How do you pros paint the intricate 3 tone German camo schemes? You know, the dark yellow, red brown, and green camo seen on so many German tanks? Do you freehand, or use a technique I saw demonstrated on Testors site on an Me 109? They used sticky balls to lift the mask a few millimeters off the model, then sprayed to get a soft edge?

Thanks,

Hello bebe,

For soft edge of ambush pattern, I free hand with airbrush.

I never did a hard edge on a tank, but on a plane, I use masking tape.

HTH.

Freehand all the way...

I find that with the pressure up, the needle dialed down ( even with an old single action badger 350..but using a double action aribrush helps... even a cheap one like the Axtec 490 (?)) and spraying at a 45deg angle into the color spot, I can almost get a masked looking 'hard edge. After washes, dust, pastels, mud, etc.. it's almost inpossible to tell it's not.

Practice, practce, practice..

I've got an ancient DML T72 that's got so many coats of paint on it, it's looking like a Volkswagon Beetle!

Besides, it's a hobby and it's supposed to be fun!

Mike

Well like everyone else when I have a soft edge camo I free hand it ,but for a hard egde camo I use silly putty ...(Yah the stuff we used to bounce around on walls and pull pictures out of the newspapers and stretch them out of proportion.) This stuff sticks to your kit but can be pulled off quite easily.I was very pleased with the outcome and I didn't get any runs in the paint.

Rick

I go free hand. Be aware of the immediate surroundings. If you have right angles or close proximity 'stuff' and your air pressure is a bit high you can get overspray. What I do to avoid this is to have free hand where I want the camo to go and use a piece of paper or cardboard to loosely cover other areas just to keep my sanity. Nothing like getting a perfect blended camo scheme only to have a bit of overspray elsewhere.

Definately free hand. The only way unfortunately.
As the post above states, make sure that you cover all bases and prevent overspray

I'll also airbrush free hand mostly. I bring the air-regulator down to about 5 to 8 psi and
hold my AB at about a 30 degree angle to apply the soft egde. If I really want an extended soft edge ( extend's further off the pattern ) I'll jack up the psi.
.... If your just getting acquainted with airbrushing a soft edge, an easy tip for practicing is: Use an index card or anything with a stiff edge, and hold it 1/16" to 1/8" off from where the solid color of the pattern end's - hold the airbrush at a 30 degree angle and spray your paint so the overspray deflect's onto the card ( aim for the end of the pattern edge NOT the edge of the card ). You should get the soft edge every time. Soon you'll be confident enough to do it totally free hand. Experimenting with a variety of high & low psi setting's - holding the airbrush at different angles - up close & further back from the surface will give different result's and help a modeler to learn different spray effect's that can be applied with the airbrush. .............. It's best to practice on a good size sheet of polystyrene plastic bought from your local hobby shop.

For armor kits freehand allways. spraying first the yellow, then the green and at least the brown.