Painting black over white/light basecoats

[StruManChu]

I'm painting a load of 30k Imperial Fists, who are mostly yellow (obvs) but have a load of black bits as well. Shoulder rims, knees, power packs etc. 

 

My experience of painting dark over light is not great. I tend to get a really patchy, nasty black because I thin it down to keep control of it, and then can't get an even coat. Usually I'd prefer to work up through the shades from a darker base to get to a lighter main colour because I know how to get a good result that way. However, it's waaaaaay too time consuming to do that with the Fist's yellow armour, especially as I have an airbrush.

 

Now, I'm not skilled enough with the airbrush yet to trust myself to not accidentally fart a great cloud of black over my pristine golden yellow base colour, so airbrushing the black on isn't really an option, even though it would likely be the easiest way to do it.

 

So my question, dear Frater, is this - HOW? How do you get a good even coat of black (or even dark grey) over a white or light base colour?

 

I'll take anything you can give me, for my Google-Fu is weak.

 

Thanks!

[Bung]

You could go the other way.

Prime black mask everything you want to be black and then do your yellow base color with the airbrush. Maybe keep stuff like the backpacks seperate.

Time consuming but would work for the black basecoat.

[StruManChu]

That would work were I building from scratch, and would probably be my normal approach. However, unfortunately, they're all built already as they're old models I stripped to repaint for ETL because, apparently, I hate myself. 

[Grotsmasha]

Abaddon Black?  I typically need 2-3 coats of thinned Abbaddon Black to get an even coverage over lighter colours, such as reds and yellows.

[Major_Gilbear]

Thin your black paint with black ink rather than water, and do a couple of thin layers.

 

The black ink helps keep the paint nice and saturated, which in turn means you need fewer coats than if you just thin the paint with water.

 

Just be careful not to get it on your yellow, although I guess that'll always be the case for any colour darker then yellow! Also, be aware that the finish of ink+paint can be a bit glossy, but a quick layer of matte medium after everything's dry will get you back to a flat finish.

 

I use Vallejo black ink, which is widely available from most hobby shops. :)

[StruManChu]

Thin your black paint with black ink rather than water, and do a couple of thin layers.

 

This is an excellent idea. Thanks heaps Major!

[Bung]

That would work were I building from scratch, and would probably be my normal approach. However, unfortunately, they're all built already as they're old models I stripped to repaint for ETL because, apparently, I hate myself. 

 

Right into the Pain Glove 

 

My other idea would be using some airbrush primer like Badger Stynylrez for the first layer.

But thats a guess, never tried something like that.

[Kinstryfe]

I bought some Black2.0 and mixed a black base paint from it. The stuff is so saturated with pigment that you can pretty much thin it to heck and it's still black. Makes a pretty decent thin base coat.

[Arkhanist]

If you have any larger areas you want to do black, you can spray a black primer first, cover that area up with masking fluid, then do the usual white base coat and yellow. When you want to reveal the black area, just peel off the masking fluid - it's basically a latex film. Just don't leave it on for a very long time though, as it can eventually get hard to remove. I've used copydex as a cheap version to prevent overspray from my airbrush hitting the areas I didn't want, and it worked surprisingly well. Masking tape is always an option too - aircraft and tank modellers use it a lot for doing overlaid camouflage patterns, though it's more suited for larger areas than fiddly bits on a standard infantry model.

 

A high pigment black (vallejo model color matt black for example) diluted with medium, or black diluted with black ink  as Major_Gilbear suggests is the easiest way to do very small areas like shoulder rims though.