Horatio Gruntfuttock Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 OK, chaps and chapesses, here are some of my ‘thought processes’ ( using the term loosely) in painting the worn RDAF Starfighter that so many of you have made nice comments about in ‘my first post’ elsewhere in this forum. First, I looked at as many different photos as possible, and there are a zillion of them out there! From these I worked out roughly what I wanted to achieve and even decided the particular aircraft to represent, as seen at the start of my post elsewhere.Secondly, I worked out roughly what on earth had happened to these aircraft to produce the patchwork that is seen on virtually all operational fighter/PR/trainer jets from the early to late 70’s. This is worse on Hunters, F104s and F100s, but even Drakens show some effects. Here is a challenging Hunter! It appears that:- a. aircraft were sprayed an overall olive green, slightly glossy, and then b. this weathered dramatically in a fairly short period to a range of flat greens, from a yellowish olive, through to almost an RLM02/RAF Hemp shade, and that c. this was not an even weathering effect, with some surfaces and sections of the airframes faring worse than others. EG, Starfighter wings and some fuselage and fin panels survived better than other sections. I suspect this has something to do with the structural material used. d. From what I can determine from my studies from down here in the Antipodes, the undersides did not weather as badly at all ( there are almost zero photos of the underside of RDAF aircraft from this era), and to make things more interesting, e. each time the aircraft was serviced, the removal of panels resulted in a hand-painted fresh coat of olive around the panel! This left an outline of every service panel - What fun! Add to this, f. certain aircraft were renowned for the burning of the outer surface of the fuselage by engine/exhaust heat - such as the F100. So you get patches of burnt metal showing up as well. My process was to, a. spray most of the airframe with RAF Interior Grey-green (Humbrol 78)as I thought this matched the darker weathered shade, especially prominent on the upper wings, nose and patches on the fin/rudder. These areas were then masked and b. the fuselage and tail elevator were sprayed with some Light Aircraft Grey mixed into HU78, with a touch of Middle Stone and thinned a lot, then c. with a very fine brush and regular checks against my photos, I went over all the panel edges that I could see, even whole panels in some cases, with White Ensign ACUS15, Olive Drab. This is a very good match to the fresh green paint. d. I then hand-brushed the underside with neat ACUS15, feathering it up into the side and upper colours and when all was dry and to my satisfaction, This is the first coat to see what it looked like e. I added the decals, which are by Stoppel of Copenhagen, and then f. I did a very thin, very diluted overall spray of Humbrol Hemp, trying to avoid the decals but slightly heavier in some areas, ending up adding one drop of yellow to the paint left in the cup and feathering that colour over some areas. The lighter colours should be quite flat, while the ‘fresh’ olive should be semi-gloss. It took four or so spraying and brushing stages to get the effect I was looking for, and this she I am not saying this is the best or only way to go as each airframe is different. I have seen models with a distinctively yellow tinge to the scheme and there are certainly photos of such a pattern out there - so just have fun! Hope this is useful, or at least will start a discussion. 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rholland Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 This is a fascinating topic, HG. Given that the Danes are a careful and frugal lot (I am half Danish) I sincerely hope that the RDAF sued its paint suppliers. Richard in NZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NPL Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Dear Rholland, I do not think they did. It was the same for every plane at the time, Super Sabres, Hunters, Drakens, Stafighters, Hercules, you name them. In some way it is a very effective camouflage on the ground in the kind of woodland you find in Jutland where most of the fighters were stationed. It didn't of course last as they changed to a new type of paint (and concrete shelters). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 (edited) I agree. I think it played in to their hands. I was a retrograde step to move to the later paint. It was certainly better in terms or durability but it was shiney ... not something you need if you are snuggled amongst the trees . Apart from that, of course, if this hadn't existed think what shame it would have been for modellers! Martin Edited January 23, 2017 by RidgeRunner typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 All this is very timely because I intend to start one of these two very soon, preferably G-222 but ....... what a challenge . The reason is that G-222 was the first F-100 I ever saw, or at least the first close up Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djos Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Like this weathered look very much, Nice work. Regards Djordje Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horatio Gruntfuttock Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 Ridgerunner, it looks like the Turks used the same quality paint as the Danes. Another modelling challenge! Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 (edited) Ah, their trick was not to repaint aircraft that they acquired ;). All of their Sleds ended their days in their previous owners colours plus a bit of grime! ;). I love them Martin Edited January 23, 2017 by RidgeRunner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huvut76g7gbbui7 Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 2 hours ago, RidgeRunner said: in their previous owners colours plus a bit of grime! They certainly did! Thanks for letting us know your technique Horatio 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Ah yes, the three that went to the US via Prestwick. Only the F-model remains fly able as the others are in museums now, sadly. Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horatio Gruntfuttock Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 Mr Ridgerunner - what a coincidence! I have a cousin who lives in Furnace Wood and I have walked along Crawley Downs Road , even got a parking ticket in Crawley when I was visiting in 2015! Small world. init?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Wonderful paintwork, exactly the look I'm going for when I model the Sea King HC4 as she sits at Bruntingthorpe Brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 4 hours ago, Horatio Gruntfuttock said: I have a cousin who lives in Furnace Wood and I have walked along Crawley Downs Road , even got a parking ticket in Crawley when I was visiting in 2015! Small world. init?? You are right, mate, a small world! I could pretty much throw a stone to Furnace Wood from here! Of course it isn't far from where Winkle Brown lived until recently. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horatio Gruntfuttock Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 I didn't know that! 'Winkle' is/was one of my heroes and I have a number of books by and about him. One of my modelling themes is Luftwaffe stuff and he left us much info about these captured aircraft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 (edited) Yes, he was one of the locals here. A sad day when he kicked away the chocks for the last time. He lived in Domewood, which was opposite Furnace Wood. M Edited January 24, 2017 by RidgeRunner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 That's a great representation of the weathered look, wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Super cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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