I have several different kits of this model and they all have one thing in common…the color guides differ in every one. I experimented with the colors suggested by Revell of G’s kit and they just don’t look right. Even FSM’s review awhile back said the colors were wrong. I also have kits by Trumpeter (1/144th scale) with one color listed that doesn’t exist and an Italeri kit. I won’t mention the ‘Y’ versions I have as they don’t really count. One on-line article went on about mixing metalic colors and that’s more than I want to bother with. I just would like to look close to the actual colors. Pictures just don’t help as monitors are not accurate…help!
By the way the colors suggested by the kits are: (Lightest to darkest)
Revelle of Germany:
FS36375,FS36251,FS36176
Trumpeter:
FS36495,FS36375,36320
Italeri with only two colors shown:
FS36375,FS36231
Anyone?
I have the Academy 1/48 on my bench right now and I have been pondering the same thing… I was going to go with a 3 tone Tamiya Ghost Gray/Neutral Gray/Gunship gray scheme. Might not be perfect, so I wouldn’t go to a contest with it… But it will fit just fine on my shelf with F-15Cs, F-15Es, F-16s and F-4s.
Some have suggested a mist of silver after the fact because apparently the real thing twinkles… I have seen the real thing up close and $150 million or not, it didn’t twinkle. I think the paint scheme looks pretty close to a well kept F-15C in person… Like maybe the USAF uses a common color pallette.
you could go to promodeller.com and buy the dvd of the f-22 raptor and youll see what colors the video uses
It’s the same colors as the Mod Eagle scheme, FS36176 (dark) and FS36251 (light). Definitely with a metallic sheen, though. I doubt I can replicate that, so I just went with these two basic colors on my Raptor. It appears that even some F-15’s are showing this metallic sheen as well…
But, as someone mentioned above, this metallic sheen may simply be due to different lighting situations.
Since this plane is not going into production, you could pick any color and be right.
I’m not sure where you got that from - about 150 have been built so far, though there may not be many more to come.
I think the metallic sheen is some sort of anti-radar coat. Not sure if it’s mixed in with the paint or on top though. To replicate this in scale would certainly be very interesting.
Interesting considering I think there are at least 4 active squadrons now.
From Wikipedia:
The United States Air Force is the only operator of the F-22, with 145 aircraft in inventory as of August 2009. These are operated by the following commands.
- Air Education and Training Command
- 325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida
- 43d Fighter Squadron - The first squadron to operate the F-22 and continues to serve as the Formal Training Unit.[143] Known as the “Hornets”, the 43d was re-activated at Tyndall in 2002.
- 325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida
- Air Combat Command
- 1st Fighter Wing, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
- 27th Fighter Squadron - The first combat F-22 squadron. Began conversion in December 2005 after and flew the first operational mission (January 2006 in support of Operation Noble Eagle).
- 94th Fighter Squadron
- 49th Fighter Wing, Holloman AFB, New Mexico
- 53d Wing, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
- 422d Test and Evaluation Squadron - The “Green Bats” are responsible for operational testing, tactics development and evaluation for the F-22.
- 57th Wing, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
- 1st Fighter Wing, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
- Air Force Materiel Command
- 412th Test Wing, Edwards Air Force Base, California
- 411th Flight Test Squadron - Conducted competition between YF-22 and YF-23 from 1989-1991. Continues to conduct flight test on F-22 armaments and upgrades.
- 412th Test Wing, Edwards Air Force Base, California
- Pacific Air Forces
- 3d Wing, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska
- 90th Fighter Squadron - Converted from F-15Es; first F-22A arrived 8 August 2007.
- 525th Fighter Squadron
- 477th Fighter Group, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) unit.
- 302d Fighter Squadron Associate AFRC squadron to the 3 WG.
- 3d Wing, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska
- Air National Guard
- 192d Fighter Wing - Langley AFB, Virginia.
- 149th Fighter Squadron - Associate ANG squadron to the 1 FW.
- 192d Fighter Wing - Langley AFB, Virginia.
Production is slated to end at 187 aircraft with future efforts to be in the development of the F-35
Interesting about the Mod Eagle scheme-I don’t know much about that but I do know I have an F-15C waiting to be built. What aircraft are now using that?
A lot of good photos on a site called F-16.net including this one:
http://www.f-16.net/gallery_item89330.html
The grey shown on the borders and leading edges of the plane are what threw me off. I guess I could take some more time to do do my own research instead of asking a bunch of fool questions…thanks for your responses!
Check out Elmendorf on GE and you can see em sitting on the ramp.
Mac
I am in the process of constructing the 1?48 Academy kit as well. To get the silvery effect of the radar deflecting paint I am going to use the mix suggested in a magazine I just read (Model Airplane International Issue 47).
For the dark areas, I will use Alclad II Dark Aluminum mixed with Humbrol 125 enamel. For the lighter areas Alclad II Aluminum with Humbrol 126.
Each mixture has to be done in a certain way or you"ll end up making a very gloopy kind of mixture. Basically you have to thin down the paint with cellulose thinners and then add this thinned down mix to the Alclad lacquer a few drops at a time, stirring as you go. If you try to mix the other way around the Alclad will separate and leave you with metallic globules of muck in the mixture. Mix the Humbrol initiatially at about 50% paint with 50% thinner and then mix this with 40-60% in favour of Alclad.
I have yet to try this, but will do so in the coming weeks.