Designing a shadowbox diorama

[Barney]

HUMBROL RULES

[Hauk]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
Especially Barney, you steel looks better than mine!

For my steel surfaces I first airbrushed them XF-56 Metallic Grey Matt that was rubbed with a 5B pencil. Final polish by thumb.
I am not entirely happy with the results, some areas look good, but the effect also varies a lot with the angle of the light. The surface often look too coarse as well. It looks fine on the belt wheels at the back of the lathe, but for other surfaces it looks quite unrealistic. It is a problem with many airbrushed metallic paints.  I will certainly try certainly try Barneys technique.

Anyone tried Alclad Steel or AK Interactives Xtreme Metal steel, by the way? I have used Alclad for copper finishes, and it is really good for that. Unsure about how alclad is for the more muted look of bare, cast steel.

[Barney]

I am no expert model painter - I got this tip for metal surface from a top of the range model painter Loco
many years ago

As he said keep it simple and you can't go wrong - and remember the more coats of Sealers / undercoats and additives the greater the loss of detail will be . The motor rail bike Im doing at the moment Has a lot of Aluminium some polished so if its a metal like Aluminium  I use a lighter shade  of undercoat grey and then dry brush the metal coat- the dryer the better -  Main thing is IT WORKS
Barney   

[finescalerr]

This is a very good tutorial on replicating a metal finish. Thanks, guys. -- Russ

[Bernhard]

Very interesting and helpful. Thanks, Hauk and Barney.

Bernhard