Jump to content

F-35 Surface Sheen


Darwinism

Recommended Posts

Hello everyone, I'm looking for some advice on the finish of F-35's which I'm sure has been answered but my search of the site didn't bring anything up and my reference photos are inconclusive.  

 

F-35's - matt or satin finish to the grey?

 

Thanks very much.

 

Andy

Edited by Darwinism
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In all the photo’s ive seen its satin from certain angles and matt from others. I think thats a byproduct of the paints reflectivity. I know Colorcoats has a good match in there paint range. I was planning on mixing a bit of aluminum, gun metal, and gunship grey to make mine unless i can score the Colorcoats paints. Maybe @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies would know a bit more as its his paint. 
 

Dennis

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

In all the photo’s ive seen its satin from certain angles and matt from others. I think thats a byproduct of the paints reflectivity. I know Colorcoats has a good match in there paint range. I was planning on mixing a bit of aluminum, gun metal, and gunship grey to make mine unless i can score the Colorcoats paints. Maybe @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies would know a bit more as its his paint. 
 

Dennis

Thanks Dennis, yes, it's the metalicy aspect of the finish that seems to muddy the water.  I added a little silver to gunship grey for my finish which seems to match some of the photos I've seen but look at five different photos and see five different tones....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are three challenges in painting F-35. The first challenge is the masking of the lighter gray RAM panel lines. In 1/72 I have found traditional tape or Parafilm masking to be impossible – the only way to go is to use panel lines decals (Hasegawa and latest 12561 Academy boxing have panel lines decals in the box, otherwise you have to use a third-party solution) or third-party masks.

If you are using panel lines decals you will need to paint some areas in lighter gray anyway, so you have to match a exact paint color hue of the panel line decals.

The lighter RAM panel gray is given by Hasegawa as FS36270 and by Academy as FS36231.

The second challenge is the overall darker gray color. It's given by Academy as FS36118 and by Hasegawa as Gunze 13/H53. Both manufacturers are inaccurate - the exact color is FS31670 Have Glass Camouflage Grey. It's available from Akan (http://hpns.eu.nettihotelli.org/shop/paints/akan-acrylics or https://dukmodell.com/Paints-Weathering-Products/AKAN/Standard-colors:::2_30_979.html) and Mr. Paint (https://www.mrpaint.sk and http://hpns.eu.nettihotelli.org/shop/paints/mrpaint). I suggest making a lighter gray RAM panels color by adding white to FS31670 - especially if you are not using RAM panel line decals.

The third challenge is the silvery sheen of stealth colors. Kit manufacturers suggest mixing 5-10% of metallic/silver in the both exterior colors. The easier way is to use Mr. Paint MRP-278 Have Glass Special Matt Varnish as a final (outmost) varnish layer, which adds a slight metallic sheen.

The real F-35 in the real world has a matt finish.   

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

In all the photo’s ive seen its satin from certain angles and matt from others. I think thats a byproduct of the paints reflectivity. I know Colorcoats has a good match in there paint range. I was planning on mixing a bit of aluminum, gun metal, and gunship grey to make mine unless i can score the Colorcoats paints. Maybe @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies would know a bit more as its his paint. 
 

Dennis

Hi Dennis,

 

Our ACUS41 is matched to the darker base paint FS36170. The fullsize gets an additional metallic overcoat it seems.

 

I'd probably just mist some Alclad dark aluminium, magnesium or steel over it as a test piece first and see how it looks :)

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello all,

 

I had a chance to study two examples at close range in June here at Turku (code HL, number 5239).

 

The surface is matt but so "smooth" that it looks like satin finished when light hits the aircraft surface at suitable angle. I also shot some IR images of the F-35 and it is almost invisible against the cloudless sky!

 

Cheers,

Antti

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Darwinism said:

Hello everyone, I'm looking for some advice on the finish of F-35's which I'm sure has been answered but my search of the site didn't bring anything up and my reference photos are inconclusive.  

 

F-35's - matt or satin finish to the grey?

 

Thanks very much.

 

Andy

 

This thread on the ARC forums may be of help on this matter:

 

Have Glass Discussion

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, tsepajev said:

There are three challenges in painting F-35. The first challenge is the masking of the lighter gray RAM panel lines.

 

 

 

 

This is a challenge which is rapidly going away. For about a year now new F-35s have RAM lines which are finished in the same colour as the rest of the airfrane. There are aircraft produced during the change which still have some visible RAM lines, often on components made elsewhere before the change over while the rest are gone. Apparently as aircraft require surface maintenance they'll all get homogenised.

 

Shane

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎10‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 8:23 AM, tsepajev said:

 

 

The lighter RAM panel gray is given by Hasegawa as FS36270 and by Academy as FS36231.

 

 

It is indeed listed as FS36270 but if you take that color (I have Gunze and Vallejo) to paint the required panels to complement the decals you get a very discernable color difference. It's tricky finding a good match for it.

 

The new look:

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

Edited by sroubos
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's something else to consider. If you do an early version with the lighter RAM tape, those areas do not have the metallic sheen of the Have Glass areas. One reason to do an airframe with the newer all one color scheme, though there are still panels that are a lighter grey color. You can see them at the nose, near the intakes and on the tails of the pic above.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The masking isn't that much of a problem, it's all straight lines after all. I did it in about 2 hours. Then didn't like the result and stripped the paint, it's now sitting on the shelf of doom awaiting a decent color mix for the Have Glass and a good match for the RAM paint with the Hasegawa decals. I've spent a good deal more hours on those two issues than on the masking.

 

Edited by sroubos
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Andy, for my build of the 1/72 Hasegawa F35b I got a Haveglass finish by laying down an Alclad Aluminium basecoat underneath a mix of Tamiya xf54, xf32 and xf85 - this gives an interesting sheen which changes tone depending on the lighting and the angle you look at it. I then spent an age masking the ram panels with Tamiya tape (it;s not impossible just takes patience) before spraying another mix of grey. It was finished with alclad aquagloss. 

 

48869597921_f8b4443aec_b.jpg 

 

RFI showing how the effect changes in different light is here: 

and WIP here: . 

Hope this helps! Main thing I learned is to do lots of testing before committing paint to the actual model!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

A few more words on this. I finally finished my F-35 and after trying out a lot of different mixes to replicate the Have Glass sheen I settled on not replicating it at all. Why? The sheen is an effect of the sun or other bright light source shining on the coating. If such a light source is absent, as on a cloudy day, the coating looks plain matt gray. I painted mine FS36118 with some white added for the lighter areas on the wings, tails and nose. The absence of the starkly contrasting RAM panels has turned the F-35 into a machine you could almost call handsome. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first attempt was with Hataka Have Glass as well, it didn't come out the way I hoped it would, very metallic.

 

49720236093_1160591c72_c.jpg

 

This is what I ended up with:

 

49717696897_2a34fee862_c.jpg

 

In the end though, it's a preference I think and a choice between what you feel looks better. Compare the following photos of the real thing to see what I mean with the impact of the lighting conditions:

 

49721087747_7158970ded_c.jpg

 

Platform-NIFARP.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/04/2020 at 07:55, sroubos said:

My first attempt was with Hataka Have Glass as well, it didn't come out the way I hoped it would, very metallic.

 

 

 

This is what I ended up with:

 

 

 

In the end though, it's a preference I think and a choice between what you feel looks better. Compare the following photos of the real thing to see what I mean with the impact of the lighting conditions:

 

 

 

 

 

The sheen is definitely there where the direct sunlight hits, although is not noticeable under cloudy skies.

Edited by Julien
no need to quote all the pics
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...