Painting details is one of the best parts of model building. I’ve always enjoyed the process of detailing lots and lots of little greeblies, bits, and pieces. Even as a kid I was fascinated by the process. While I loved building Monogram models, the ones that really grabbed my attention were crammed with detail.
I recall the Christmas of 1978. I’d been given Monogram’s 1/48 scale B-17G Flying Fortress. The entire fuselage was crammed full of all manner of bits. It took me weeks to paint it all – and I loved every minute of it.
Even today, I tend to look for kits that have loads of little details that I can paint. Hoses, tubes, lumps, bumps, bolts, hatches, knobs, and dials – all are excellent fodder!
Painting Details – The Goal
The goal in painting all of the details is not just to add a layer of paint of course. I always want to think it through. What color would this be? Why would it be that? Does it work with the rest of the model? Is it a point of emphasis? All of these are things I try to factor in as I paint.
The painting process itself almost always involves multiple colors. Because the details tend to be really small, inherently they don’t have enough surface space to produce satisfying shadows and highlights. So the clever use of varying colors of paint, shades and washes, and other basic painting techniques help.
The goal of course is to build these one on top of another to produce a result that gives depth. Properly done, it invites the brain to give weight and substance to the details when it simply isn’t there. I suppose if there were “magic” involved in modeling, that would be it.
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