Help creating a soft edge camo without an airbrush?

[cram]

Can you guys give me any advice on creating a good looking soft edge camouflage without using an airbrush?

I like to think I paint to a pretty high standard, I do not want my paint job let down by a poor camo job. I have an airbrush but I'm not sure it will do a decent job as it is a single action, and besides I lack the experience with it, and therefore the skill. I'm working at 15mm scale.

Thanks for any help.

[Skrapwelder]

I'll do a bit of wet blending by laying down an ink and then right on top I'll work in a paint of the same shade, maybe a bit lighter. I'll work the paint almost to the edge of the area covered by the ink and then pull the ink at the edges back into the paint to get a somewhat soft edge.

[cram]

Thanks for the advice.

I think I'll practice a bit with the airbrush I have, which is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Revell-Basic-Set-with-Compresor/dp/B003EFU7KG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1402328734&sr=8-2&keywords=revell+basic+airbrush+set+with+compressor

Bought only the other week with basecoating in mind. I have yet to use it. But will give it a go over the next couple of days. I haven't held out much confidence in it for camo work as its a basic model. But the more I look into it, the more I feel it might do a decent job after all, if I practice enough. I can't imagine the result will be as poor as the efforts without it anyway!

[Westfalia Chris]

I've done these a couple of years ago, exclusively using brushes:





Basically, I used the following steps:

First, apply the darker base colour, in this case a dark military green.

Next, apply the light splotches by painting them in as normal.

Then, using a stiff, small-diameter brush, stipple on extra amounts of the light tone to obscure and soften the hard edges. This would ultimately need to cover the dark tone and blend over the edge, but fade towards the darker area.

Following that, both tonal areas are highlighted towards the area centres using drybrushing and stippling.

Applying a thin wash over the whole assembly, or possibly only pin-washing the crevices and panel outlines, can help in unifying the various tones.

Basically, it can be done in reasonable time and steps (the Hind took me the better part of an afternoon to do the camo on). Obviously an airbrush will be quicker, but may take more practice, especially if you already have experience with drybrushing and stippling.

[Mr. Peabody]

Chris, is beautiful brush work. It's true an airbrush is not the only way to a sharp looking finish.

But soft-edge work isn't so difficult to do with a single-action airbrush... Practice on a primed scrap of card and use well thinned paint at low pressure so you can build the effect slowly over several passes.

Masks can be used to create soft-edge patterns, making the job easier. The further your mask is from the surface, the softer the edge will be:

• Blue-tac blobs, good and fat, will create a soft edge pattern.
  
• Paper or tape masks on top of blue-tac blobs will work even better.

[cram]

I agree, Chris you done an excellent job there! I would have sworn that tank had been airbrushed if you hadn't said it wasn't.

Thank you Peabody for the advice. I will go with the airbrush. I have a load of infantry to paint, so I will work on them first, and practice with the airbrush in between. By the time all the infantry are finished I will hopefully have got the skills required to do a decent camo with the airbrush. For someone who has never used one before, an airbrush can be rather scary!

Thanks again Chris, is all fails with the airbrush, I have you're cool looking method to fall back on.