135
F14A Tomcat - PART TWO


9.
After all the color spots are applied, they are usually a little too bright, so I dry brush again in light gray to tone them down. During this final dry brushing session is where I finally do use silver as a dry brushing color, too. Staying away for the instrument panels, I only dry brush silver onto surfaces that are wear areas. These areas are the floor (or whatever the pilot's feet rest on and the outside corners of the cockpit.

In the Tomcat, I did just as I wrote here. I toned down the yellows and reds and silver dry brushed the floor to show the wear areas from the pilot's and RIO's feet.
 


10.
The last thing I do is optional. Sometimes I do it and sometimes I do not. I have not decided whether I like the effect or not. I take clear gloss paint and add a drop to each of the instruments that have glass faces. This includes all the round instruments and the radarscopes. The glare from the gloss paint can add a nice touch to the cockpit, but most cockpit instruments use low glare glass (for obvious reasons), so the effect is not really accurate. I'll let you decide for yourself whether you want to do it or not.
As I am working on the cockpit, I also work on the ejection seats. I use all the same steps and processes to paint the ejection seats, including the simplified (no gloss coat) approach when using kit-provided ejection seats.

About the Author

About David W. Aungst (DWAungst)