| cjcafiero | 04 Mar 2019 7:30 p.m. PST |
Hi guys, I am a miniature builder of reasonable, but not great skill. I am working on a 1:600 Thoroughbred U.S.S. Mohican mini as the Kearsarge. I am comfortable with the scheme of painting for this vessel, but have a question about the areas painted black, like the hull. My experience is using a flat black is too black, or too dark, in scale and does not reflect the fading and wear of being at sea. Any advice on what color or paint to use? I'm supposing the same holds true for many civil war ironclads, so I'm eager for some advice. Thanks all! Btw, my experience thus far; Thoroughbred was quick service, and a fantastic looking ship! |
| Lucius | 04 Mar 2019 7:42 p.m. PST |
My Thoroughbred Kearsarge got a flat black coat, and a significant amount of dark gray weathering. The hull is big enough in 1/600 to do a lot of subtle texturing. So my answer is, black, and about 3 different shades of gray! |
| GROSSMAN | 04 Mar 2019 9:19 p.m. PST |
I have seen people adding a little green to the black to soften it. |
| William Warner | 04 Mar 2019 9:45 p.m. PST |
Colors intensify on small objects, so I agree with Lucius, gray things down considerably. |
 Extra Crispy  | 04 Mar 2019 11:26 p.m. PST |
I pretty much never use black. Panzer Gray, a vary dark gray, is the darkest I'll use. The smaller the scale the lighter I'll go. In 1/600 I'd start with Panzer Gray and follow Lucius. |
| alan L | 05 Mar 2019 4:27 a.m. PST |
Vallejo does a rather useful Black-Grey which is nice and dark, but not a deep black which can be too intense. |
| HMS Exeter | 05 Mar 2019 6:44 a.m. PST |
Walmart has a craft paint color "Pavement" that I rather like. |
| Aethelflaeda was framed | 05 Mar 2019 11:42 a.m. PST |
Add a few drops of white to your black until your eye tells you it is right. |
| Rev Zoom | 06 Mar 2019 3:06 p.m. PST |
For true scale effect, add a percentage of white or gray to the base color equal to the square root of the scale. |
| cjcafiero | 06 Mar 2019 4:07 p.m. PST |
Lol, at 1:600, you'll have to do the math for me! |
| Rev Zoom | 25 Sep 2019 2:55 p.m. PST |
Square root of 600 is about 24. So, add 1/4 white or light gray. |
| Master Caster | 03 Oct 2019 6:07 a.m. PST |
Lucius has it down just about right. The same way I do it. But don't overdo it. A little weathering goes a long way. Also try spraying gloss clear when you think you are done. Touch up paint where needed and then dull Cote a final spray. The resulting light refraction helps immensely to match the scale in your mind's eye.
BTW Lucius, thanks for the vote in the ‘Sculptor' post. Your discount is safe,,,,,,,,whoever you are. Toby Barrett |
| Lucius | 21 Oct 2019 4:10 p.m. PST |
Lol. I've got a ton of your ships, and have spent many happy hours super-detailing them. I'll claim my discount when you finally have time to produce Warrior, Huascar, Shaw, and Amethyst. We"ll both die happy. . . |
 Yellow Admiral  | 24 Oct 2019 10:57 a.m. PST |
Reviving an old thread here with an experiment I just tried: I used a basecoat of very dark gray (with names like "black grey", "scale black", etc.), then used a thinned-down black ink wash over that. Weathering (water drips, smoke streaks, etc.) was drybrushed on over the top of that. This is a relatively easy way to bring out small cast-in details without a lot of cursing, and in small scales does a better job of "blending" than drybrushing dark-to-light. - Ix |
