ipaul321 Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 Hi All i am embarking on a mig 25 Foxbat model intended to finish the same in a bare steel finish. I have read read that mig built these aircraft with a stainless steel skin? Images appear well weathered with a flat aluminium finish? any advice on how shiny the steel finish should be and how best to replicate the aircraft’s real in service appearance? thanks in advance, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 (edited) Foxbats were painted mostly in grey. The rear exhaust area was unpainted metal. I have not seen an unpainted one I think! Edited August 7, 2019 by exdraken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 22 minutes ago, exdraken said: Foxbats were paimted mostly in grey. The rear exhaust area was unpainted metal. I have not seen an unpainted one I think! That's what I was thinking too, but I'm no expert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 I seem to recall the Ye prototypes were silver? But this was painted as well IIRC. Maybe you could show the MIG during a repint, after the grey was stripped to bare metal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Caerbannog said: I seem to recall the Ye prototypes were silver? But this was painted as well IIRC. Maybe you could show the MIG during a repint, after the grey was stripped to bare metal? I am sure there was one stripped completely once.... if there are photos though... Just build it! Sure looks impressive! But please do not claim it to be operational similar question 2 years ago: Edited August 6, 2019 by exdraken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 MiG-25s were usually painted with light gray (can't recall the FS equivalent) except for the area around jet pipes. Note that the main construction material was aluminium. Stainless steel was only used on leading edges and other small and pointy areas. Somewhere I have a few photos of a MiG-25 that resided at Tampere-Pirkkala airport; one Finnish guy simply bought one when Soviet Union collapsed... Then he purchased a ladder (a tall one) and started to sell tickets for a "cockpit experience"! I don't know What happened to the MiG Kind Regards, Antti 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipaul321 Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 Thanks everyone! Looks like a simple grey finish may be best? There was I thinking these beasts were.shiny silver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NazarovVladimir Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 (edited) I have never seen an unpainted MIG-25. Most of the aircraft were gray, but there were camouflage, mostly reconnaissance Edited August 7, 2019 by NazarovVladimir 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipaul321 Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 Thanks!. Great images. That grey finish looks far easier to work on that the camoflage version! I had thought these flew at high altitude? Why would they go for the mottled finish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NazarovVladimir Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 (edited) 18 minutes ago, ipaul321 said: Thanks!. Great images. That grey finish looks far easier to work on that the camoflage version! I had thought these flew at high altitude? Why would they go for the mottled finish? The tasks were different, including a low-level air defense breakthrough Edited August 7, 2019 by NazarovVladimir 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipaul321 Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 Wow! That’s an expensive way to take a picture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NazarovVladimir Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 Thank you ... very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano353 Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 (edited) I've personally been up close with the Mig25 and the aircraft was not painted with the exception of the black nose anti glare and red stars. The metal was a dull gray and the it did look like paint from a distance but up close it was just unpainted steel. When they were painted the grey was brighter than the steel. The Mig I saw was next to RIX airport in Latvia so maybe it was just that one but it was definitely unpainted. Edited August 7, 2019 by Deano353 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NazarovVladimir Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 1 hour ago, Deano353 said: I've personally been up close with the Mig25 and the aircraft was not painted with the exception of the black nose anti glare and red stars. The metal was a dull gray and the it did look like paint from a distance but up close it was just unpainted steel. When they were painted the grey was brighter than the steel. The Mig I saw was next to RIX airport in Latvia so maybe it was just that one but it was definitely unpainted. All serial Mig-25s were stained. Оnly the prototypes E-155 were not painted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano353 Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, NazarovVladimir said: All serial Mig-25s were stained. Оnly the prototypes E-155 were not painted. I didn't realise that but the one I saw sure didn't look painted maybe I'm wrong but it looked like unpainted metal to me. I mean to me it looks unpainted and up close it sure didn't look painted. These aren't photo's I took but this is the Mig 25 you can visit at Riga. Edited August 7, 2019 by Deano353 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipaul321 Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 thanks Everyone. Really hard to judge this one. I’m thinking a soft weathered grey may be the way to go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 (edited) the rear end, around the nozzles are the areas normally unpainted https://live.staticflickr.com/787/40804514732_dee6eb55d7_b.jpg supposedly the same aircraft: you can clearly see the difference between the painted fin and the unpainted area around and in front of the nozzles. BUT: those aircraft are really heavily weathered and NOT operational! the fin seven show some yellow primer! I do not think that are composites..... Edited August 7, 2019 by exdraken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano353 Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 @exdraken I never noticed this actually I would guess that is the same aircraft as from the photos I posted you can see the yellow on the tail fins. I could have sworn it wasn't painted but I guess I'm wrong on that one. There doesn't appear to be a difference in colour from the front to rear fuselage in the photos I have. To be honest the aircraft in that collection were all in pretty bad shape with the exception of a few mig 23s and mig 21s they all had yellowed windows and really faded paint although the weather extremes from summer when I was there of about 34 degrees to however cold it gets and being Eastern Europe I'd imagine quite far below zero. It has been years since I was there so I would guess my memory has let me down on the colour of this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 MiG-25 was designed for one purpose only: to bring down a Lockheed SR-71. So it could reach speeds in excess of Mach 3 in an environment where temperature is something like 60 Centigrades below zero. If the mission was flown in the summer, the difference between airport level and operating altitude would have been close to 100 Centigrades. And that temperature difference was reached in a few minutes. Add the compressibility which will give 100 Centigrades (but into the "opposite" direction) for some parts of the airframe. The paint used must have been something very special. The one I examined here in Finland looked well weathered but all surfaces were extremely smooth. The paintwork was patched as it has been constantly retouched. To my knowledge no fiberglass or carbon fibre was used. MiG-25 is an all-metal aircraft. Russians have used a dirty yellow protective coats in their aircraft since the late 1940s. Di-electrical panels (at the top of the fins) were some sort of "plastic". Cheers, Antti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NazarovVladimir Posted August 10, 2019 Share Posted August 10, 2019 It is painted in standard gray color, which can be seen in the paint that has faded in places ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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