Good afternoon Gentlemen Modellers ...
I came up with the idea of ​​a technical little wip, is something inside me that I've always done and taken for granted.
But perhaps it is not so obvious.

Now come and let me explain: since it's the so-called (fashion now) modulation, a beautiful thing, which is nothing but the overhead light applied to models. Or the color constancy in the field of painting / fine arts (but this is stuff you already know).

In short, to do more tones / coats of color, and then the filters. Already I have little time, and to fill and clean the airbrush for various paints, I get jaundice.

Then all those layers on our tiny detailed kit... And if there was a system to do it all in one, with three stuffs instead of eighty-six paint-bottles ?

In short:
- Basic color as it is
- 1 to 2 filters that act as light-desaturation
- A filter to shade and stop

... and a filter more to play a bit

Step one, first light.

Starting with a medium dark gray basically painted model, the right filter is Transparent Filter PAINT FADING 1

I know that someone has noticed that this filter is not so visible once applied.
Then, talking to someone, i knew he did not even shake it ... I made clear bottles exactly for this purpose: shake well until you see air bubbles on the clean bottom.



Then, do not expect to cover as a color, it is done just to be very progressive.
In this way, you are free from errors "in excess".

You put the filter directly into airbrush, pressure between 0.8 and 1.5



(do not mind that it is the photo of another filter)

Here's how it works PAINT FADING 1, airbrushed on a color sample.
From left to right, each time a fast passage in more



Being a gray not too dark, the progression is sweeter. If the base was darker, the contrast would be greater. All this because you work "for transparency."

Also note that it is not a desaturation "tone over tone". Partly to obtain the effect of natural light reflection, in part because the colors slightly alter when lighting.

In one passage we add light to the color, and already filtering / altering.

The whole applied to the model
-a first overspray everywhere, airbrushed from a certain distance
- And following passages, progressively reducing the airbrushed area, upward to the inclined plates, towards the center for the horizontal ones.

It is a quick spray of each zone, without insisting. After each passage you move to the next area.

Now look at the result. Then you can add if and where where you want.
Since it dries quickly, you can work this way in "continuous rotation", until desired result is achieved.








Three passages in no more than 5-10 minutes work are enough to achieve this.
I loaded some effect, to maximize the contrasts

I have to say this: I become crazy with the paint, and I get bored with the spraygun, to clean it.
Then I lose a lot of time... it becomes clogged ... a mess and I break away.

With transparent filters instead, the gun is very clean inside. Just a drop of water to remove all.
And I happen to leave it for many minutes, without any crust to clog it.

Thank you for the tutorial. I'll keep watching.

Thanks Russ !


In order to further highlight the color, we'll use PAINT FADING 2. This filter would normally be devoted to lighter colors, but with this technique it is fine.

Flying mask with a business card, and gently "force" higher edges, the upper part of the panels, the seams between panels.
The horizontal parts are directly exposed to light, should be charged a little more than vertical ones.

It is said that the rules aren't perfect and infallible on where to put this effect, goes to our taste and choice of the parts that we want to emphasize.









I apologize for the pictures not always uniform, but I have a camera beyond my capacity...

nice tutorial... looking forward to the next steps....

can you post some more of this? have T-E fading 1 & 2 and also heavy aging and general aging in the post.... have various kits to use it on so after hints/tips/tricks

Hi Rob,
i'm sorry for delay, but i had a fair, and next w-end another one... I'll not come out alive from february 2013

Now is the time for a technique borrowed from the fine arts, let's call it "reiteration of color."

We take it from a far point ...:
You all know that the eye sees, the optic nerve transmits, and brain decoding. And here is the trick. It's possible to give a visual information, without looking is apparently distinguishable from the rest.

In this case, we give a metal shine, like if our model was a metal object, without letting him see a real steel color.

In practice, with the filter STEEL PLATE do selective washes in some of the most exposed points. Moisten first with a veil of water, and then apply only a bit of STEEL PLATE filter. Spread it around hinges






around doors and joints




in the recesses of the tanker dome




On some details as this armored viewer, roll the filter over the whole piece, a thin layer.





You'll do it here and there, no need to spread it everywhere.

So what happens? That later, when the last global filter will be added, the tone metal will not stand out no more.

But when looking at the model, even if you'll not plainly see any metal color, you will have "perception" that it is a metal object.

A "trompe l'oeil" in 1:35 format...

... and now ... what's missing?
Just a small filter to give it that final touch.

Transparent Filter GENERAL AGEING
We'll use this one both as an overall filter and for selective washes to stand out details.

Overall filter.
One plate at a time makes life easier. First spread it around a bit, so that it falls into recesses.





Then pull it gently downwards, to achieve thin streaks. Flat or cat's tongue soft brushes are best for this task.






One important thing in this passage: TRUE EARTH Transparent Filters do not "dry", as all water-based products do, but thicken slowly instead.

This feature allows you to process them with some margin, and create streaks and mergers more or less pronounced depending on when we go to pick them up.

Since I do not like to wait even those two minutes for drying the filter, i immediately do selective washes, exploiting the fact that the area is still wet.

GENERAL AGEING still around to detail and in the recesses





It may look a bit overdone in the pictures, but when we look at the model in natural light and at a distance, as it always happens, the forms will be well defined.

This passage is especially useful when we are dealing with a camouflage, which tends to confuse the shape (after all, the true purpose was just that ...)

To literally draw long lines, and to get well in the recesses, it's really useful a long brustle "for panels" brush as this.
I am experiencing them for figures too, but beautiful alternative to expensive w & n .... I will tell you

It should be dampened slightly before dipping into the filter, or color, and then it drives smoothly along.

ENOUGH!

In summary:
- Base color
- 3 (+1 wildcard) filters

and nothing else.

Depending on the "weight" that we give to the drafting of these filters, we can go
-by a simple highlighting of shapes, for a new machine
-to wear more marked, stained, streaked effects

You wonder....Just over an hour 'work ... taking advantage of the rooms heater to dry PAINT FADING 1 before the overall fiter with GENERAL AGEING.





I left turret ceiling without the filter GENERAL AGEING, to show up the individual steps

I would add that this method, exploiting the properties of True Earth TRANSPARENT FILTERS, is applicable in the same way to ships, mecha, aircrafts ...

Heresy?

No, if we think that THEY ARE always painted metal objects, boxed or rounded overlapping shapes, and panels

I called this THREE STEPS METHOD :

- One or more filters in combination to highlight / lighten / fade colors
- A global filter to rebalance the whole
- Selective washes to "pull out" details

Schematically, lighter filters first, then the darker ones.


I hope it was useful

I will defenitely give it a try, thanks for sharing it in details!

Thanks to you Istvan, to follow this topic

thanks for completing... I am not feeling confident with the TE filters - perhaps I am using them worng... will continue to learn tho

Thanks for posting this, Giuseppe. Put's my weathering to shame.

Giuseppe, this was great, and the timing is perfect. I just received two of your T-E sets in the mail, and was wondering how to use them. Now I can try them the way you showed here!

going to try this... one thing you didnt mention - before you started did you protect the base colour with varnish (MATT or GLOSS if you did?). Have a 2nd tutorial (using brushes rather than A/B) and that says "first protect with matt varnish". Did you do the same (I am going too of course but just checking..).