Mr. Color - Smoke Gray

Smoke gray for shadows and sooting

Smoke Gray is a dark neutral gray with a sooty cast. It is reached for where a surface should darken but not go black: around exhaust nozzles, the marks left by firing behind a muzzle, deepening the shadow in panel lines or the first step in graduating a gray camouflage.

What it is. The Mr. Color range is built on a nitrocellulose binder, so it is a lacquer paint, not a water-thinnable acrylic. From that follow quick drying, a hard and mechanically resistant film and calm tolerance of further layers applied over it.

How it is applied. The manufacturer intends this range for airbrush spraying and does not recommend brush application — the paint drags behind the bristles and leaves marks. Stir the contents of the bottle thoroughly before work, the pigment settles at the bottom. It is thinned with Mr. Color Thinner or Mr. Color Leveling Thinner, and the recommended thinning is 1:1 to 2:1 according to the density of the paint.

The base decides. For the shade to come out evenly and to cover in one go it pays to unify the color of the model first with a coat of primer. On parts made up of differently colored plastic, resin and photo-etched metal a white primer of the same brand is in order, and it will also raise the brightness of the final tone.

How to work with smoke gray

• Apply heavily thinned paint in several light passes
• Hold the airbrush further from the surface; a soft edge matters with sooting
• Run the marks with the airflow, not across the fuselage
• Judge the effect in daylight and only after it has dried

The commonest mistake is too much of it. Sooting behind an exhaust is noticeable on real machines, but it never covers the original color completely, so the shade of the airframe should stay visible underneath.