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Biplane rib shadowing the VV non-airbrush way

Posted: June 27th, 2013, 2:15 am
by VickersVandal
I've seen some beautiful rib detailing out there and one of the better techniques appears to be taping off the ribs and spraying a very very fine coat of smoke colour over them.
See here for example, particularly with regard to the tail surfaces.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/model ... post499051;

However, I don't use an airbrush (due to workspace/time restrictions) so I needed an alternative. My method involves lightly brushing pencil graphite powder over rib tapes or a tape template, using a broad bristled brush I just rub a pencil on emery paper to get the powder.
When the tapes or template are down its quite difficult to see how thick the graphite has laid down so it's extremely important not to overdo it.

I'm very pleased at how it comes out. Template method is super quick and possibly the better one because the line between rib and shadow is not so harsh.

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Compare the above to the Camel in the IWM

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And yes, for anyone following the Felixstowe Saga, this brings the cursed thing one step closer to completion. I really didn't want to finish it without adding some sort of rib detail.

Re: Biplane rib shadowing the VV non-airbrush way

Posted: June 27th, 2013, 2:55 am
by PaulBradley
Great, and simple, method - cheers, VV!

Re: Biplane rib shadowing the VV non-airbrush way

Posted: June 27th, 2013, 4:50 am
by VickersVandal
You're welcome. Always good to share the love.

Oh, and don't EVER attempt to lay tape over Roden decals. Stupid stupid stupid! What was I thinking??!

Re: Biplane rib shadowing the VV non-airbrush way

Posted: June 27th, 2013, 10:19 pm
by AndrewR
VickersVandal wrote:You're welcome. Always good to share the love.

Oh, and don't EVER attempt to lay tape over Roden decals. Stupid stupid stupid! What was I thinking??!
I did the same on some lozenge camouflage decal once... :omg Never again! :roll:

That is a neat idea on the tapes. I've usually just dry brushed a slightly lighter shade of CDL on my biplanes where necessary, but your method looks much better.

cheers

Andrew

Re: Biplane rib shadowing the VV non-airbrush way

Posted: September 28th, 2016, 1:21 pm
by VickersVandal
Thanks to the evil of imageshack, all my original images are gone. I am using this method again at the moment for some Sopwith Camels so I thought I'd pop some pictures up.
Of the three you can see, the one on the left has no shading yet, in the middle has had an overly judicious application and will need to be repainted and shaded again. On the right is in the process of applying it.
However, due to my crappy camera, none of that is really visible in these photos. At least you can see the template anyway.

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Re: Biplane rib shadowing the VV non-airbrush way

Posted: July 12th, 2019, 3:44 pm
by VickersVandal
It looks like all images in this thread are a write-off. As I am using this technique again for a Bristol Fighter, I can show it once more. Hopefully now that I host my images in my google pics account, they will remain. Only one of these is smaller than 800 pixels so the others are weblinks.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VMn6NBBEfHE67Tad9;

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https://photos.app.goo.gl/8hLAJDKw7qv4hr3P8;

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qpfXS2GX6DGA1R82A;