Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So a lot of people have been requesting a how-to on my tau digital camo, here it goes and I hope it helps you.

Step 1) choose a color scheme. You will want three or more colors. Shades of the same color look great but you could easily do something like forest green, khaki and brown for a more traditional camo scheme. Because I was tau I had to decide between oranges and browns or greys for a urban effect.



In the end I went with the urban greys.

Step 2) obtaining your mask. there are several ways to do the masking for this. You can lay down strips of masking tape and then cut out the camo, you can print the camo on sticker paper and cut it out or you can use a premade mask. I used a premade mask which is a lot faster.

Step 3) Base coat with your darkest color.



Step 4) Apply first layer of mask. For this you will want to try to keep it as straight as possible. The hull of the tau hammerhead is curved so it can be difficult at times and you may need to fudge it a little. You will also want to space the mask out so the distances between them can fit other mask without leaving too noticeable of gaps. This can take a while to get right. After applying the mask go over all of the mask with a sponge or Q-tip to insure the mask is pressed down tight. If your mask is not tightly stuck to the hull of the ship you will get leakage under the mask which will look bad and takes a long time to clean up.



Step 5) Coat with the second darkest color



Step 6) Wait for the paint to dry and then apply the second layer of mask. This layer is a lot easier to apply. You can use your first layer as a guide and fill in the gaps you made. You can also allow your mask to overlap. But be sure to keep it straight with your first layer.



Step 7) Coat with your lightest color.



Step 8) After the paint has dried you can start removing the mask. I used a hobby knife to remove the mask. Be very careful not to scratch the paint. Also you can save some of the mask for other projects. I do not use the same mask twice for vehicles but I will use left over mask on things like gun drones. Only keep the ones that lay are still sticky and can lay flat again.



Step 9) Add the details you want to the rest of the vehicle. I used solid areas for the middle paneling and rail gun because too much digital camo is a little off putting. I then used yellow highlights to give a pop of color. Pigment was added to the railgun tip and the engine exhaust. Finally I made custom decals.

Ahhhhh!!! That's a lot easier than I thought... thanks for the tute.

But, I don't understand the pre-made mask bit?

That's really simple but effective!
Also much faster then i anticipated.

will be giving that a try.

 Makaleth wrote:
Ahhhhh!!! That's a lot easier than I thought... thanks for the tute.

But, I don't understand the pre-made mask bit?

Stuff like this. http://www.hlj.com/product/HQPDCMTS

Awesome tutorial, I'm definitely saving this one. Thanks!

Good job. I may just use this.

This is really awesome. If I did Tau, I would have to steal this idea.

Are there other sources for the pre-cut masking tape? From the link you listed, it is backordered.

Jefffar wrote:

 Makaleth wrote:
Ahhhhh!!! That's a lot easier than I thought... thanks for the tute.

But, I don't understand the pre-made mask bit?

Stuff like this. http://www.hlj.com/product/HQPDCMTS

You sir are fantastic.

Ok, so that answers my "how do I do three colours on a Guard tank" question. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what order to do it in.

Thank you!

Soooo awesome. Just to be clear, is this an airbrush technique, or is this just as doable with a brush?

 firepower wrote:
Soooo awesome. Just to be clear, is this an airbrush technique, or is this just as doable with a brush?

The two color samples were done with a regular brush. I used an airbrush for the model. There may be some more cleanup from using a brush because paint can leak under the edges but it is doable.

Good work. nice to see someone actually sells camo masks. I've been using my printer to make traditional camo patterns, and like you I start with the darkest and work my way up.

Nice tutorial! And the end result is really awesome!

 lambsandlions wrote:
The two color samples were done with a regular brush. I used an airbrush for the model. There may be some more cleanup from using a brush because paint can leak under the edges but it is doable.

It's more work, but if you either give your model a light overspray with clearcoat, or run thinned clearcoat along the edges of the newly-applied mask pieces with a brush, that will help seal the edges of the masks against bleeding.

awesome tutorial, very handy and at lot more efficient then i thought.

I can't tell from your gallery pictures, but did you apply that digi-cam to your Fire Warriors too?

Wow... That looks really good!
I'd love to see a blue variant Too bad this wouldn't make sense on an Ork Deff Dread

Actually, it would work great on a Blood Axe Deff Dread.

I am really temted to try this on a pair of dark eldar Jetfighter's i have to paint, as the "inner lines" on the jetfighter could really compliment the digital camo.

Awesome tut! I've been wanting to do this to things outside of the wargaming hobby, and now I've got a solid set of directions.

Thanks!

awesome tutorial and effect!~

Nice effect, looks like it would take a nice chunk of time to cut out the stencils but the effect is very much worth it!

I'll give it a try but it looks like it will require a couple test runs first to get down

I think I'm going to have to try this out with blue camo and see how that looks for an Alpha Legion based Traitor Guard detachment.

Awesome tutorial, thanks.

I made the total mistake of trying to duplicate this effect in my guardsmen with spray paint and bits of masking tape.... it will not happen again