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Bringing Out the Details

Drybrushing is, perhaps, one of the most misunderstood Processes in modeling. While the mechanics are simple, the technique itself requires practice, patience, and an understanding that a little is a lot.

Let’s begin with a word of caution. Drybrushing in a mildly violent process that will wipe away small photo etched parts like a rip tide. It’s best to leave off photo-etched parts like levers or other small parts that stick up ‘till after.
The prior article on washes helped us establish the dark shades on our kit to give the effect of some depth. Drybrushing is used to highlight the raised areas to increase the feeling of depth. The most common mistake made when drybrushing is that it’s overdone. This, in my opinion, tends to make the model look cartoonish, or artificial. So your kit’s sitting there all glossed up, with a nice wash surrounding the raised details and sunk into the recessed details and we’re ready to drybrush.

We’ll begin the process with a nice flatcoat. I like Model Master dullcoat laquer. The reason for the flatcoat is exactly the opposite of the pre-wash gloss. The flatcoat creates a rough surface that will pull the pigment off your brush. Without a flatcoat the drybrushing will not work as well because you need more paint to get it to appear on a gloss surface and what it ends up looking like is brush painted highlights-not the effect we’re going for at all.