Mottling Effect
 
Posted By: Tom Matlosz <slayer14@gateway.net>
Date: Thursday, 29 October 1998, at 5:16 p.m.
 
Regardless of all the controversy surrounding the brown mottling on B5N Kates, call anyone help me on how to go about applying it in 1/48 scale. I am not adept at freehand demarcation lines, opting for masking instead. I recall an old Finescale Modeler article on using an index card with randomly placed odd shaped holes to use as a stencil of sorts. Anyone any ideas?
 
Thanks,
 
Tom Matlosz
 
Re: Mottling Effect
 
Posted By: Dave Pluth <info@j-aircraft.com>
Date: Friday, 30 October 1998, at 11:30 a.m.
 
In Response To: Mottling Effect (Tom Matlosz)
 
Tom,
 
I've had some success using a cuttout template. Basically I use a file folder, trace the piece that I want mottled, draw the pattern and cut it out. You only need to do one wing and one fuselage half as you can turn it around an use it on the other side. Do some testing to see how your airbrush will spray through the pattern and then apply it to the aircraft. It's worth the extra time that it takes to do all the cutting out.
 
-Dave
 
Re: Mottling Effect
 
Posted By: Terry Garrard <tgarrard@juno.com>
Date: Friday, 30 October 1998, at 2:42 p.m.
 
In Response To: Mottling Effect (Tom Matlosz)
 
I've never had a whole lot of success with stencils or soft mask techniques for camo patterns. It took a lot of practice but I wasn't happy until I was able to do these freehand with an airbrush. You need to learn how to coax just the right amount of paint out of the airbrush and I think you'll be happy with the randomness and feathered edges that you will be able to create with experience.
 
Re: Mottling Effect
 
Posted By: Tom Matlosz <slayer14@gateway.net>
Date: Friday, 30 October 1998, at 3:23 p.m.
 
In Response To: Re: Mottling Effect (Dave Pluth)
 
Dave,
 
Thanks, I forgot to mention, I'm sold on enamel or laquer based paints. My favorites are Modek Master II series and Floquil. Personally, I haven't had good success with acrylics. I use acrylic artists ink (black and white to get the shade of gray I want) and a technical drafting pen for panel lines. I've tried artist oil washes over gloss Testors laquer clear coat on a test piece but haven't mastered this technique yet. I'll try it again over Future floor polish. I do like the color possibilities of weathering with oils however.
 
Tom
 
More Mottling
 
Posted By: S. Lorinczi <slorinczi@earthlink.net>
Date: Sunday, 16 May 1999, at 11:06 p.m.
 
First of all, many thanks for the replies. I'm a fan of FSM
and other publications, but IMHO the interactivity of these
First of all, many thanks for the replies to my earlier queries. I'm a fan of FSM and some other publications, but as far as I'm concerned, the interactivity of these message boards is far more useful.
 
On to my question. Having established some techniques for mottling over NMH, what should be demarcation lines (of hinomarus, engine cowlings/walkways, and yellow leading edge stripes) look like?
I've seen photos of clean, tight lines--as if the hinomarus etc.--had been repainted over the mottling--and also what appears to be deliberate overspray. It makes sense that the desperation of the Japanese situation
late in the war would have precluded careful painting in many cases, but why would clean and rough borders appear on the same plane? In other words, is there an explanation other than "we didn't have time?"
 
Again, thanks in advance,
Seth
 
Re: More Mottling
 
Posted By: Rob Graham <rgraham111@aol.com>
Date: Monday, 17 May 1999, at 8:55 a.m.
 
In Response To: More Mottling (S. Lorinczi)
 
Seth:
 
That's the beauty and the curse of mottling. It's often random and too hard to say what the mottling looked like.
 
If you have several views of the same aircraft, you can get it pretty accurate. Usually, though, you have to take a best guess.
 
My theory is that more than one person painted the mottling at different times. I don't know this as a fact, but I think it's most likely. I would not be too surprised to learn that some mottling had some Kanji "hidden" in the pattern. I haven't seen it, but I haven't looked that closely yet.
 
I have seen what you commented on, as well, and I think there would have been some interesting stories behind each instance.
 
Take care,
--Rob
 
Re: More Mottling
 
Posted By: Don Marsh <marsh44@fuse.net>
Date: Tuesday, 18 May 1999, at 10:24 p.m.
 
In Response To: More Mottling (S. Lorinczi)
 
Seth,
 
I would concur with Rob. One can find demarcations, or entire paint jobs for that matter, ranging from very professional to down right pathetic based on the skills of the individuals painting the a/c. Particular a/c paint job mat only be confirmed through photos.
 
As for variation in hard and soft edges on the same a/c, this is most certainlt the result of retouching by different personel at later periods often using what ever tools were available.
 
— Don

Return to Faq