Help with digital camo

[wonder squirrel]

Lots of questions here. I want to do a digital camo paint job with four colors on the inside of the body. Specifically, I don't want it to look patchy, plain (dominated by a single color), or like a jigsaw puzzle missing a few pieces, but more even and uniform like an actual military pattern on clothing, etc..

I seen a 'how to' for this somewhere, but searched and couldn't find it again (might have been on another site..?). Things mostly related were people painting guns so they just sprayed the entire thing, applied a few masks, and repeated that pattern a couple times.

So do I want to start with the darkest color first and work to the lightest (reverse from painting the exterior like the guns, etc.)?

Do I cover virtually the entire body with paint masks for the first color?

I've got some inkjet sticker printer paper, if I cover masks with other masks and multiple layers of paint, is there a trick to peeling up one mask and not the rest it may be stuck to?

Would I be better off to make a negative of the mask and use liquid mask and the sticker paper together?

Is the Tamiya paint a good paint or should I look for another brand? The LHS had a good selection of Tamiya and a limited selection of Pactra.

[SMR 510RR]

You have got the idea. The hard part is going to be getting it to lay down nice and straight. I would try to find some vinyl or something like that to use because it will stretch to fit the odd shapes of the body.

When you lay everything out, cover most of the body but try not to overlap the pieces too much because it will be hard to tell whats what after you shoot a color in there. Make sure you use a credit card or something like that to get them all stuck down really well. Also I like to shoot a thin layer first and let it dry, it really helps seal up the tape before shooting your actual coats. Pull 1/3 of them or so, shoot your next color and repeat. It would probably be best to go from dark to light but if you cant help it just shoot some silver before going to the darker color.

I like pactra but the tamiya stuff should be fine.

[jwalker]

Here is the body i did with digi camo but it is 3 color and painted on the outside, i showed the process of doing it but you just have to do it reversed. You want to start with the top layer first and it needs to be darker, then lay your next layer down after the first layer is dried, so on and so on. Tamiya paint will be fine as long as the number starts with a letter P.
~" Rc4wd's RCX TIMBERWOLF "~ Built by Run2jeepn

[wonder squirrel]

Originally Posted by SMR 510RR

You have got the idea. The hard part is going to be getting it to lay down nice and straight. I would try to find some vinyl or something like that to use because it will stretch to fit the odd shapes of the body.

When you lay everything out, cover most of the body but try not to overlap the pieces too much because it will be hard to tell whats what after you shoot a color in there. Make sure you use a credit card or something like that to get them all stuck down really well. Also I like to shoot a thin layer first and let it dry, it really helps seal up the tape before shooting your actual coats. Pull 1/3 of them or so, shoot your next color and repeat. It would probably be best to go from dark to light but if you cant help it just shoot some silver before going to the darker color.

I like pactra but the tamiya stuff should be fine.

Do they make vinyl sticker paper for inkjets? I'm going to start with a CKRC bug body so virtually every panel is rounded.

Originally Posted by jwalker

Here is the body i did with digi camo but it is 3 color and painted on the outside, i showed the process of doing it but you just have to do it reversed. You want to start with the top layer first and it needs to be darker, then lay your next layer down after the first layer is dried, so on and so on. Tamiya paint will be fine as long as the number starts with a letter P.
~" Rc4wd's RCX TIMBERWOLF "~ Built by Run2jeepn

Thats great looking. I looked that one over a few times. How did you make the paint masks? I like the size of those but it must have taken quite awhile to cut those out. The masks I printed out are on a grid and roughly .150" square, those of yours look much much smaller.

[jwalker]

I didn't cut those out, i have a secret source for the paint mask, they come in negative and positive on a big roll.

[MnRockCrawler]

Originally Posted by jwalker

Here is the body i did with digi camo but it is 3 color and painted on the outside, i showed the process of doing it but you just have to do it reversed. You want to start with the top layer first and it needs to be darker, then lay your next layer down after the first layer is dried, so on and so on. Tamiya paint will be fine as long as the number starts with a letter P.
~" Rc4wd's RCX TIMBERWOLF "~ Built by Run2jeepn

That looks nice but I still think it looks too spaced out. Too much back color on it.
When I think of digital camo, I think of like this..
http://www.theblackswantheory.org/wp...igitalcamo.jpg

[wonder squirrel]

Originally Posted by MnRockCrawler

That looks nice but I still think it looks too spaced out. Too much back color on it.
When I think of digital camo, I think of like this..
http://www.theblackswantheory.org/wp...igitalcamo.jpg

That's what im shooting for overall. Just going to be difficult to get right the first time since I can't go back and add more if its too sparse.

[BEELZEBOB]

Originally Posted by MnRockCrawler

That looks nice but I still think it looks too spaced out. Too much back color on it.
When I think of digital camo, I think of like this..
http://www.theblackswantheory.org/wp...igitalcamo.jpg

Yea, the puzzle piece/ solid block digital camo is a fail to me.

I have seen a few good digicamo paint jobs, but not many.


I would almost wonder, if getting a "skin" printed or using the cool picture glue and printing out some REAL digital camo patters would be the way to go>

[Rockthrasher]

Take a look at Tacticalcamo, they have a good selection of camo paint mask patterns to choose from.
http://www.tacticalcamo.com/Paint-Stencils.html

[BEELZEBOB]

that snake skin is so goin on the rail of my AR!

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by MnRockCrawler

That looks nice but I still think it looks too spaced out. Too much back color on it.
When I think of digital camo, I think of like this..
http://www.theblackswantheory.org/wp...igitalcamo.jpg

the digi cam i used wasn't your basic camo, it was tiger striped digi camo, i was short on time so I couldn't fill it in alot more like i wanted.

Originally Posted by Rockthrasher

Take a look at Tacticalcamo, they have a good selection of camo paint mask patterns to choose from.
http://www.tacticalcamo.com/Paint-Stencils.html

Damn, you found my secret stash, lol. They make some awesome camo mask.

[wonder squirrel]

Doesn't look like my sticker paper masks are going to work. I stuck one to another overnight and peeled them apart. The paper sort of tears as you lift it.

[momo.75]

It isn't a crawler lid, but this is one i did in Pearl white, silver and gunmetal gray. It was all hand cut. I made a template on my computer and printed it out. Then i just held it inside the body and traced it off on the outside. I really just used it as a reference since there isn't any set pattern.

[wonder squirrel]

Originally Posted by momo.75

It isn't a crawler lid, but this is one i did in Pearl white, silver and gunmetal gray. It was all hand cut. I made a template on my computer and printed it out. Then i just held it inside the body and traced it off on the outside. I really just used it as a reference since there isn't any set pattern.

Thats painted on the outside?

[momo.75]

That is all painted on the inside. I used liquid mask and an Xacto.

[MnRockCrawler]

Nice work momo. That looks great!

Ive made some masks and cut them out on my plotter but a person would be there all day weeding after it was laid out..

[momo.75]

Thanks. I know what you mean. I set up some other files and had a buddy cut them out for me on his plotter. It took me two nights just to weed them out. But it sure beats the hell out of cutting them by hand.