Can someone refresh my memory on the ratio of white paint to the main color to create proper "Scale effect" (If that's what it's called).

Is Model Master paint "correct" fo 1:1 scale or 1:35 scale? For instance, if I have the Model Master Italian AF colors for a WWII BiPlane, and a 1:35 Italian biplabe, do I need to add white paint to the model Master color to show the correct scale effect?

Hope this makes sense, and thanks!

- Steve

Using scale effect, shouldn't 1/700 scale ships and planes be white?

I don't really subscribe to the "Scale effect", IMHO if taken to it's full conclusion, as AL says, models would look odd. However, assuming your paint is full strength, then for 1/48 apparently add 20% white? 1/35 would be less white (15%?) I don't know but I think that Model Master paints are to 1:1.
I'm sure that if there is someone out there that uses scale effect they could give you a diffinative answer
Mal

I refuse to engage in a 25 year old debate......
but my personal though on it is to try to achive a finish product that's pleasing to the viewers eye, and doesn't look toy like.

PArdon me for squeezing in.

i have read somwehere that Model Master colors are already tone down to scale... hmm i didnt recall where i read but this is what they claimed. Although i rarely tone down my color but sometime i did put some white color but i doesnt restrrict the ratio

my 2 cents

I don't really believe in 'scale colour' either. Adding white can do very strange things to the original colour, so if you are going that route and are lightening green, you may want to try yellows instead.

However some people take it very seriously indeed..

http://home.att.net/~ShipModelFAQ/smf-q073.html

At least what I've read, to make scale effects, you should add light blueish grey, instead of white. I remember looking out of a car when me and my family went to have a summer holiday in out cottage in eastern Finland. There's lots elevation differences where our cottage is, and I could see over a long distance. The further the forest you looked was, the more grey it looked.

LOL...Interesting article, Dave..... :-) :-)
It's a shame that human beings are born with different color perceptions. (Hell, some are just down right color blind!!!)...and couldn't read a color wheel if it was in audio ..... :-) :-) :-) :-) .

Some colours looks lighter at distance while others looks darker.

The light on the occassion is important (cloudy, clear etc) and so is the area around the subject reflecting the light.

Its important that one should not always use white to lighten a colour or black to darken it. Use white with other lighter colours to lighten a colour and black or brown with other darker colours to darken a colour.

Experimenting is needed in this area.

Yikes!

Thanks for all the input everyone. I think I will just use the Model Master paint as is, and go with the trial and error method. Thanks for the diffenent views!

I fell that the only time scale effect becomes important is when you have two colours next to each other, as in a cammo scheme. Often with full strength paints that are both the 'correct' colour, the contrast between the two colours will look too great when applied to a model.

If the vehicle or aircraft is just one colour, then scale effect is not so relevant, since the saturation of a colour will depend on the light it is viewed under. A vehicle on a bright sunny day will look much different than the same vehicle under a heavy overcast. So any model paint will be 'close enough' to match the paint under average lighting. If it looks a little light, then that vehicle really would have looked that light on a bright day anyway, and if it looks too dark then the vehicle would have looked that colour too, just under cloudy skies.

The important thing is to make the contrast between the colours in your multi colour scheme look right, if most photos only show a slight difference in tones, ie most modern two tone aircraft grey schemes, often using the colours straight from the bottle will be way too striking. You might need to lighten the dark colour and darken the light one to bring them closer together.

At the end of the day if you think it looks about right, then it is.