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Will black primer coat darken the topcoat?
sweaver
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Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2019 - 03:19 PM UTC
I'm building Revell's PT-17 Stearman and looking to find the best match for the USAAF trainer blue. Tamiya's TS-23 Light Blue appears the closest, but needs a touch of darkening. The other blues are too dark.

If I prime the model in black or dark grey instead of white/grey, will that darken the TS-23 sufficiently?


(This is my first kit in several years and I don't have a functioning airbrush, so limited to Tamiya and other spray colors.)

Mortifa
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Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2019 - 03:22 PM UTC
The darker the primer the darker the top coat.

Try it out first and see what the results are like, use a plastic spoon as the test subject.
sweaver
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Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2019 - 03:36 PM UTC
Clever. I like that.
Mortifa
#464
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Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2019 - 04:24 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Clever. I like that.



Wish I could take credit but the plastic spoon idea came from the Ammo of Mig guy.
Littorio
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Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2019 - 04:52 PM UTC
Apparently orange or red primer works best under yellow.

White makes it too pale and black is a B**** to cover with yellow.
165thspc
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Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2019 - 10:35 PM UTC
Suggestion: prime with black to darken the blue, then mask for the yellow and re-prime with lite gray or dark red primer before laying down the yellow.
Scarred
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Posted: Friday, April 05, 2019 - 03:05 AM UTC
Or build in sub-assemblies, prime each one the color you need, final assembly, then mask and paint. If I have a question about how the paint looks on the kit, I test on the inside of the hull (I mainly build armor but have done this on cars, planes, spaceships) where it won't show after building.
sweaver
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Posted: Friday, April 05, 2019 - 03:24 AM UTC
All good tips.

Fortunately this scheme and kit lends itself well to subassemblies based on color. The wings and tail feathers are yellow and the fuselage is blue. There's some complexity with getting the blue into the right areas in the cockpit holes, but that's solvable.

So my current plan—subject to testing—is to prime the blue parts in black or dark grey, the yellow in primer grey, and the area under the tail striping decal white.
Scarred
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Posted: Friday, April 05, 2019 - 03:44 AM UTC
Sounds good man, post picts during the build and paint if you can.
sweaver
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Posted: Friday, April 05, 2019 - 04:14 AM UTC
Well...all this may be moot. Looks like TS-10 French Blue is a near-perfect match...



Quoted Text

Sounds good man, post picts during the build and paint if you can.



Will do.
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