MAPPING TECHNIQUE LIGHTS & SHADOWS SET

Breaking up a uniform surface

A large smooth area painted in a single shade looks dead on a model. A real machine is put together from panels that each age in their own way: one was replaced after damage, another got a fresh coat of paint, a third was burned by the sun and a fourth is greasy from maintenance. The technique called mapping imitates that mismatch by setting irregular lighter and darker islands into the uniform area and blending their edges away to nothing.

The make-up of the package matches that. Sepia brown and light gray hold the muted end, warm sand with Naples yellow lights the area up, ocher makes the transition between the two extremes, and the green pigment serves to knock back a base that would look too saturated once sprayed.

The effect is strongest wherever a single color has plenty of room: on the fuselages of transport aircraft, on the sides of self-propelled guns or on the decks of ships. On a varied camouflage made up of several patches the area has nowhere left to grow and the treatment is easily overdone.

Advice on the procedure

You always work one panel at a time, and the brush is never drawn across a riveted seam, so that the transition stays inside the bounded area. The amount of paint should be less than seems necessary; exaggerated contrast destroys the sense of scale faster than its complete absence.

The finished coat needs to be left overnight. Only then will it take a matte coat and the steps that follow, that is, a wash into the panel lines or dust pigments. Let the model rest between attempts, so that you can see how the transition has settled.