ive just started to put some mottling on this model, rlm 75 over rlm 76 and im not so sure it looks ok, the paint guide isnt any help at all it just shows the top in a light blue with no mottle, but the artwork and photos of the kit built on the box show it as mottled, so i played it by ear, thing is the dark grey seems too dark and not as subtle as i would like. should i use a paler colour for the mottle, or is this an ok colour scheme i.e. was it actually in use?

Colors look fine to me but I begin to detect a pattern in it. Dots along a gentle curve from the wingtip inward?

Or I may be imagining it? it just seems to lack that random pattern.

back to the drawing board i think! youve certainly got a point about the randomness, thats the real trick to these schemes. i always seem to end up with some of the pattern forming lines, no matter how hard i try to scatter the pattern about

as for whether this scheme was actully used, i just found this pic, my kit is an arado ar240 thats very similar to the uhu, so i think ill transfer this pattern onto my model and draw the mottles on in pencil, this should keep it random and uniform

Hi Phil

That looks like some very nicely controlled spraying!

You have to remember the full-sized originals were sprayed by someone equally likely to fall into a pattern. Some reference books on camouflage point out the handiwork of different painters on the same aircraft - exactly because they had distinctive styles or patterns.

All the best

Rowan

thats so true, i am a painter by trade, and i was trying to put myself right in the shoes of a guy at the factory as i did that bit. i guess you can try to get somthing so perfect it looks wrong because of that!

Phil,

I used to be an aircraft painter and although we used to paint to 'standard' schemes, there were always differences in the work from painter to painter. I think it's quite possible that patterns occured on full sized aircraft when this type of camouflage was being applied. Let's face it, they weren't after a showcase finish back then. I also think that if you mottle the rest of the wing you'll lose that 'curve' in the pattern.

Harri

I think what is expressed here is a Trap I often fall into, forming an opinion of the end result too soon.

Your airbrush control is outstanding, pattern or not.

The Trap: Looking at a small area of the project and "guessing" if it's okay.

Remember you've a lot more "mottle" to apply and other markings as well, it's all going to change the "overall" look. Be confident you are going the right direction. So far so good, with this small snippit showing your ability, it will only get better.

Point of natural order: A human being cannot arrange anything in a truely random fashion, our brains don't work like that. (Ask your Doctor if you don't believe it)

Can't wait to see the end result. :-)--

It can be misleading to use other people's builds, profiles or kit diagrams for reference. What you're actually doing is interpreting someone else's interpretation. There are pics of the Ar 240 here, but none in that scheme. I'd suggest going through the pics of different aircraft to get a sense of what was used.
http://www.luftwaffepics.com/

I would suggest staying away from round, uniform sized spots. When I paint a mottle, I tune my airbrush to the absolute finest line it can paint. I then paint the mottles from the outside in, starting with an irregular outline. It looks like you pointed the airbrush at a 90 degree angle and shot a spot. The roundness and overspray make it look that way. I spray the outline at a more oblique angle, about 1/4" away from the surface. Practice it first on a scrap kit, or on the insides of an unbuilt kit's wing. I also spray the largest ones first, then fill in areas with smaller ones. It seems to look more random to me that way.

Good luck, and keep spraying !

thanks for the advice every body, i think my main problem is i started spraying , then had a wobble of confidence in what i was doing, resulting in me trying to change tack partway through which is a recipe for disaster. ill start over with this, and when i do there will be no going back or second guessing myself
cheers phil (well it is friday!)