Modeling Achilles Heel

[Clunkmeister]

Modulating a solid color

[TJTX]

22 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

Modulating a solid color

Yes, as discussed over lunch.   I'm gonna try real hard on the Thud to accomplish that.

[belugawhaleman]

After a long absence from the hobby, I'm finding clear coats and more recently hand painting tires on model armor. My eyesight and now aged and unsteady hands. Also, I think I chose the wrong paint. I used tamiya Flat black with a little ( probably too much)

of retarder added. I got an uneven finish with areas coming out glossy and taking a long

time to dry. Next time I'll either mask and airbrush or use tamiya Flat black without the retarder that I clearly don't know how to use. In my younger years I used to mix a semi gloss dark gray that looked like rubber. I had much better luck then.

[Clunkmeister]

3 hours ago, belugawhaleman said:

After a long absence from the hobby, I'm finding clear coats and more recently hand painting tires on model armor. My eyesight and now aged and unsteady hands. Also, I think I chose the wrong paint. I used tamiya Flat black with a little ( probably too much)

of retarder added. I got an uneven finish with areas coming out glossy and taking a long

time to dry. Next time I'll either mask and airbrush or use tamiya Flat black without the retarder that I clearly don't know how to use. In my younger years I used to mix a semi gloss dark gray that looked like rubber. I had much better luck then.

We’re all here to help if we can.

Try this:

Instead of “black” use a very dark grey. Black on a model often shows way to stark, and you can get away with graying it out some. Real tires are more grey than black as well.

I use Gunze RLM66 and mix it with Leveling Thinner to airbrush.   RLM66 to me hits black perfectly in 1/32.  

[DocRob]

6 hours ago, belugawhaleman said:

After a long absence from the hobby, I'm finding clear coats and more recently hand painting tires on model armor. My eyesight and now aged and unsteady hands. Also, I think I chose the wrong paint. I used tamiya Flat black with a little ( probably too much)

of retarder added. I got an uneven finish with areas coming out glossy and taking a long

time to dry. Next time I'll either mask and airbrush or use tamiya Flat black without the retarder that I clearly don't know how to use. In my younger years I used to mix a semi gloss dark gray that looked like rubber. I had much better luck then.

Like Ernie said, I rarely use real black on models. For tank wheels, I use Tamiyas Nato black as a base, but always airbrushed. Brushpainting is another Achilles Heel to me, I get uneven results like you. 
For airplane wheels, which often have a larger surface, I use my trusted Lifecolour Black set, which consisted of six differently shaded near blacks.

This one shows the multi coloured attempt on my 1/48 Mig-31

Here it is Nato Black sprayed on T-90 wheels without modulation, but with later to follow weathering (the track is only primed here)

This one has Nato Black sprayed on the rubber rims and got some denting, because of heavy use and tear, while on other road wheels the rubber burnt away.

[1to1scale]

10 hours ago, TJTX said:

Yes, as discussed over lunch.   I'm gonna try real hard on the Thud to accomplish that.

I follow the “Doog” method. Prime the whole model in black, then paint tiny little squiggles everywhere to fill in each color gradually, make sure the paint is thin and the lowest pressure it will spray, then use minimal paint, takes many layers. MRP paint is perfect for this method, for MR Color, thin the crap out of it, maybe 70-80% leveling thinner. I pre thin my MR Color and put it in glass bottles. One advantage of this method, is that you have zero waste or overspray, it’s amazing how little paint you use when doing this, I got three whole models out of one bottle of MRP Ghost Gray.

[Clunkmeister]

Neat trick, Mark.  I like it. I’ve tried, say on a solid OD aircraft, to paint the entire thing the main color, then mist a slightly lightened shade of many n in the middle of panels, followed by a slightly darkened shade in depressions. It’s worked well for me, some iMessage brilliantly, but I’m inconsistent with it. 

I’ll give your method a try on my 109 test mule. 

[1to1scale]

15 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

Neat trick, Mark.  I like it. I’ve tried, say on a solid OD aircraft, to paint the entire thing the main color, then mist a slightly lightened shade of many n in the middle of panels, followed by a slightly darkened shade in depressions. It’s worked well for me, some iMessage brilliantly, but I’m inconsistent with it. 

I’ll give your method a try on my 109 test mule. 

It really works more consistently if you black base it, as long as you don’t go to far and just bomb the color it, using a very thinned color helps. These pics are not great, but the mottling shows up even better in person, and the colors are a bit more muted.