Hi All,
A very off topic model I know. But here goes:
My son was given an Airfix Stegosaurus dinosaur model for his 10th birthday and I was telling him how to preshade the areas that would be shadowed (around the bottom of the feet, base of the dorsal plates, skin folds etc.) with black prior to spraying when he asked me if the areas that caught the light (e.g. highlighted areas) could be preshaded white.
Has anyone tried this method and with what results.
Thinking about it I can see it working in theory, but I thought I'd run it by you people first.
TIA
Tom

You can do it with lighter shades of the base coats just like panels on an aircraft or AFV. If you want simulated glare, then you could do highly thinned white in concentrated areas, but you would have to be very consistant as the theoretical 'light source' and it would be a bit more cartoonish, like a resin figure. Light shading the 'normal' way (spine, tops of rib bulges, muscles, head, ect..)would be effective regardless of the light source later. I had no interest whatsoever in dino models but after seeing what some guys do with the airbrush at model meets its caught my eye as it can really challenge your paint skills. It takes all the skills as modeling afv's but you spend the vast majority of your time painting instead of endless building. The 'ulitmate' camo if you will...

Thanks Kevin,
At the end of the day it's my son's dino so ultimately it's up to him but I'll keep you reply in mind.
Tom

Its actually pretty easy if you have baisic airbrush skills so you can focus on what you are doing. Just think of it if you were shading it in pencil on a drawing, do darker shades of the base coat in the crevices, and lighten it a little more, then a little more, etc. If you mix it in a few 4 or 5 batches you really can't get into too much trouble as if it were an extreme shade change. just 4 mixes from the original color + black, then the straight color, then a little white, a little more, etc will turn into dozens of shades as the airbrush blends at the edges.

If you think about how you pencil-draw, you think you have an infinate number of 'shades' at your control, but really you only do about 4 or 5 and blend the rest.

I would do the first darker areas, then paint mostly around them with the second coat(almost like camo), then blend it with a mist overspray before setting it to dry. Then start using lighter shades to do highlights. If you keep the paint pretty thin after the base coats you can keep a fair level of control as the coverage strength will be weaker, giving you a little more room for error, if that makes sense.

You could also do little highlights by using a brush with an almost white mix on the absolute edges of the armor plate, and then one mist coat of the lightest mix to 'blur' it slightly. With a dino model, and not much sharp edges like say a tool clamp, you can probably get three tries and repaints before loosing much detail. Now I need to try one, I already have some ideas... My nephew might be getting a couple for Christmas now...

Heh, I picked up a Tamiya t-rex today I am gonna give a shot as a quick 'in-between steps' project. I'm gonna use various armor colors to paint him up-I have to resist the urge to do him in an ambush scheme

Kevin,
Don't be tempted by zimmerite either. I'm certain T-Rex wasn't equipped to handle sticky bombs :-) :-)
Tom

Now you're giving me an idea for the myrad of dragon AFV kit parts I have left over t-rex.pkfw ausf.g hmmm I could easilly replace the head with a LAV or Panzer 1 turret

I think you have been breathing too much paint fumes. :-)