From here on I’ll be going throught the different painting stages for the Prowler. There will be a good mix of masking, air brushing and hand painting.
Main Body
Warning stripes
I wanted something on this model that was visually striking, a key focal point. I settled on warning stripes on the antenna that hangs over the top of the model. I start with a yellow base as it’s easier to spray black over yellow as opposed to yellow over black.
Once the base yellow is applied, I start preparing the masking tape with points spaced a few mm apart. I connect the points to give me my masking strips, then cut along the lines. Apply the mask … … secure the ends … … then paint it gloss black. Once it’s dry, remove the tape and voila!
Hand painted details
The fingers and recessed areas are hand painted with a custom lacquer dark grey mix. The tanks are handpainted with a gloss black lacquer. I thinned the paint less than normal so the brush marks would remain, giving the tanks a distinctly rough texture.
To add more visual interest I dry brushed the thruster bells and heat sink silver; the rest of the mechanical details are dry brushed bronze. This creates a nice tonal contrast between the ‘cool’ silver and ‘warm’ bronze.
Closing
That’s enough for this post. Next week I’ll get into painting the base and the special effect for the camera lens. Thanks so much for your time, please leave a comment and share this post.