Reading articles in mags and online of builds people have done with their afv's, I seem to notice that before painting, alot are now doing the "pre-shade" thing, painting the panel lines, if you will on the model. Then the painting process starts.
My question is, what is the purpose/significance of doing this? On pretty much every finished product the modeller has done, including paint, washing, weathering, etc (even with the minimal amounts of weathering and washes) you cannot even see where the pre-shading was done. I may be missing something with this, but it kinda seems like a waste of paint when it's not really even noticable when finished?

Thats the trick with pre-shading is that the subsequent layers of paint that go over it cannot be too strong and overpower it. Most modellers therefore apply thinned layers over it. It does gives a nice look if done right.

For me, i dont do pre-shading. If i wanted to enhance the panel lines, i would do a pin wash.

jazza
how do you apply your pin wash?
and what color do you use?

I don't preshade just panel lines, I shoot the whole kit with black. Then I apply thin base coats, not completely even. This gives several hues to the base coat. I also find that shooting your base over a black primer makes the subsequent colors look better.

Patrick

When no primer is used, starting with a very dark colour, can also double to tie everything together. When a primer is used, or everything is the same base colour, instead of wasting paint, only the panels and edges are done. Then adding paint carefully to the centre of panels, and building on this with lighter shades, depth can be added to the model. It is also the start to the weathering process.
The trick is to get this natural. Too heavy it looks false, too much overspray of the base colour, the effect is lost and was a waste of time.
Sometimes when the model is complete and all weathering is added, this may not be apparent in photographs.

As i mainly build desert scheme track vehicles, i use burnt umber artist oil diluted in turpentine. Using a very fine brush, i just touch the tip of each panel line and capillary action does the rest. Do note, i only did this once the kit is covered in a clear gloss coat.

For kits that are OD in colour, i would use black and apply using the same method.

Of the entire process of building a kit, i have the most fun when doing a pin wash.

Because a certain magazine has told us this makes a good model.
I have rarely seen this done well. By the time becomes noticeable, it starts looking overdone, In the worst cases, the model looks almost plaid.

I know what you mean by looking plaid Al....
But of course to each his/her own, if it works for you, by all means!
LOL a 'certain' magazine, probably a few magazines, but hey, it's all different techniques, I did try it once after seeing it in a mag and well it promptly disapeared right after I laid down the base coat :-) I'm just happy to start adding washes and my normal weathering ways. Although in the last year or so, I have completely changed the way I weather now.

Thanks for the input everyone, it's a question that's been nagging at me for a little bit now

cheers,
Kelly

I just tried this for the first time on a kit and I am very pleased with the results. The schurtzen on Tamiya's Panther G late comes as a single part with the lines between (what should be) seperate panels only scribed. I deepened the scribed lines a bit and then preshaded with black. After painting over the schurtzen with the base color I am happy that it seems to more accurately reproduce the effect of there being seperate panels. This is my first ever use of preshading, but based on how it looks where I did it I would be quite hesitant to preshade every panel line on a kit. However, in situations like the one I just mentioned, I will be ready to use preshading again on my next build.


Dave

It's a fad, an alternative way to add visual variety to a vehicle's finish. In real life, weathering and shadows create subtle differences over large areas of a painted surface, and the modeler needs to break up the too-even effect of the basic color coat. A similar effect can be achieved using traditional washes and drybrushing. Preshading offers the advantage of taking less time than the older approach, if you are proficient with an airbrush (though some end up doing washes and drybrushing anyway).
Any of these techniques will produce a visually interesting model, but many builders go overboard, imitating the dramatic paint effects on other models rather than trying to replicate what they see on real vehicles. I suppose it comes down to an artistic choice.

Its all about using it in moderation based on the severity of the wear. Aircraft tend to be much more true to scale by using heavy variation, as they wear like this much more then armor does. I see it WAY overdone on modern desert vehicles in particular.

With armor though, you typically have to paint the entire model a darker shade as it is not a smooth flat, uncomplicated surface like an aircraft model in the videos. Something like a modern afv should be done with much less contrast, mostly to just make sure that areas that are hard to get to are shaddowed slightly more then anything. It always depends of the subject of course, but how much pre-shading, paint chipping, and heavy washing should you do modeling this vehicle?: