GB. Tiger I. Part 2. Painting the B&W base

PREPARING THE BASE TO WORK

When you´re painting a kit, all the steps are important. So, I can´t say that these three first steps are the most important. but, for many modellers, the bad results painting with the airbrush starts here.

Picture 1: In this step, you can see Gunze´s Metal primer. I always apply this primer with a brush over the metal surfaces. Gun barrel, PE parts . All metal parts are covered with a thick, really thick coat of this product. This protect the metal parts from aggressive painting thinners and avoid the paint to peel off.

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Picture 2: Once Gunze´s primer is dry, I apply with an airbrush Tamiya´s surface primer. This is the first time I use the white primer and I must say that it´s more difficult to apply than the grey one. Very important. An airbrush is not a brush. You do not have to cover a surface the first time you paint over it. No no no do it in several fine coats, the price is to achieve a nice surface, not finish the first!. I´ll insist a lot about this. The airbrush is you friend, he can really make you life easier! Just use it in the correct way.

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Picture 3: One of the most desperate moments for the modeller is when he discover than the paint over the kit is granulated. People use to hate this, and therefore, the airbrush. There are several variables that helps the enemy to granulate your kit surfaces, lack of moisture in the air, too much dust in the environment, bad paint, bad airbrush but even in the worst situation, you have a great ally: a fine sand paper. Use it when necessary over granulated surfaces (be careful with PE parts!), and, very important, the surface must be soft and clean as the skin of a baby!. Of course, if you´re making a big tank with rough surfaces no matter, but a smooth surface prior painting is start playing with advantage!

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Now, we have to start preparing our Tiger´s skin. Here starts the challenge. Why this technique?. In my case, because I have no a clear idea about colour theory! Most of times, when I want to lighten or darken a colour (dark yellow, for example), the results are anything but harmonics. So, I´ll make the zenithal or modulation effects with a black-grey-white series with no chance of mistake as I just will use black and white colour. Of course, actually you can find a lot of colour sets that makes you life easier (AK Interactive, Lifecolor) and I strongly recommend them. But as I use to customize a lot my base colours and I´m a little bit poor ( :^(), I´ve invented (¿¿??) this technique to achieve similar effects just with black and white paint (and the base color). Hope you like it!!


Picture 4: General preshading. For me is an important step as I help to to start visualizing the final result. I can discover light effects, have a preliminary idea about the weathering and the most attractive parts of the kit (for painting). With this B&W technique not too much of this step will be seen later (just a little bit, enough to keep the future general looking). I used a 90% black 10% mix applied with my airbrush (I need a new one,,,any suggestions?), using Tamiya acrylic paint thinned with Lacquer Thinner. I´ll repeat this hundred times use your airbrush not like a brush. To pass over a surface do not implies the surface is painted. It´ll be painted may be the 6-710 time you pass over it.

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Picture 5; Using first a 80% white and 20% black, I started to paint the general colour of my B&W base, As usually, the paint is heavily thinned as I also want that the preshading work can be seen under this general base colour. Adding each time more white to the mix, I start to play with the modulation and zenithal lights over the vehicle. The last step is made using pure white paint. Yes, I know, some skills with airbrush are required, but this preliminary base is a great choice to start taking confidence with one of your best weapons!. Always remember, an airbrush is not a brush. Always thinned paint, move quickly but with precision (the same precision you use to make incredible PE detailing work!). Always try on a piece of paper before painting your model. A nice base coat, even without any kind of modulation or highlights, always takes 2 or 3 sessions. In the first session, the paint should be barely visible. Do it always little by little. Due to high temperatures here in Madrid and the dry environment, I´ve problems painting. Even with care, some times the paint arrives dry to the surfaces but remember, your friend the sandpaper is always there, supporting you!

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Picture 6: Using pure white acrylic paint from Vallejo, with a brush, I just painted some details here and there (clasp, rivets, edges). I played with the number of coats of paint (one is never enough, like with airbrush) so, not all the details have the same white intensity. I always look for very rich bases, with several colour shades. The result by now looks strange, even the pictures seems rare (the white background does not help!), but now we have the perfect base for chipping and weathering! Stay tunned!

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