Accurate painting part 2: Approaches for 1/48

In my first part of accurate painting considerations, I have provided some historical background and constraints within contemporary context, as well as why even authentic material is not always reliable as a source of information.

In this article, I will reflect on my own best practices on how to deal with these limitations and make the best usage of available sources of documentation when painting 1/48 aircrafts.

Picking your subject

Like many other modellers, I do not always stick to the decorations and paint guides that are offered by the stock kit. I like to add a bit of individuality to my kits or recreate a historical template that inspired me for some reason. If the specific chosen bird is available by default, that’s fine – if not, I often go for aftermarket decals and / or loot my decal dungeon (you always keep your spare decals, don’t you?). I will usually try to paint generic features like fuselage bands or invasion stripes rather than using decals.

Unless you want to build a kit as it is boxed, the first thing to do is to get an idea of what subject you want to be doing. Refer to available reference material – photos found in publications or on the internet, subjects seen on movies, scale model from forums or exhibitions that you would like to recreate, etc. Your reasons and sources on why and where you pick a specific subject are totally irrelevant – this is your very personal choice.

Next, try to get more information on the context. If you can answer the following points, you will be able to deduce the impact on your paint job:

• Track or narrow down the moment in time for contemporary camouflage / interior patterns and colours

• The operational theater will be helpful for camouflage pattern as well as the intended degree of weathering, fading and aging

• Determining the squadron or unit indicates not only specific markings, but can also be used as “gap filler”. I.e., if you have a picture from the left wing of a bird and the right wing from another one of the same unit, chances are high that you can use both for your camouflage or other patterns.

• Look for any unique features. The most common ones are of course the individual identification marks, but also pilot’s personal insignia, nose art, kill marks etc. The latter especially applies to aces, whose aircrafts are usually well documented and where appropriate aftermarket decals exist.

This model of a SB2U represents one of the stars of the Warner Brothers Movie "Dive Bomber" (1940) and is thus well documented

Check the real thing

As a modeller, you might want to seize opportunities to visit relevant aircraft museums or airshows for current or future projects whenever you come across one.

Both fully restored aircrafts as well as genuine parts are precious sources of information, although potential subjects to restrictions.

You will not only benefit from original colours, camouflage patterns and markings, but also get a chance to focus on details and paintings of undercarriage, wheels & wheel wells, cockpits, engines, exhausts and many more.

Despite of the restored exhibits not being completely genuine, relevant museums remain an excellent source of information and are always worth a visit.

A “walkaround” on your favourite birds with the camera of your mobile device will add valuable content to your personal documentation and references. Maybe you will even find a subject to build for your next project…

A close shot of the undercarriage of a Spitfire Mk. XIV

Finding the “right” colours

Once you have chosen the subject you want to make, refer to the kit manual for the suggested colours. You can use them “as is” or find alternatives from other brands and other shades.

If you just want to use them as a rough indication, these are your starting point. If so, try to find a paint set for your camouflage where the colours combine well with each other and in comparison to the original. You do no not need to stay within a single paint range, but you should make sure that colours are compatible with each other when using different brands.

Once you have decided on your colour set for the specific theme, you may want to “pre-lighten” the paint jar and use it as home brewed base colour for the related subjects.

For instance, I found Tamiya XF 23 to be a good match for RLM 65, but considered it as too dark. I added about 20% of white after purchasing the jar, re-labelled it and now use it as my standard RLM 65 mixture.

Keeping the example of RLM 65/70/71 camouflage schemes, I noticed on original photos that the 2 upper colours were pretty close to each other. I found Gunze H64 and H65 to be appropriate as is, just lightening them with shading techniques.

My Standard colour set for German RLM 65/70/71 schemes

Scale & light effects

We have already seen the scale effect that causes colours on the model to look darker than on the real thing.

As a modeller, we will aim to counter this effect and overcome this “artificial distance” by creating an illusion of vicinity. The logical basic approach will thus be to lighten the colours.

There are 2 basic options to achieve this:

• Use lighter colours than the recommended ones. This may work for more neutral colours like certain gray tones, but gets more complicated for colours with a larger variety of shades such as green, or very individual tones like Olive Drab or RLM Black green.

• The better option is to lighten the recommended ore close colours by adding white to the base colour. About 10% - 20% will already have positive impact. You could also use other colours for lightening up, such as a light tan tone for brown.

This FW 190 was done without lightening the colours. The RLM 74/57/76 is too dark for 1/48 scale

In order to recreate light effects, I like to use shading techniques:

• Pre-shading: The basic technique consists in applying a light-coloured cote of primer, followed by fine strokes of a darker tone on and next to the panel lines and other shadowed areas, applied with an airbrush. They don’t need to be fully accurate.

  

  A pre-shaded Tamiya Dewoitine D.520

• Base colour: Next, the base colours (= main camouflage scheme) are applied on the pre-shaded areas with several thinned layers. The idea is not to achieve full paint coverage. The pre-shaded areas should still subtly be visible, so that the edges of the panel lines appear a little bit darker.

• Post shading: After applying the base colour and while there still is paint in your airbrush, add more thinner and a few drops of a lighter colour. White will work, but you could also use yellow for olive drab, light blue for medium sea blue etc., depending on the effect you want to create. Apply this new mix on exposed panel lines. Again, you want to create a subtle effect. You could also go a step further and repeat the process, highlighting single panel line are varying the flavouring colour.

The same Dewoitine D.520 after completion. Both pre- and postshading are visible

After your paint job is fully completed, decals have been placed and maybe some weathering and wear applied, you will likely want to apply a final clear cote. Keep in mind that above effects also apply to the degree of shine: A high gloss finish will appear flatter from the distance. Therefore, I usually apply a flat cote on semi-gloss planes, and a semi-gloss finish to gloss planes.

Conclusion

With all of the above said, it gets obvious that there is no ultimate right or wrong.

Of course, we model builders aim to achieve an accurate overall finish. But rather than chasing for little clones of the 1:1 aircraft, the approach should be to send the message “it could likely had looked that way”.

Making the overall appearance look “right” to the eye is more important than 100% accuracy.