I have a bit of a problem as far as the order in which to apply my washes & dry-brushing. Normally on aircraft I only do dry-brushing on the interior. On the exterior I use acrylics, spray with Future's, apply a wash of soap/water/pastel mix, wipe off areas where I don't want the wash, & spray with a matte finish. I initially planned to do the following for my Sherman:
1) base coat (acrylic)
2) Future's
3) wash of soap/water/pastel mix
4) dry brush - dirt, fading, etc
5) matte finish

The problem here is that I'm concerned that after I apply the Future's , the dry-brushing won't work as well over the semi-gloss Future's coat - not being able to grab on the rough srface like a flat coat. If, however, I don't use the Future's, I'm afraid I won't be able clean off areas where the wash has spread where I don't want it. I've found it usually smudges on flat instead of lifting off.

Any ideas on how to approach this? I know washes & dry-brushing are very common techniques used on armor so there must be a common method for this. I'm really not trying to screw up my first AFV.


TIA. . . . Kevin

HA!!! Got you fooled. Common....US?...we are rugged individualists, and we do nothing the same! There are numerous techniques and procedures, most of which work just fine. Since you are worried about the washes on flat paint, I'd go with the Future first. Then the washes. I might try the dry brushing on the Future, then if I don't like it, I can shoot the flat coat and dry brush again.

Also, don't underestimate the usefullness of the airbrush in weathering. Putting on dust the way nature puts it on is very realistic! Additionally, (in my minimally expert(!) opinion) don't overdo the silver dry brushing. AFVs don't get a lot of shiny spots in real life. (Shiny means bare metal...bare metal in the great outdoors will get damp/wet...bare metal and wet means rust, very fast...rust means no more shiny!) (Except aluminum...turns grey in a day or two.) Only very recent damage will be shiny silver.

Initially I was going to stay away from attempting the dust effect with the airbrush as in his book on modeling armor Shep Paine states he doesn't prefer the method. I think I'll try it anyway, just thin the paint a lot. Do you think the texture of the flat finish is the same as that of the flat paint? (In case that sounds stupid I won't pretend to be an exprt on paint!)

Thanks...Kevin

I screwed up my first AFV trying to do a wash.... Mistake #1; I tried to do the wash on a flat surface (over a flat coat) Mistake #2; When I was applying the wash, I thought it didn't look too good so I tried to wipe it up with a paper towel.... In the end I kinda salvaged it with a lot of drybrushing. It dosen't look too bad, but I'm very critical of my work so it might look a little better than I think it does. (it might )
Next time, I'm keeping it simple. No complex washes until I think I know what I'm doing. :-)

YodaMan
Go Red Wings!!!

Here is another tip if you are afraid of doind washes (like I am). What I do with models is I first prime them with black paint. Than I shoot the tank color with the airbrush. The trick here is to not put too much paint on areas where shades should be. I think this technique is called the "cloud method".
Drybrushing I do the following way: I mix some white to the base color of the tank (I use enamels for drybrushing) and drybrush the whole tank with this. Next I mix more white to the previous mixture and drybrush only the most elevated detail. I do all this on the paint coat, I never tried drybrushing over a flatcoat. Hope this helps you.

Cheers,

~CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

I have "salvaged" wash problems in the past by heavily drybrushing the base color. This usually covers the stain without giving an obvious spot-paint spot. If the first coat doesn't cover, let it dry and then hit it again carefully. You may have to carefully re-wash the spot if it looks different from the surrounding area (sort of "catch it up"). If you do it right, neither the stain or the coverup will show in the finish.