Techniques

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | PART 4

Honestly, the overwhelming majority of the work on the Fiat G.55 came prior to and during painting. The small number of G.55s the Italians managed to build were kept in pretty solid condition, and since the historical photos show little evidence for it, I decided to avoid anything beyond light weathering. (more…)

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | PART 3

The adventure that has been the Pacific Coast Models Fiat G.55 Centauro finally moves into the paint stage. In addition to the crazy splinter scheme, I’ve decided to use this build to really mess with some new preshading techniques. (more…)

Masking is an inseparable part of modeling – particularly when aircraft are involved. Canopy glass, wing stripes, camoflage…it seems like even on aircraft that are just one color, there’s always something that needs masking.

And one of the more frustrating masking jobs – at least for me – is fuselage bands. Wing stripes are a cinch…you have a big, flat surface to work with. But aircraft fuselages – especially on World War II fighters – are rarely perfectly cylindrical. They taper. They have various ridges and protrusions. All of these make masking a straight band of uniform width a nightmare.

Fortunately, there’s a way around the pain. Here’s how. (more…)

Intro | Part 1 | PART 2

Overall, the surface detail on the Fiat is satisfactory, but the control surface separation lines are rather shallow and vague. So I decided to separate the control surfaces. (more…)

At first, Unsharp Mask sounds like a technique for achieving soft-edge camoflage. Actually, it's a Photoshop filter designed to sharpen a subject against a background. But it can be used…

"Excuse the picture quality, [insert excuse here]". It's a refrain you see often enough on message boards. Shoddy camera equipment. Total lack of know-how. Heck, I even apologize every so…