69.038 Medium Grey Matt

The intermediate step the gray scale does not work without

Paint 69.038 fills the gap between the light and the dark gray of the same palette. Without it a jump would arise on the model that the eye gives away at once as artificial; with it, by contrast, the whole scale holds together and the machine looks as though it were put together from parts of different age and origin. The shade has a marginally cooler character, which does nothing but good on technical structures.

Panels of differing shade

The established procedure looks like this: the whole part is given a uniform ground, then individual panels are picked out and each one is sprayed with a slightly different gray. The difference must not be large, or the model will resemble a chessboard. The aim is for the viewer to notice the unevenness only after a while and accept it as a matter of course, not as an artistic intention. This shade is ideal for such work, because it lies exactly in the middle of the available range.

• The middle value of the gray scale, of a slightly cooler character
• It allows neighboring panels to be told apart without conspicuous contrast
• It prevents a jump between the light and the dark gray in the scale
• It also finds a use as a ground under metallic and dusty effects
• It dries matte, so the drawing of the panel lines that follows does not slide

Checking the result

Before you declare the work finished, photograph the model and look at the picture in black and white. Removing the colors reveals whether the differences between the panels really are subtle, or whether one of them jumps out more than was planned. It is the quickest way to check and it needs nothing but a phone; an eye used to the work stops noticing disproportions after a time.