an xv9 hazard suit commander shas'O R'alai with 2 active shield drones protecting it from small arms while the primary weapon shrugs off a st10 weapon



100% airbrushed Thirdfatecreations.com for basic airbrush tutorials. I wont write a tutorial on this. Someone else is more than happy to get the spotlight on that, let them flatter their egos. Ive got painting to do.



oK, So Ive gotten a few emails on this, I might as well make the info seen by all.

The carbon fiber effect is just an airbrush painting that goes roughly as follows.



1. paint the model a midtone and then add shadows, or start black/white and zenithal/shade/Color modulate (blah blah) to add the appropriate visual interest. The idea here is HIGH contrast so it doesnt dissappear later, it just becomes subtle.

2. Paint a fairly uniform color that is dark over the entire thing. I typically use a cherry black(never pure black, that flattens it) but you can use anythign that looks pretty dark but usually has color. (on this particular model I used very little cherry since I wanted less color on the model to compete with the shields, but on my other models I use more color for higher visual depth/interest.

3. Carefully mask the model with a stencil, or holey fabric. (hex, square, or other in this case) chose the mesh for the type of fiberous look your going for. this one looked more dynamic than the typical square/hex mesh, but was still uniform. (many people are going to swear by one thing or another.... people love swearing for no good reason. all meshes have their place)

4. Spray through the mesh very carefully at ***1 **** angle or a very narrow solid angle so you minimize mask underspray. You can change angle with topology but any given point should be sprayed with a minimal angle spread. (this color will typically be lighter such as white, silver, or metallic something. I like to use complimentary colors to whatever you darkened it with since this gives a nice depth as it approaches black.

5. spray a few streaks of darker , or lighter through the mesh to simulate a reflection of the background. It adds more visual interest but is hard to see on small armor panel sections like this one.

6. darken areas that wont see as much back reflection from the fibers to give the proper illumination depth. It looks nice in some concave corners to highlight one set of fibers but not those on a touching panel.

7. remove the mask and gently blend a few of the darker sections in. Depending on the ambient light you can also lighten a few sections to look like the entire array of fibers is reflecting.

8. I generally think glossy coats look best for carbon fiber, but most of you will prefer matt coatings.



Is this the only way, the best way, the any way.... no. People will say but there is one correct way to do this or that, there isnt. Anyone half clever will find another way so play and have fun painting!



Although I would avoid using pure black. I typically get to a black by translucently complimenting colors, either in layers to get to black, or in the paint mixer.