I was only trying to say that because this was an acrylic paint you could use Windex to remove all of the water color and acrylic paint back down to the Krylon Espresso Brown paint which was sprayed out of a rattle can.

I hope this helps, sorry for the confusion!

Squid

streetsquid

googlydoogly,
Glad to hear you're gonna give it a try. If you have experience applying washes, you're already ahead of the game. The switch from enamel to water colors is not difficult, and I would only give you 3 pieces of advice.

1. Don't try to overwork the watercolors, let capillary action work it's magic, and then let them dry (it won't take long).

2 After the watercolors have dried and you go back to start and move or even erase them, start in an open area and work towards raised detail as this will aid in highlighting the surface detail.

3 Try to keep brush stoked vertical to mimic rain streaks.

And never forget, it you really don't like them, wash em off!

Best of Luck!

Squid

streetsquid

ManMachine,
You are entirely too kind sir!

I'm surely am not deserved of the kind of praise you shared. I'm simply a guy who's been building models most of my 40 years on this planet, and have been fortunate enough to cross paths and learn from some incredibly talented people who were gracious enough to share what they knew. Well, I have also stumbled across or developed some pretty simple yet effective techniques over the years as well. I am happy to share and grateful to have such a forum on which to share! I'm also glad you have found this to be at least slightly informative or helpful in some way.

Kindest regards,
Craig (Streetsquid)

YHR

Sorry Squid.

After I had made the reply I re-read the article, and realized you were quite clear, and it was my assumptions that were causing me grief, so I just deleted my post. I guess you were in the middle of answering it!!!!!!. my apologies for the disconnect to the board. I will go back and try to phrase the question that Squid has answered!!!!!

Success the time continium has been restored

streetsquid

Kevin,
Thanks for the suggestions on shooting and editing the pictures. I'm currently using a Fujifilm FinePix S7000 camera. It's a pretty damn nice camera and has waaaay more functions then I'll ever use. It's the same camera that many model magazines use, including Finescale and Aerospace Modeler. I only know this because I bought the camera with my first paycheck I received for writing a series of "How To" articles for those magazines.

Truth is I told the editor, "I know how to build models, I'm not great at it but I can write (wit his editorial help) about how I built them, but now I'm trying to also learn how to photograph them during the building process".

"F stop", Shutter Speed, Macro Function.....................it's all pretty Greek to me. I have this high end camera with lots of functions and a instruction booklet as thick as the DEX Yellow pages and I shoot in auto settings and auto focus.

I'm lucky to have gotten the images I have so far! (LOL). Maybe I should take a college photography course

streetsquid

YHR,
Thanks for the apology, but not necessary by any stretch of the imagination. I was in the middle of answering your post when you removed it, but no worries.

Honestly the last thing I want to do is add confusion, or point someone down the wrong path. I definitely don't want to have someone screw up a project because of something I posted here on this forum. I do take that part of writing responsibly pretty serious.

Thanks for replying, and actively participating on this thread, it's what makes these post interesting, informative, and helpful to read. I appreciate you keeping me honest, clear, and concise (OK well 2 outta 3 ain't bad, LOL)

Squid :0)

streetsquid

OK Guys,
I spent quite a bit of time responding to some the responses and other posts, so I didn't do quite as much modeling done tonight. But I do appreciate all of the support, kind words of encouragement, and overall participation on this thread. Having lots of people involved and posting always makes these more interesting and helpful.

Tonight I started the process of adding chipped paint effects. This is one of those processes that simply takes a lot of time and practice, but once you master it, it adds an incredible amount of realism to your models regardless of scale. I'm still waiting to and practicing in hopes of mastering it one day. I get mixed results, some chips look pretty good and others it's like whoa what the.....................

Choosing the right color to represent bare metal can be the challenging part. I usually choose a very dark warm grey. When I talk about a warm color I'm referring to the hue. Colors have either a cool or warm hue to them. Cool colors have a blue hue, while warm colors have a red hue. A warm grey for example will look more like a brownish grey.

For this step, you want the paint to be thin enough that it flows off of the brush easily without being runny. But you also need the paint to be pretty opaque, so water colors do not work well for this application, stick with the acrylics.

Using a small round brush I add irregular and very sharp edged angular patches of metal color. I usually start along sharp edges and high wear areas and work out from there.

This effect can easily be overdone, so work slowly and examine your work often. This truly can make or break your model, so if you're using acrylics this is just one more opportunity that you will be glad you can Windex it if you need it

streetsquid

Once you've got a pretty good size area covered with chips, you can now go back in and add a little depth to individual chips. I usually pick some of the larger areas to work with. Using a color 2-3 shades lighter than the original top coat color, in this case the Tamiya Dark yellow (XF-60). I add an irregular and broken outline to small areas of the chip. This will add depth to the chip by creating a third layer between the top coat color and the bare metal chip you have added. This third layer makes the paint look thicker, and represents a primer coat under the top coat. This can be easily overdone, so err towards the less is better rule here.

If these chips have a somewhat stark appearance, no worries! This is not the final step and we will have ample opportunity to mute them a little and ultimately blend all of these weathering elements into a realistic representation of a worn and battered paint job.

One note: A variation to this technique that some may find easier to execute is to actually paint the entire chip in the lighter color first, and then go in and fill in the center section with the darker grey metal color. This way you don't have to have quite as steady a hand as to paint a thin outline around the chip. I've used both methods, and will often still employ both on a single model, as each creates a slightly different looking chip. I find the combination of both types adds additional realism.