Making Black Interesting

[Neils]

Hi,

I'm about to start on my Tamiya 1:48 Beaufighter night fighter in hopeful preparation for the group build later on in the year. Usually I've seen pre-shading done by laying black down in line with the panel lines and details, but in this case it's going to be black on black and so probably obscured.

With this in mind how do you go about making an all black model look interesting rather than just a black slab of plastic?

[chief5437]

Don't use black. Use different shades of grey, about 50 should do, lol!

That's what I've seen in the past, lots of variation in tone.

[Joesdad]

Oo good question Neils, Ive never done it myself but a few lads were talking about pre-shading panel lines white, I'm proberly give it ago on me next kit. Gonna keep an eye on your Beau, great looking plane....

Tim

[Watcher]

I remember seeing a Me 110 night fighter done in multiple shades of grey and it looked brilliant. Especially if you imagine new black paint fading over time.

[T3hGuppy]

A Nato Black shade works well as it is a very dark grey.

Will add more depth to the black parts.

[Lee]

Hi,

I'm about to start on my Tamiya 1:48 Beaufighter night fighter in hopeful preparation for the group build later on in the year. Usually I've seen pre-shading done by laying black down in line with the panel lines and details, but in this case it's going to be black on black and so probably obscured.

With this in mind how do you go about making an all black model look interesting rather than just a black slab of plastic?

All greys, no blacks - Tamiya rubber black and Mr Hobby tire black are good places to start.

If you want to enter it into the GB later on in the year, you can't start it until the SIG/GB starts

[conradschmid99]

yeah, only use greys