Returning after 30+ years
1. Water based on top of lacquer and enamel paints never the reverse!
2. Preshade panels light and seams/joints dark
3. Future over flats for decals. Then dull/matte flat finish to seal. Clean air bursh with Windex and distilled water
4. Salt on top of base color to show chips them wash off.
5. Lighten shade on top to simulate sun light fading.

Filters are my main question. Oil based over sealed paint, then another clear coat?

I am not addressing your specific question, but advising on one of your points. Salt has a bad habit of melting. Instead, I recommend using sand. You can find it in various sizes, for various chipping applications.

OK, first of all, welcome back !

Anyway, for sure somebody better than me should answer. After 25 years I still use humbrol enamels...

And I fully agree with Matt: sand, not salt for chipping

How do you guys get the sand to stick ?
Never used the process but I thought the point of using salt was that it would stick to the model when wetted slightly and hold up to spray pressure from an AB but still brush off fairly easily. Am I missing something ?

Sean

Many ways to accomplish the same effects.

Suggest that you pick up a couple of the newer books which cover finishing and weathering.

They do not necessarily contain all new stuff: there have been a lot of evolutionary developments on the same old techniques that were common 30 years ago.

Rinaldi's "Tank Art" books are very good, especially in that they don't rely on any particular proprietary products (he uses products and materials from many different vendors and manufacturers). Mig's "FAQ" books are good, but quite spendy and predominately promote the products of whichever company he was working for when he wrote them.

In the end though, what worked 30 years ago still works today. It might appear that there has been a revolution in techniques, but IMO that's not true. There have been EVOLUTIONARY developments, but those developments still have their roots in "old school" techniques and materials.

What's really new today is the number of proprietary finishing products that are mostly the same old artist products that have always been available, just now packaged for modelers. The "stuff" is the same, but the packages and folks claiming ownership of the "creation" of those products is new. Modelers today don't necessarily have to mix their own washes - They can buy ready mixed washes. But a wash is still a wash whether you mix it yourself of buy it ready mixed in a bottle.

Convenience is nice, but it's not revolutionary.

The whole concept of oil paint filters and color modulation was first introduced by Verlinden in his "Verlinden Way" books 30 years ago. However, guys like Rinaldi have taken it to more refined levels.

Check out Renaldi's "Oil Paint Rendering" (OPR) descriptions in his "Tank Art" books for some of the most up-to-date thinking and descriptions of the technique. However, he's not the only one nor the first to look at colors and oils that way.

Just wet the model and apply the sand.