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Robert-

You can't make a comparision of the two. The other one is twice the size as this and had better lighting. The Little D I show here was shot during the day with sun coming from above, through skylights, and from the front, so the engine nozzles have deep shadows. The Big D was lighted from behind, so the engine nozzles had no shadows to speak of. The nozzles of the Little D are a bit darker than on the Big D, but not as dark as they appear in these photos.

Scott

The model is based with a very light gray. It is then painted with a flat white. The exhaust nozzles are weathered using an extremely dilute black in the airbrush.

The CM is based using medium and light gray primer, as well as a white primer, which is used overall. The white primer kills some of the gray, but it is fairly transparent. After the primer has cured, I go over the CM using very dilute white paint, masking each panel as I go. This technique is similar to 'glazing', used most notably by Maxfield Parrish. Using this method, I can control the depth of the gray tones such that using this one white, I get all the variations of gray you see in the photos. Less white, darker gray; more white, lighter gray. The major variation in gray depends on which primer was used as the base. And where panels need to be white, I use a less diluted white paint.

I also use a very dilute dark gray in case I take a panel too much into the white. Once I have the variations in the panels painted the way I want them, I bring the whole CM up to the level of white it needs to be by overspraying the entire part with the transparent white. This overspray 'ties' all the panels together visually, but lets each panel stand out on its own. Without doing this, the CM would look like a 'paint-by-number' treatment.

The reason for using this 'base and glaze' technique is I don't have to mix a bunch of different grays. I just use the primers as a base coat and the dilute white is used to bring each panel up to the density I'm looking for.

I use a combination of blue masking tape and Post-It Notes for the masking mediums. The only problem is the dilute paint is very weak, so I have to be sure to de-tack the blue tape by sticking it to my T-shirt first. Otherwise, the tape has been known to pull up bits of paint.

The paint I use is called Cel-Vinyl, which is used in the animation industry. It has really fine pigments and I can thin it for this technique by using Denatured Alcohol. This is the best thinning medium because the alcohol flashes out of the paint as it travels from the airbrush to the model. Water would not and the paint would run like crazy. This is why Denatured has to be used, as opposed to rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol. Also, you get finer atomization with the alcohol.

Once I have the paint finalized, I overspray the model with a clear Satin finish. When that has cured, I finish it with a coat of clear Matte finish. These are polyurethane coatings and they protect what is actually a fairly fragile paint job.

I should say that I don't think this is the most ideal way of painting the Discovery, but because I'm not familar with a wide variety of paints, I stick with what I know. If someone can tell me how to get this look with paint that is more durable, I'd like to hear about it!

Scott