Hi all I have a question for you.
I am getting ready to start a new project. - a 1/48 Tamiya F4U Corsair.
I am wanting to really try and do this one up nice with some really good weathering.
I am wondering if there is a noticable difference between paint chipping and dry brushing.
With the paint chipping I know you paint your model silver first, seal it, and then put the paint scheme on it. Then you literally chip away the top paint to reveal the silver underneath.
The dry brushing is obviously easier by just painting the silver over the top of your paint scheme.
Does chipping give a more realistic appearance than dry brushing? Or, done properly, can you really tell the difference?

Good modeling and thanks,
Wad_ware

Two different concepts and results.
First, I'm not a big fan of chipping, I think it can get way overdone. That said, I would never use silver if I were chipping paint. At the brightest, a dull aluminum. Metal oxidizes very quickly and where the Corsair served, it oxidizes even faster.
Drybrushing, preceded by a wash of black or burnt umber, is used to make raised details more prominent or can be used to fade paint without an airbrush. It is very effective on bringing out the texture of fabric, inclreasing the relief of interior details and in giving depth to an object.
When drybrushing, when you get to the point you think you need one more application, STOP!
You could emulate chipped paint in the cockpit by drybrushing with a metalic color.
IMHO, in both these techniques less is more.

The best chipped paint effect I ever saw was done using a silver pencil crayon type of thing bought at an art supply store...and as has been already said....tread lightly when doing it....it's easy to make it look bad with too much chipping.