The last paint layer that I plan to apply is the second highlight, to increase the contrast and give the model little bit more “depth”.

For this layer I needed another shade of grey that would be lighter than the first highlight. I picked XF-19 Sky Grey as a base. To blend the colour with the previous paint layer I added bi of IJN Grey, so that at the end was mix approximately 5:1 Sky Grey: IJN Grey.

This paint was applied in similar way as the first highlight. Care has to be taken to apply second highlight on top of the first one, otherwise the effect will look little weird.

To all the paint mixes I have used (base coat and preshades) I have added about 10-20% of Tamiya clear, jus so that the surface is not completely flat.

After this second highlight was airbrushed, I saw that there are some places where the contrast coud be improved even further by adding some post-shading. For this I have switched my Iwata Eclipse for the finer Iwata HP-CH. I filled the airbrush cup with an acrylic thinner and then dipped a brush in the Rubber Black a bit and then cleaned the brush in the airbrush cup. As a result, the mix that was aibrushed was extremely thin, more like a dirty thinner.

I applied the post-shading along the edges and joints of different panels in very subtle way. It is almost invisible, but adds to that “depth” of the vehicle that makes it to stand out.

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