Panel Shading

[Commander McBride]

I've been trying to pull off the shading often seen around the edge of panels on models, but haven't had a lot of luck. I've heard about pre- and post- shading, but never have found a clear tutorial, especially one dealing with doing it on realistic aircraft models, instead of Max Watanabe style extreme shading.

So, can one of our resident model gurus do a how-to when they do their next model? I'm sure many of the aspiring modellers on MW would appreciate it.

[Less than Super Ostrich]

I'm clearly not a guru, but I will chime in anyway. Pre shading is the process of putting a slightly lighter coat on over a slightly darker coat. It only works with an airbrush. Imagine a box as your panel... paint the box a dark gray... then begin painting the center of your box with the light gray. slowly spray in circles around the center until you come close to the edge of the box. The theory is that the lighter shade will blend into the darker shade as it approaches the panel line. Looks very nice if done properly... personally, I have not made it work for me very well.

The post shad is basically applying the darker shade directly on the panel line after you have applied the lighter shade evenly across the model. I believe this is what WM Cheng does. Beware, though, it takes a very steady hand, and much more difficult to recover from if you mess up, from what I hear. Very thin and light and straight lines with the airbrush are the key.

[wm cheng]

I am not sure what the "Max" style is - maybe you could post a picture. I try to not go overboard, but because it is an anime subject - I find that you can get away with it sometimes.

What I do is that I would use a shade darker of whatever the base colour is (ie: for a white valkyrie, I would use sky grey to post-shade). Basically I paint the model the way I want as though its brand spanking new, then I protect it in an different solvent clear-coat. For Example, I would paint the Valkyrie in Tamiya white (acrylic) and I would clear coat it in ModelMaster Acryl Semi-Gloss (laquer). This is why future would not work in this case - since both the Tamiya and Future can both be wipped off with alcohol or ammonia. This step is key, since it allows you to "erase" mistakes or re-do the post shading if you don't like it. Unlike what LTSO said about this method - I find that its very forgiving and allows a greater degree of control and redoing if you have done any mistakes. The theory is that the undercoat is sealed in by the clear coat, so any subsequent light spray of a darker shade to trace over the panel lines can be wiped off by a bit of windex on a q-tip without disturbing the paint under the clear-coat. The clear coat laquer doesn't react to the ammonia in the regular blue windex - which is a weaker solvent for Tamiya paints than alcohol - which their thinner is based on. So I usually thin down the mixture (ie: sky grey) so its more viscous 2:1 paint:thinner and try to set the airbrush to as thin of a line as possible. I then trace over all the panel lines, contours and crevices of the model - occasionally I would follow the air-flow direction over the aircraft as though it was flying as well. Where the post shading goes I find is more of a taste question - or artistic decision. Aside from picking out the panel seams, I tend to do it more heavily around the exhaust tail cones, and moveable surfaces. Sometimes I might mask a panel line with masking tape and just spray one side of it - it gives the impression that the masked side is newer and have just been recently replaced. Lastly, I treat the whole process kind of like a drawing, its like shading in a 3-D sculpture. BUT I NEED TO EMPHASIZE SUBTLETY HERE. I find it always more effective to under do it than over do it - I find that its too cartoony or "Gundamy" if there is too much shading. Plus you can always add more - but its a bit more difficult to take it away. Lastly, when you are happy with the post shading, I would again clear-coat protect this layer. Since its a very fine layer of paint you just traced on - it is very delicate and can scratch very easily. As soon as you can - you need to sandwich it in another layer of clear-coat laquer. I would even do a light dustng of the "weathering" effect on after the decals as well. Just keep in mind to always clear-coat laquer between stages that you might want to protect or "undo" to.

[Less than Super Ostrich]

thanks much.... i did not know that you were suppose to seal the undercoat! Wow, what a mistake... no wonder I was getting so frustrated! What a critical step!

[Myersjessee]

Great explanation WM!!! THANKS!!!

[Commander McBride]

Thanks, wm, that's a great explanation.

Max style is the method perfected by Hobby Japan lead Gundam modeller Max Watanabe, and often emulated by other modellers. I've had no luck trying to do it, though.

For example, imagine he's painting a white part. He'll first paint the whole part black. He will then paint it grey, so the black remains just around the edges. He'll then paint white in the middle of the grey, so it ends up with a gradient between the white and black. This is a simplified example, he'll sometimes use three of four shades of grey on a part.

For another color, say, red, he'll start with black, then a maroon, than a red. Or, if he does black, he'll start white and than grey, than black in the center.

Needless to say, because this form of shading is sort of working backwards, it's not easy to accomplish with good results. In addition, it yeilds cool looking, but very unrealistic, results. I'll see if I can find some good pics of the technique.

[Angel's Fury]

I am not sure what the "Max" style is - maybe you could post a picture. I try to not go overboard, but because it is an anime subject - I find that you can get away with it sometimes.

What I do is that I would use a shade darker of whatever the base colour is (ie: for a white valkyrie, I would use sky grey to post-shade). Basically I paint the model the way I want as though its brand spanking new, then I protect it in an different solvent clear-coat. For Example, I would paint the Valkyrie in Tamiya white (acrylic) and I would clear coat it in ModelMaster Acryl Semi-Gloss (laquer). This is why future would not work in this case - since both the Tamiya and Future can both be wipped off with alcohol or ammonia. This step is key, since it allows you to "erase" mistakes or re-do the post shading if you don't like it. Unlike what LTSO said about this method - I find that its very forgiving and allows a greater degree of control and redoing if you have done any mistakes. The theory is that the undercoat is sealed in by the clear coat, so any subsequent light spray of a darker shade to trace over the panel lines can be wiped off by a bit of windex on a q-tip without disturbing the paint under the clear-coat. The clear coat laquer doesn't react to the ammonia in the regular blue windex - which is a weaker solvent for Tamiya paints than alcohol - which their thinner is based on. So I usually thin down the mixture (ie: sky grey) so its more viscous 2:1 paint:thinner and try to set the airbrush to as thin of a line as possible. I then trace over all the panel lines, contours and crevices of the model - occasionally I would follow the air-flow direction over the aircraft as though it was flying as well. Where the post shading goes I find is more of a taste question - or artistic decision. Aside from picking out the panel seams, I tend to do it more heavily around the exhaust tail cones, and moveable surfaces. Sometimes I might mask a panel line with masking tape and just spray one side of it - it gives the impression that the masked side is newer and have just been recently replaced. Lastly, I treat the whole process kind of like a drawing, its like shading in a 3-D sculpture. BUT I NEED TO EMPHASIZE SUBTLETY HERE. I find it always more effective to under do it than over do it - I find that its too cartoony or "Gundamy" if there is too much shading. Plus you can always add more - but its a bit more difficult to take it away. Lastly, when you are happy with the post shading, I would again clear-coat protect this layer. Since its a very fine layer of paint you just traced on - it is very delicate and can scratch very easily. As soon as you can - you need to sandwich it in another layer of clear-coat laquer. I would even do a light dustng of the "weathering" effect on after the decals as well. Just keep in mind to always clear-coat laquer between stages that you might want to protect or "undo" to.

Can you email all of your tips you've posted @ this forum? It's for my future reference when I start that business, after I get my degree in civil eng.

Thanks.

Stephen

[tsukurite]

Here's a fan gallery of Max Watanabe's work. Nice!

Gallery

-tsukurite

[Malich]

Master Cheng,

When you airbrush ModelMaster Acryl Semi-Gloss, how do you thin it down? Do you thin it the same as the other paints? Such as 2:1/,paint:thinner?

Just curious, I have only airbrushed acrylics.

Your help is always appreciated!

Rich

[wm cheng]

First you need to have the thinner made for it - I don't thin it down as much as paint - but maybe 2:1 clearcoat:thinner sounds about right. Basically you want as thick of a clear-coat as your airbrush can handle without clogging up (clear-coats especially flat/matte tends to clog up in the airbrush faster than paints) - the thinner is just to make it flow better. So its an experiment with your particular airbrush and the paint, but I usually use 2:1 or so - I don't really measure. I vary it sometimes too, like white would be 3:1 or even 4:1, but dark or metallics could be 1:1 or 2:1. Good luck.

[Malich]

Here is a pic of what I bought today at one of the local stores. Is this the correct stuff? It says acrylic on the label and I was just curious.

Thanks!!

[wm cheng]

Yep, thats the one, great stuff. What I like even more is the 50498 Solvent (comes a metal can). It really good a cleaning clogged airbrushes.

[Malich]

Thanks for the verification!!

[Skull Leader]

thanks much.... i did not know that you were suppose to seal the undercoat! Wow, what a mistake... no wonder I was getting so frustrated! What a critical step!

you don't HAVE to seal the undercoat... if you're confident enough that you'll weather exactly the way you want to the first time you don't have to worry about that (but who does?). Cheng's method, however, allows for trial and error until you get it exactly how you want it to be.

It's more of a precautionary move than anything.... and in all honesty it makes me nervous when I start mixing protective coats and new layers of paint. You have to make sure that the clearcoat you're using is chemically compatible with your weathering paint.

[Grayson72]

WM, do you adjust your compressor PSI in anyway up or down for the panel shading?

BTW, I saw a tip somewhere about using Tamiya clear smoke for panel shading, I tried it and it worked great! It's clear so you don't have to mix darker versions of the underlying paint either.

Edited September 25, 2003 by Grayson72

[recon]

WM, do you adjust your compressor PSI in anyway up or down for the panel shading?

BTW, I saw a tip somewhere about using Tamiya clear smoke for panel shading, I tried it and it worked great!  It's clear so you don't have to mix darker versions of the underlying paint either.

Hi Grayson,

I not so sure about the psi level that Wmcheng uses when panel shading but for me the psi level is set to 10 to 15 (Sorry remembered settings wrongly), this enables airbrush to approach the model surface relatvely near thus producing a 1 to 2mm thickness when sprayed on. Tamiya clear smoke isnt a bad choice for panel shading, but its more for creating a see though effect. Usually i would go for a more subtle approach as i i would take my base coat white darken it with one or two drops of black and thinned down to produce a very light grey for panel shading.

Cheers

Edited September 27, 2003 by recon

[Less than Super Ostrich]

5 PSI? Does paint even come out of the nozzle?

just kidding.

Sounds like that little of PSI would result in clogging, and thus splattering.

Edited September 25, 2003 by Less than Super Ostrich

[wm cheng]

You gotta watch how low you go with the PSI, the lower you go, the more splattering and larger the spray dots get. I always try to set as high as a PSI as I can get away with - without it drying before the paint hits the model I usually shoot around 20-25 PSI normally, and adjust the thickness of the flow to compensate depending on the colour. Lights require thicker paints, and darks can be thinner. Post shading can be really thin - since you don't want it opaque. The only time I have turned down the pressure is for the Alclad metallizer stuff which recommends 12-15 PSI. You want the paint to "atomize" inside the airbrush so its thoroughly combined with the air stream when it leaves the airbrush and hits your model - this way it gives a very even non splattering pattern, you shouldn't be able to see any dots whatsoever even when you look very closely.

Recon, what do you mean by 2mm thickness - surely you don't mean the thickness of the paint do you?

Grayson, I did try smoke before, but since its so glossy, its hard to tell exactly what the end results are. Glossy paints tend to look darker, until you spray a semi-gloss or flat clear coat on them, then all of a sudden the lighten up. I'd like to post-shade as close to the final finish as possible to see whether I still need more - then I can clear-coat whatever I want afterwards.

Yes too little PSI clogs, but too high PSI also clogs - depends on the type of paint you use - even when they are all Tamiya. I find flat paints dry quicker than glossy paints, hence clogs easier. But the Tamiya Clear stuff clogs the worst which are extremely glossy - go figure! Of course, all this is tempered by the humidity in which you are spraying in, the moisture tap and your compressor. Its a little experiment every time I sit down to spray something

[recon]

You gotta watch how low you go with the PSI, the lower you go, the more splattering and larger the spray dots get.  I always try to set as high as a PSI as I can get away with - without it drying before the paint hits the model    I usually shoot around 20-25 PSI normally, and adjust the thickness of the flow to compensate depending on the colour.  Lights require thicker paints, and darks can be thinner.  Post shading can be really thin - since you don't want it opaque.  The only time I have turned down the pressure is for the Alclad metallizer stuff which recommends 12-15 PSI.  You want the paint to "atomize" inside the airbrush so its thoroughly combined with the air stream when it leaves the airbrush and hits your model - this way it gives a very even non splattering pattern, you shouldn't be able to see any dots whatsoever even when you look very closely.

Recon, what do you mean by 2mm thickness - surely you don't mean the thickness of the paint do you? 

Grayson, I did try smoke before, but since its so glossy, its hard to tell exactly what the end results are.  Glossy paints tend to look darker, until you spray a semi-gloss or flat clear coat on them, then all of a sudden the lighten up.  I'd like to post-shade as close to the final finish as possible to see whether I still need more - then I can clear-coat whatever I want afterwards.

Yes too little PSI clogs, but too high PSI also clogs - depends on the type of paint you use - even when they are all Tamiya.  I find flat paints dry quicker than glossy paints, hence clogs easier.  But the Tamiya Clear stuff clogs the worst which are extremely glossy - go figure!    Of course, all this is tempered by the humidity in which you are spraying in, the moisture tap and your compressor.  Its a little experiment every time I sit down to spray something 

Hi Wmcheng,

Of course its not the thickness of the paints but its the width of the panel lines in a range of 1mm to 2mm, usually i mixed the paint/thinner in a 1:4 ratio with psi set in the range of about 10 to 15 PSI. It set in this range due to the dilute nature of the paint/thinner mixture. The paints i used are Gunze Sanyo Acryllic lacquer based paints, which offer a finer spray pattern so far i havent see any splattering effect but enables the airbrush to be as close to the model as possible. In addition, this kind of pre-shading method sort of resembles that of the gundam , as i did gundam models before, not sure wether it works well with valks or planes. Im not too sure about Tamiya paints maybe due to its nature requires different PSI settings and paint thinner mixture. Considering that i live in a hot and humid climate, maybe this setting differs from others living in a colder or wet climate. The models that i did pre-shading on so far are G kits Anime figurines. So far i havent attempted any on my hasegawas as i dun wish to ruin them adding to that i dun really have a stable hand or the availablity of model master acryllics clear coats in the local stores here.

Thanks for asking, its always a pleasure to exchange information pertaining to modelling here.

Cheers

Edited September 27, 2003 by recon

[Lodizah]

Hi long time lurker first time posting. What type of paint is used for the panel line wash and what is used to dilute the paint. Also is there a place on the forum that lists the tools and types of paint required to build models.