Fading paint.

[Arach]

First of all hello. I have been searching video tutorials and looking online, but have not found too much reference fading paint.

I am currently working on a 1:72 scale F4U1-A Corsair and I cannot figure out the best way to make the paint look faded from the Pacific sun and salt. I tested a old wing by spraying it a dark blue and spray over the blue with a highly deluded white. To, me it looked not faded but that I sprayed it with a deluded white :-\.

Do I try a very light gray dry pastel powder? I've used dry pastels on machine gun powder marks and exhaust, but never in a way to make the paint look faded with a light color.

Please help, I'm stumped.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

I have only done it a couple of times, but what I do is paint the aircraft the base color, once dry, you take the base color and add a complimentary lighter color to it.

Olive drab, you would add a yellow to it, as white will wash the color out too much and easy to over do the fading.

Dark blue like on a Corsair, you could probably get away with using white to lighten the blue, just have to be careful not to over do it, unless you are trying to depict a very well used and derelict aircraft.

Once you have your lightened color, you over thin it a bit, drop your airpressure and get closer to your kit, and only spray inside your panel lines, so your panel lines end up staying the darker blue for the most part.

It takes some practice and a steady hand, but does come out as a nice effect.

The other way to do it is after you prime your kit, you take black paint and spray it over your panel lines, then once you put the blue on, you basically just paint the center of the panels, leaving the black slightly showing through on the panel lines themselves. Your blue would still cover the panel lines, but wouldn't be as much build up on them, and thus remaining darker than the rest of the panels because of the black paint underneath. That, might not work as well with a dark blue like you would find on a Corsair, but would still be subtle shading, plus there is nothing stopping you from then lightening the base color blue and spraying the very center of the panels, so then you have a gradual progression of darker color where the black is, to the blue, to the lighter blue.

Clear as mud? LOL

 

[the Baron]

I second Scott's suggestions, especially using lightened mixes of your base color, over the base color.

I'll also suggest that you might try using filters of oils, a technique common among armor modelers. I started using filters, before I dove in and began working in earnest with my airbrush. As the name suggests, a filter is a thin layer of color applied over a base color, which filters the light the base color reflects, and changes the color to the eye. Using oils, you apply a dot of a filter color, then wipe it in the direction of the flow--airflow, for a Corsair, from top to bottom like water, on a tank. You can build up layers, or apply varying colors side by side on the same panel or area, and you can get the look of a well-weathered surface.

As Scott mentioned, there are colors that compliment each other, so for example, on an F6F painted in the Navy's 3-color camo, I used white and yellow in a filter applied to the upper surfaces of the wings and the high points on the fuselage. On a P-39 painted in a dark sand color, I used a flesh color, yellow and burnt siena.

Whatever the technique, I recommend testing on a piece of scrap, before you try the technique on a model (though I often don't follow that advice myself ).

Hope that helps!
Brad

 

[Arach]

I'm a little lost on the oils. I've never heard of it. Thanks for the speedy replies. I'll post some of my builds a bit later.