F-14 SU Killer - weathering

Does anyone have any tips on weathering an F-14 where the paint scheme is just overall gloss gray. I am building Fast Eagle 102 (Hank Kleemann’s Su-22 killer) which is now at the Reagan Library. At the time of the shoot down, the aircraft had a monochromatic paint scheme, but the gloss paint will not look right, especially on the upper surfaces, and I’m sure the aircraft was retouched in some places. I’m thinking of adding a small amount of white to the gloss gray and spot shooting it to replicate a slightly mottled effect (being the XO’s plane at the time it would have been relatively pristine), but I also want to bring down the gloss while not eliminating it completely.

I viewed the pictures of FE 102 at the Reagan Library. Unfortunately, they left the tactical paint scheme that she was subsequently painted with and just added Kleemann’'s markings, so that was no help.

Basically, you would weather the same way as a Cat in the TPS, but just not as heavy. One thing that always shows is the sweep marks on the wings. You are correct to go for the mottled look as even the over all Gloss Gull Gray received spot priming. Check out this website here: www.anft.net/f-14. It has many photos showing this scheme in various stages of weathering. Finally, I would definitely overcoat the model with a satin clear to give the “scale effect” to the sheen.