Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

I'm working on a VF-1S Super Strike and I'm thinking about painting it a dark color some what similiar to night fighter colors from WWII. My question is should I use black, gunmetal, or dark grays. I'm leaning a little to gunmetal. Any opinions?

Posted

Gunmetal would be interesting, but very dark. The BlackWidow and other nioght fighters were (I think) a very dark navy blue. I think, if I were you, I would try gunmetal but be prepared to highlight it.

Posted (edited)

most if not all american night aircraft in ww2 was all flat black. from the army, to the navy to the marines. here is my f-14 based off of middle ww2 naval fighters

(i know it says marines and they dont have turkeys i thought it looked cooler)

post-3-1102012142_thumb.jpg

Edited by buddhafabio
Posted

I've decided to go with the gunmetal. I did a little experimenting today and found out that black is a little darker then the gunmetal so I can do some shading affects and dry brushing grauviolent brings out raise surfaces nicely.

The VF-19 with the "Space Rogers" is what got me thinking. I started looking at German and British WWII night fighter/bomber colors from early to late war for some painting ideas. Since the combat will be in space I'm figuring a uniform dark color would be best.

Thank you guys for your opinions. I'll post pics when I get finished.

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

Here is a pic of the painting so far. I decided to go with the underside black and the top gunmental. The armor is painted in grauviolet. I have not done any dry brushing yet.

In the pic the legs are painted black and the top partion of the mainbody is gunmetal. The nose and cockpit are also gunmental.

post-3-1104269126_thumb.jpg

Posted

Presonally. and greetings all. Noobie Macross lover on the board.

I would have gone with Gunship Gray period.

Gunship Gray is the same color that is used by the USAF on the F-15E's for night fighting.

Posted

I've finally finished a few minutes ago. I'll post pics tomorrow morning.

Hi broadshore. Greetings to a new member. I did not know that was the USAF color on the F15E. This model was more of an experiment to find the right color. I'm so happy with the gunmetal color that the next kit will be painted all gunmetal.

Posted

Yes, it is. You can't see it in the pictures very well, but I did drybrush grauviolet along the edges that would get wear. Like the leading edges on the wings, flaps, joints on the legs, etc.

  • 11 months later...
Posted

Happy New Years everyone! I'm bringing this back up since big brother to the fighter is almost done. This time I painted it all gunmetal and I'm trying a metallic grey for drybrushing. I will be posting some finish pixs tonight or tomorrow. Painting the master bedroom has taken a lot longer then I had expected. Damn moisture. :angry:

Posted

Look forward to seeing it. Don't miss living in the south weather wise at all. Nice people, hot and humid weather!

Posted

Looking pretty good!

That's a nice pair of kits. They are very clean. I especially like the panel lines on the fast packs.

Keep building!

Posted

I was going to say... prime it in black, paint it in dark grey, dry-brush it in gunmetal, then ink it in black. If I knew where that picture was I'd show you...

having looked at what you have done I'd suggest for the future... prime it in black, paint it in dark grey, dry-brush it in whie, dry-brush it slightly lighter than the white in gunmetal, then ink it in black

They look nice as is but I'm thinking you need slightly more contrast to show off the detail... or maybe better close up pics. Maybe some mechanical pencil panel lining would make up for it.

oh yeah... for god sakes make the missles match! I know missles, like plane, are mass produced but going into a "stealth mission" somebody would have at least spray painted them black! Missles don't care what color they are as long as the explode so there is no reason for them not to be painted. For that touch of authenticity make sure the paintjob of the missles and valk don't match completely as they wouldn't on most flightlines ;)

Posted
I was going to say... prime it in black, paint it in dark grey, dry-brush it in gunmetal, then ink it in black. If I knew where that picture was I'd show you...

having looked at what you have done I'd suggest for the future... prime it in black, paint it in dark grey, dry-brush it in whie, dry-brush it slightly lighter than the white in gunmetal, then ink it in black

  They look nice as is but I'm thinking you need slightly more contrast to show off the detail... or maybe better close up pics. Maybe some mechanical pencil panel lining would make up for it.

oh yeah... for god sakes make the missles match! I know missles, like plane, are mass produced but going into a "stealth mission" somebody would have at least spray painted them black! Missles don't care what color they are as long as the explode so there is no reason for them not to be painted. For that touch of authenticity make sure the paintjob of the missles and valk don't match completely as they wouldn't on most flightlines ;)

357404[/snapback]

I would love to see the picture you are talking about. This is still an experiment looking for the right colors to get the best results. The gunmetal comes out better then the picture really shows. I reduce the picture size by half since each one was 1.6 mb. The gloss is hiding the drybrushing with metallic gray but if you look at where you would expect to see some wear, like the joints, flaps, hatches, you will see the drybrushing.

With the missiles I disagree. When you have unexpected combat or high combat ops going on no one will waste the time to paint the missiles or find the ones painted for that particular color aircraft or squadron. When fighting in space I also don't think some small white specks that won't be seen by the eye from ten to several hundred miles away, whatever the combat range of the missiles, will make any difference. All the pictures I have seen of real air to air missiles on aircraft the missiles are gray or white.

The plane is not a true stealth craft. Its just the paint colors for the squadron I used. With the those sharp angles around the armor, underside, air intakes, etc it probably has a radar cross section of a 747. The YF-19 and YF-21 have better angles for stealth than a VF-1S Super.

Any WWII buffs recognize the unit insignia yet?

Posted

I bought them in Japan, in Shinjuku's Yellow submarine store, some 4 or 5 years ago. After some research, I find out they were custom decals made by some guy, who used to have a web site here. But I have not heard of him ever since, nor have I seen any of the other decal sheets he made.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...