Bare Metal finish Mig25

[TristanR]

Good evening,

 

I am looking for reference on what the MIG 25 looks like under the paint, I am thinking of having a crack at a Bare metal Mig25.  I' can't seem to find any good pictures of an unpainted one though.

 

Airframe materials & challenges of heating: Air friction at Mach 3.0 generated a temperature of ~300 degrees centigrade at the nose and the leading edges of the wings. Aluminum, the conventional material most aircraft are made of, begins to weaken at 130 degrees!! The Mikoyan Gurevich Bureau chose welded nickel steel alloys for most of the primary structure with titanium for the hottest areas like the nose and wing leading edges. All told, about 80% of the plane's structure was composed of tempered nickel steel alloy and the rest of aluminum and titanium. The MiG-25 also required the development of advanced welding techniques to avoid cracks developing in the heat-resistant alloys.

 

Given the lots of steel, I wonder if it'd be shinier than just the regular aluminium?

 

Has anyone got any images or knowledge of which panel was made out of which material?  

 

Cheers!

[Jure Miljevic]

Hello, TristanR

I doubt there were many MiG-25 aircraft in natural metal finish. The first prototype E-155 R-1 was silver overall, apart from black anti-glare and aerial covers. In Yefim Gordon's book MiG-25 Foxbat & MiG-31 Foxhound, published by Aerofax, there is a photo of natural metal MiG-25 RB, but it shows the aircraft during testing without even national markings painted. Cheers

Jure