repro fins

A mature pike will have opaque fins with a slight translucency towards the outer edge. The smaller the fish The More translucency I like apply a light opaque color to the back of repo fins and apply translucent colors on the front to create depth and patterning, colors depending on reference.

 

I wouldn't white them out, let some light show through for a tad more realism.

 

Different strokes for different folks.

I prime all my fins white. Alot of times, even the paired fins. Not always. On panfish and such I usually leave them transparent. But almost any fish, Bass and larger, get totally primered white. I like it to build color easier, and it makes for a nicer surface for my particular painting style.

I even use super heavy primer. Kilz. I use that, and Zinser123. I primer them heavy, the whole fish. Let it dry, then lightly steel wool it and make it nice and smooth. Then seal and paint . Just how I do things.

Like Nokes said, alot of your fish will have opaque fins anyway. Its all up to you ,and how you like to paint, and build color. But when I paint, I usually have a completely white fish .

I even lay up most of my blanks out of bondo. So they are opaque to start with. So it doesn't really matter. I've never really had anyone say my fish lacked realism due to fin transparency, or lack thereof.

Another nice part about misting white, or whatever color, or primering the fins, is , it allows you to find imperfections such as air bubbles, damaged rays, edges, etc. Then you can fix before you begin the paint process.

 

Jimmy I don't doubt your way and your success but I have a hard time accepting that most fish fins don't let light through them. I guess what is in question here is the definition of opaque or the degree of it. As you say different ways to get desirable results. I have whitened out fins in the past, to cover major repairs, but don't make a habit of it.

 

No doubt 3bears. Interpretation is something that differs for each of us. That's why it's awesome to get so many perspectives. 5 people can look at a picture and see 5 different colors and tones.

It's all what works for us. I simply explained my process and why I do it that way. I'm not good enough to pull off the look I want on clear fins. So I gotta cheat . Lol.

 

And I thought leaving them semi transparent is cheating, I guess I'm in a similar boat Jimmy.

 

Climb aboard! LOL.

 

For me it's not what most say white them out. I like to fog a light coat of white on my fins. This will give you transparency and a nice looking fin. Those who are just learning on how to do repro fins find them hard to paint when in reality it's easier. The real fin has markings on them and that makes it easier to follow and paint. Where here now you have to use reference to get what your looking for.

Take your time and just enjoy their not hard to do at all, just layer colors down, yellow (bright or cadmium then my oranges, reds and then green followed by black umber)