Pre-Shading

[FunkyZeit]

I plan on black basing my Intruder for that reason! I feel it will bring out the tonal differences in the grays.

 

You can find many many photos where that technique would work for a USN machine - But it's in my opinion that's really the only place that it will. Surely you'll be able to find some grave-yard dog that it'll work on but as a whole - I think that technique is more of a tool than a style.

 

Justin

Edited August 19, 2017 by FunkyZeit

[LSP_Ron]

My wife pre-shades and she looks about ten years younger,  go figure?

[LSP_Ron]

I will burn in hell for that comment

[FunkyZeit]

I will burn in hell for that comment

 

Gotta die of something Ron!

[MikeMaben]

 

I do what I want ... and I don't care 'who' likes it .

 

[LSP_K2]

Do you like chocolate ice-cream?

 

Because I don't, I like vanilla ice-cream.

 

 

I'll be even more of a heretic.  I do not spend hours and hours of my life trying to build subjectively 'accurate' representations of real world objects.  No, I have fun, I build to please myself and work to a finish that pleases my eye.  To do otherwise is a waste of time and energy.  

 

I do not spend any time dividing models I or others make into "good' or 'bad' models.  Sure there are models I find more pleasing than others but I wouldn't for a moment try and impose my views on others.  This discussion always devolves into a one true way or did you see how that guy ruined a perfectly good model by the way he….

 

Discuss and argue over how to make something look a particular way until the cows come home.  That's a potentially interesting conversation.  Just please don't throw stones in this glass house.  

 

I don't see discussions of this type as being either right or wrong, but I do feel that it's good to get a barometer check of perceptions from time to time. While Michelangelo and Picasso are both considered to be competent artists, their results are anything but the same, and one usually has a preference for one style vs the other.

 

[LSP_K2]

I will burn in hell for that comment

 

More than likely. Perhaps I'll get you some asbestos jammies for Christmas.

 

[MikeMaben]

I will burn in hell for that comment

 

'You' might not but your dinner will.

[Out2gtcha]

 

 

Haha, that's great

[AdamR]

Pre-shading has its place, but not as an end unto itself. IMO, one should never look at a model and have the pre-shading be obvious at first glance, even if it's subtle.

 

I pre-shade, but I'm not too careful about it. The shading varies from one panel line to another, and sometimes breaks or stops before the end of the line. In addition, I will add shading to the areas inside panel lines, putting less or more depending on where I think fading was likely on the 1:1. After that, I'll add color and filters until it's hard to tell if I did any pre-shading at all.

 

The result (I hope) is the kind of splotchy, not entirely random tonal variation one sees in color photos of combat aircraft that had somewhat slapdash paintjobs to begin with. Paint that took only a little exposure to the elements to show its uneven character. Paint that had been exposed to dust, dirt, sun, oil leaks, spilled fuel and mechanics' shoes, yet had never been washed.

[RLWP]

I don't see discussions of this type as being either right or wrong, but I do feel that it's good to get a barometer check of perceptions from time to time. While Michelangelo and Picasso are both considered to be competent artists, their results are anything but the same, and one usually has a preference for one style vs the other.

 

 

What seems to happen is a particular style of finishing seems to become fashionable, usually prompted by an individual coming up with a spectacular, realistic result. That style then gets popular and exaggerated to the point where it's the finishing that becomes the point of the model rather than the aeroplane. That's usually when a new style of finishing pops up

 

This seems to happen in any modelling hobby that involves paint. Models of British Railways locos of the 1960's get 'weathered' to a grossly unrealistic point. I can remember when fantasy wargaming figures got 'highlighted' to the point that they hurt the eyes. I've yet to see a picture of a WWII 'plane that leaked oil from the panels in the way some models do. The styles all pass eventually, generally when discussions like this begin to happen

 

Richard

[Pickelhaube]

Kind of late to the party but I am a big fan of pre shading.

I do not do anything smaller than 1/18 scale and I try to keep the weathering down to a minimum.

That being said pre shading adds just the right amount of weathering along with panel line penning .

Setting the air brush with low pressure and filling in the panel from heavy paint  around the perimeter and going thinner to the center of the panel looks just right on LARGE projects,

In my opinion.

[Rainer Hoffmann]

I think this guy has overdone the pre-shading an weathering a bit  :

 

 

Interesting discussion, though. I'm far from painting my Viggen, but the D(I) modded Viggens looked really abused at the end of their active duty. Representing that might be quite a challenge.

 

Cheers

Rainer

[chuck540z3]

Great pic!  But what you see there is a darker shade of the local color along the panel lines (probably due to oily gunk reacting with the paint or something such).  You don't see an eye shadow look that makes the airplane look like it's quilted.

 

At the back, it IS almost quilt like.  Those dark bands are touch-up paint, according to Scott Wilson who took the pic and worked on F-4's in Germany.  Most of the other panel line joins are not touched up this way, but some definitely are.

 

Here's another example where some pre-shading would definitely help to capture this look....

 

 

 

Chuck

Edited August 19, 2017 by chuck540z3

[TwoHands]

I think this guy has overdone the pre-shading an weathering a bit  :

 

 

Interesting discussion, though. I'm far from painting my Viggen, but the D(I) modded Viggens looked really abused at the end of their active duty. Representing that might be quite a challenge.

 

Cheers

Rainer

But EVERY line is not the same shade. I love to do paint jobs like this!