Cockpit Painting Tips - SMAKR Webmaster

COCKPIT PAINTING

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Please Note: This page provides an overview of how I often paint aircraft cockpits, as it is a common tip I get asked to pass on. It is a page that provides advice from MY PERSPECTIVE only. It is the way I do things and it does not mean that it is the best, correct or the way most [competition] modellers do it, so I suggest obtaining information and tips from other sources and doing it how it best suits you. I hope, however, it still gives you some tips and helps you gain ideas!

TECHNIQUES:

You will see the mention of many techniques which should be fairly self explanatory to most modellers. A wash is just that, with an oil based wash colour applied. Although many modellers (myself included) might apply with a brush, and wipe off excess with a dry rag/cloth. The Base Colour is the basic colour of the cockpit (eg: Interior Green) and is usually applied by hand painting or spray painting, generally to the walls, floor and other structural parts of the cockpit. Drybrushing is a common term/technique where you dip your brush in paint and wipe it over tissue, cloth etc to the point where almost all the paint has gone, the brush is almost dry - hence the term.

PAINTING COCKPITS:

The following steps provide an overview of generally my most detailed painting, usually where I have the cockpit open or where the detail can be seen and I want it to show all my handiwork! I will miss some steps and cut corners when closing off the cockpit that might not be seen or where I don't want to put in the huge effort. This is my personal line I draw, so I do not waste effort on areas that won't be seen, I don't get carried away with AMS symptons and it speeds up the project so I actually can enjoy the whole kit.

I find that cockpit detailing is the most time consuming of undertaking a model building project but once completed, everything else runs much more smoothly... and quickly.

I should also mention that the following steps assume a basic standard Interior Green (or similarly standard colour such as a light grey rather than say black and aluminium) cockpit. Adjustments need to be made for contrastly different colours - for example a black cockpit would miss out part of (2) as there would be no need to paint radio boxes black when the cockpit is already that shade. Or, for an aluminium cockpit I would not add yellow/white for depth, I would use a different shade of aluminium (perhaps polished or matt depending on the rest of the cockpit) or add a darker colour which gives a sense of depth or a change in light.

Anyway.....!

In the first step I simply attach the main components that all share the same basic interior colour to one of the fuselage halves. I then paint the cockpit its base colour and leave to dry. In most cases I do this by brush painting the surfaces as I find it easier than spray painting - especially in the early stages of a project (ie: forgo the hassle of setting up booths etc!). However, spray painting looks much better!
Once dry, I dry brush a lighter shade of the interior colour usually by adding white or yellow to it. The idea is to highlight shadows, edges, depth etc. Once dry the darker areas, such as radio boxes and other black panels are painted in dark grey. I rarely paint these in black even though in my reviews I might mention I paint the boxes black (because that is their true life colour). Dark Grey or a shade that is almost a "light version of black" is best. Some people add white to their black to achieve this colour. Again this is more about ensuring enough detail can be seen given the 1/72 scale limitations.
Depending on how I feel (as far as level of detailing concerned) I pick out a slightly less dark grey and use that to highlight the boxes and panels painted in "black" above, but quite often I just leave the boxes as they are. I also pick out various knobs, hydraulics, wires and cables in the appropriate colours (red, yellow, white etc) usually by consulting reference material. The seatbelts are added and painted, usually in a light brown/beige colour. You realise at this point how inaccurate most cockpits are in injection molded kits!
That's basically the cockpit done and depending on where I am going with the kit (in terms of how detailed I want it to look), I either add the final touches right here to cut corners, (see 5. below) or apply a gloss cote to seal in the detail. I generally don't wash the interior, but after the gloss dries, some other modellers do this wash with an oil base colour as their next step. If there are any decals to be applied (eg: consoles etc) I apply them at this point onto the gloss surface. Once dry I generally then apply a matt coat and leave that to dry.
The final touches generally include very small bits of silver to simulate chipped areas (that's when I am feeling in a real detailing mood but often I skip this) and then deal with any missed areas and/or touch ups required. Finally I dab a bit of gloss cote in areas to simulate glass, lights and dial faces. I usually apply this with a toothpick or the finest of brushes. Then it is finally time to move onto affixing the fuselage halves together!

So there you have it, the standard way the SMAKR webmaster deals with painting cockpits!

The steps above are generally when I am in a detailing mood, I do take short cuts when I am kitbashing or the cockpit is hardly going to be seen, as I do build wheels up models and thus the cockpit is always closed.

I hope you found some useful tips and it helps you out with your modelling project, but as I said, please consult a group of modellers before relying on any one way to do something. What works best for me is not always the best for others!

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