What color for SR-71A? How to weather?

[airea]

Hello everyone,

Currently I am building the famous Testors 1/48 SR-71 kit. I am fairly new to the hobby so for the first time, I have fully rescribed a kit, made scratch build landing gear bays with a lot of plumming, etc. The kit is not a high quality one but it is being a great learning experience for me.

Anyhow, I getting close to the painting stage and I need some help. I really liked working with Alclad on previous models and first thought about painting it with A-12 colors (1/3 black, rest metallic). Yes there is no SR-71 in A-12 colors and converting SR-71 to A-12 is something that I cannot manage. Then I have seen a few metallic A-12 models on the net and now I am thinking that painting SR-71 with A-12 colors may not be a good idea in terms of a realistic look. The models on the net seemed a little toyish to me, and I am afraid of ending with such a toyish what-if SR-71 with A-12 colors:)

Now I am thinking of painting the kit with its original colors. But photos of the real deal show that the weathered SR-71 is not fully black, as seen in this photo:

So how can I achieve such an effect? How should I paint and weather it? It is grey on some parts, glossy on some parts etc.

Or should I try A-12 colors?

thanks...

[Deanflyer]

I did one in 1/144 a while back, using Tamiya NATO Black for the main colour and chalk pastels for the weathering. Here's the WIP if it helps:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234944424-sr-71a/?hl=deanflyer

Cheers,

Dean

[alex]

You did a good job regarding the approach: fist have a good lock at pictures of the original, then choose what color would match best (and not just suppose what colour most people would expect!). I would go for a dark grey, with some brown. Panel lines look lighter than the average part, so a washing with medium grey. The streaks on the inner wings look like a fuel leak, as it's a common sight on the blackbirds (apparently they leaked much due to big temperature differences, stressing the metal?), the same streak often shows behind the air-to-air-refuelling point. If the aircraft is displayed on ground, I would make the underside much darker than the topside, since the huge area blocks the sunlight making it look darker.

In fact, all-black aircrafts are not that easy to paint in a way they look realistic. Painting the whole thing black would it really make it look like a toy. Those images shows what I mean.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/SR-71_LASRE_cold_test.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cobrachen_sr71-1.jpg

Hope that helps a bit...

Alex

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

I paint Black aircraft with Black, then airbrush a very dark grey over individual panels, to give a slightly faded look. I recall the SR-71A at Duxford being a Matt finish.

thanks

Mike

[airea]

Thank you all for your replies.

Alex, I will be building a closed canopy aircraft sitting on the parking area. So fuel streaks will not be necessary I guess. And painting the underside with a darker shade is a nice idea, like the zenithal ligthing effect I suppose.

Dean, I really liked your build. Even it is 1/144, you did a great job, especially on the weathering. How did you end up after the final coat, did you re-made the pastel chalk weathering?

[Pin]

Try this technique

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/57027-salt-weathering-techniques/

works quite good for black as well

[airea]

Pin, thanks for the heads up. I did not consider salt technique for this purpose but it seems like a great idea...