Gentlemen,would I be able to get fairly good results with winter camo if I applied the white with a brush?Thanks.J.T.

anything is possible. may have a harder time or longer time than if it was done with airbrush. may also take more time to hide brushstrokes. quality would be best with airbrush. would suggesting using a brush that wasnt ever used in any colors as well

J.T.;

Winter camo with a brush?

It all depends on what effect you are seeking to achieve! IF you want it to look "even" and fine-finished and like it was sprayed on, you should do just that. IF, on the other hand, you are seeking to portray one of those white-wash jobs where a crew has used brooms or various mops and brushes and rags to slop on some whiteness...

Brush would definitely be the way to go.

Here's my recent Tamiya Wirbelwind "Walking that walk" with a "broomed-on white-wash coat" over a sprayed faded tri-color & zimm coat. I wanted a crude, broom-applied blotchy finish. Brush works best for this.



Hope this helps and encourages!

Bob

I agree with Bob. There are plenty of photos of the real vehicles with "brush strokes" from mops, etc, that were used to apply the whitewash. There are even plenty of photos with the soldiers themselves holding the mops. Many were applied by the crew at the front and there was no clear standard for application.

Just what I wanted to hear great pics and ideas.I will be trying the hairspray method,first time with this.Thanks again,J.T.

i wouldnt use hairspray with brushpainting, you may rub off the hairspray, and your coats wont be as effectuvely uneven to make it work , i would reccomend if you want an effect similar to hairpray, to use mapping, some sponge application and negative chipping to get a look, otherwise go for a standard brushpainted winter camo.

good luck

Will be trying on scrap first,how do you negative chip?

JT:

The "hair-spray" method is an approach to chipping and wearing-away a sprayed-on paint layer. I would not try it for brush jobs.

Again, start first with a vision of the look you are seeking - IF you want a "worn" sprayed-on job, hairspray and scrubbing is definitely a good way to go. That, or "mapping" and some careful airbrush work to get varied coverage and fading, with maybe a little after- scrubbing and scouring with plastic cleaning "sponges".

IF you want that brushed-on look - brushing it on and getting that brushed-on uneven coat and streaks, is the way to go. You may want to do some version of what I did... I painted and weathered the camo coat, including the "usual" chipping and scuffing and fading. Once I had my camo coat looking about as worn and chipped as THAT coat wanted to be, I took some white, grayed it down slightly, and thinned it down about 1:1. The reason I thinned this white down was to help scale-down the brush-marks...

I then used a small-but-stiff brush to actually emulate a small broom, and streaked my white onto the camo. In essence, I imagined myself a tiny crew-member slopping away at his tank with whitewash! I avoided trying to get "good, even, smooth" coverage and coats. Instead, I did slop it on! To help avoid any "blobbing", I made sure my brush was lightly-loaded. This avoids filling-in with over-applied white, and lets you have more control of the dosage applied. I also tried to scale my brush-strokes down to what a small guy with a tiny 1/35 broom might be doing (at least what I thought he might! )-

It all depends on what you want to get out of it! I did NOT want it to look like the white was "old and worn" - so I did not after-wards chip, dirty, or scrape or fade off my white. In fact, I recently put this wirbel out in its first show with the explicit title that it was a "freshly white-washed" tank.

That's me, of course! IF you want your brushed - on job to look "tired", than do some post-brush-on wear n tear with a scratchy-pad or sponge, or pigments to dirty it, etc.??

And yeah, doing a trial on some scrap sounds GOOD! I did that, using an already-camo'd test hulk... Sure glad I did, too!

Please post whatever you do with this! I would love to see your winter scheme!

Cheers!

Bob

Bob,I must 'fess up,this is only my second armor build.I do have alot of modeling exp.but that was a LONG time ago,mostly cars and some trucks.I am trying to 'save' a sherman that is just too dark.I thought if I went with an old beat up worn winter camo job it might lighten it up some.About the only change i'm going to make is appling the white with a brush.then scrub,scrub,scrub!Base colour was sprayed on,and is not acrylic,seems to be well stuck to hull.So,do I use hairspray,or apply the white right on to the base soften it with water and scrub away? Back to the scrap pile to figure it out.Will try to post pics,but i'm not much of a pc head ,maybe my teenage son can help Thanks again J.T. P.S. If you look at the 'Red Rain' thread on this site ,you will see the effect I am looking for on the T-34.

JT:

Saving a too-dark Shermie, eh?

"What? No dirty, scruffy, muddy, faded cars?" (jist funnin'!)

Well- a whitewash job could be your ticket - or maybe give it a much-lightened (faded) olive wash, some spray on with "flat earth - light" and some light pigments to dust her up!

Sounds like the paint job could be an old (well-seasoned) enamel? IF so, it could well be robust enough for you to brush on some white acrylic and quickly scrub off some with a moistened sponge to get a scruffy, worn white coat, before it dries completely and cures?

IF the base coat is well-cured enamel, scrubbing off acrylic with alcohol or water should be pretty safe- and this could both remove bigger brush-marks and fade and wear away your white coat.

IF you use acryls for the white, and you don't like how it's working, you CAN wash them off the enamel base coat and try something else!

Cheers!

Bob

Every body knows car models are shiny,with no dirt on them! the only thing i have now that is dirty, dusty,scruffy,muddy and faded is my truck!Thanks for all the help.I think I can make something work.Just needed some advice on which way to go and see if I was on the right track,(so to speak).Anyway thanks for all the help.It's off to the scrap pile once again.J.T.

your idea got me thinking. i tested brush painted hairspray technique, and i got it work o.k

i used.
lifecolour green. x 3 light coats. hair dryer inbetween.
cure for 1 hour with hairdryer at start
hairspray. 1x meduim coat consisting of 2 passes.
then hairdryer
okay this is where you need to be careful.
vallejo white, thinned 70 30 water, brushed on , with the softest largest brush you have. in a singular downward motion.
then hair dryer
then carefully wet the top coat. then brush away extremely lightly with a medium brush.
i can post a picture later today ( after sunrise) if you wish to show you the results.
i also have another technique you may be interested in.
stipple white vallejo paint all over. ( with practise this can look very good.)
once again, pics later.

lpj out

the photos are a bit guff, ( weather is bad) but here are my brushpainted camos. i totally forgot about the stippling method i tried,


and here is my brushpainted hairspray test.
use less hairspray for less paint removal

James,both methods look great!I think I like the stipple better.It covers and lightens the base more,which is what I'm after.Did some hairspray samples and got about the same results as you.Could I get a little more info on how you did the stipple?Like, paint,reduction,how it was applied? Next question,what did you use for the snow?Thanks, Jeff.

it was a while ago so i will try to replicate it for you then post how.
it did involve vallejo white, im not sure how it would react with other brands. my peice of green sheet plastic is just drying now. so i'll let you know.
i do remeber oils being used to tone it down a little so it wasn't so garish. the snow was a recent addition. i used migs acrylic resin to build up the areas, then placed on bicarbonate of soda with a brush . i was going for the motionless tank after a medium snowfall look !