What Color Panel Lines on a Black Aircraft?

[Les09]

Hi Guy's
Need some advice please. My son bought me the Airfix 1/72 Lancaster BII (the one with the Bristol "Hercules" Engines) for my birthday not long ago, and I was wondering what sort of colour to do the panel lines on the black part of the aircraft, I would think it would be a grey of some sort, but what shade of grey, or what other colour could I use? Any suggestions please. (A very nice kit by the way)

Les

[MarkVerploeg]

I used a medium to light grey wash on a Halifax
I think it was Mig productions neutral wash wich is fairly light grey but not extremely light
Ultimate concrete wash also works

[Les09]

Thanks Mark.

[MarkVerploeg]

Your welcome
Maybe i should mention that i am a armor builder so not the best source of plane building information
But the grey was suggested by some other guys on the forum that are used to building planes
And some fading on the panels will help aswell but in the end a black surface is a unusual thing to work on
That is why the few planes i did build where in lighter colors but that had more to do with the subjects i think

[schweinhund227]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GKp5K9YUjHA/U ... kbird2.JPG


I second that... some sort of light to medium grey would work nice to make those panels pop !

good luck with the build !

[Les09]

Thanks Guy's
This is my first black one I've had to do, (As it was a present, I have to do it.) any source is good Mark, Armour is just a little dirtier....lol, and it's a starting point at least. never faded panels before, so that should be interesting.

Cheers Les

[Avgas]

What do you fade black panels to though? That's an interesting one as I have a P-61 in the stash. Can't fade them to a lighter black surely...'cos then it's not black.

[Les09]

Good question Dave,
I don't know myself because I've never done it, But I would think just lightening the black a shade should do it, just to make it look a little dusty. and black may well fade a little in the sun, I don't know. but someone with more experience may enlighten us soon.

Cheers Les

[chief5437]

My only advice would be to not use black. Using different shades of dark greys will give a better effect. HTH

[MarkVerploeg]

What do you fade black panels to though? That's an interesting one as I have a P-61 in the stash. Can't fade them to a lighter black surely...'cos then it's not black.

You are right about it not being black anymore
But dark grey like a Antracite or tyre black can be used
You only need to stick to the very dark tones of grey for it to work
But a other point of view may be that it is on the lower part of the wing so it doesn't get sun exposure
Even then you can do things to make it look better like chipping and streaking
Bombers would fly through areas that where protected with FlaK guns like the FlaK 18, 36 or 37 all of wich are 8.8 cm guns
These would create a lot of smoke and powder residue that would stick on the wings and with the moisture in the air at those altitudes create streaks over and under the wings
But that is just my thought on it though
I haven't build enough planes to say i tried it all

[Les09]

Cheers Chief, Mark.
All good advice, and all noted.
Thanks Again

Les

[Joe]

Get your black basecoat down then, using the same color black, add about 80% thinner (thinner to paint ratio) to your color cup. Then add a drop or two of medium or light grey. The thinner keeps you from obliterating you basecoat. Using low pressure, carefully fill in the inner panel sections but not going all the way out to the panel lines. Adjust color according to your likes. I have not done this with black before but I have with some dark colors and I thought the result was excellent!

Good Luck!

Joe

[Les09]

Cheers Joe,
I'm not lucky enough to have an Airbrush, But I don't see why I can't try the same with a hairy stick, only one way to find out.

Les

[MarkVerploeg]

Nothing wrong with not owning a AB
They are expensive and i only bought mine after i received the tip money at work (i work in a restaurant)
But you could try it
I have been playing with making transparent layers with a brush
I use vallejo modelcolor paints for brushpainting and with water you can dilute them pretty far without the loss of consistency
If you have some spare parts or styrene sheet you can try if it works
It is better to trow a scrap part in the bin then a model after all

[wookiee76]

I had a similar issue on my sr71, in the end i painted it a very dark grey and then did the wash with black, there are some pics in the i spy gb thread.

[Les09]

Thanks Mark.
I will try out your way, and see what I come up with, Thanks again for all your help and advice. What a fine forum this is.

Les

[Les09]

Cheers Wookiee,
Will go and have a look at it now.

[Gaz262]

Some say the Luftwaffe had a system for their black - RLM22 Schwartz....RLM22a (DunkelSchwartz), RLM22b (MittelSchwartz) & RLM22c (LictenSchwartz).
Maybe Hannants have these colours in their Xtracolor/Xtracrylics range?

[Avgas]

Good tips everyone, great stuff!