I getting ready to work on my 1/72 SR71 and I need some advice on how to paint black and create some shading effects. I read somewhere that the plane isn’t actually black, more like indigo blue. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
Thank you
Neil
Well… in all the pics I have, I see that the plane is black… or matt black, with red stencils…
The easiest way I found to weather my SR-71s is to use gun-ship grey. Do it very lightly though as these birds were very well maintained. Also don’t forget to paint your wheels a “silvery grey” I used Neutral Grey and then dry brushed with aluminum to get the effect.
EDIT
Skipped over the main part of the question didn’t I? I used a rattle can to paint mine satin black. Don’t worry to much about the “Indiglo Blue” as as far as I can tell it’s just a couple shades (maybe) lighter than black.
I worked on the SR for two years and it’s about as Flat Black as you can get. As for the Silver wheels, only the rear tires are Silver.
Don
I’ve been around operational SR-71s and the only weathering I would suggest is to give certain areas the slightly faded look from being heated to high tempretures.
Tom [8-]
As a 12 year veteran of the SR71 program, I agreewith Don and Tom. Flat Black is the correct color. There is NO blue about it, even a little bit. There was very little weathering evident. A crew chief would have been laughed and shamed off of the flight line if he ever let one get dirty or weathered. The rear tires were impregnated with aluminum when Goodyear made them and they were bright aluminum colored when new. After a few landings, the area in contact with the runway/taxiway turned somewhat darker. The nose tires were in a bay that was air conditioned for some other gear, so they didn’t need the aluminum protection. They were standard black rubber.
The nose cones were interchangeable, depending on which sensor was needed for a particular mission. Sometimes one was a little lighter shade of black and this contrast was noticeable.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
Well,Black and White colors are the most difficult to weather.
A good way is to use filters like some armor modellers do.
See here
http://www.missing-lynx.com/rare_world/rw02.htm
Of course you have to mask panels for this and better try it with clear colors sprayed from an airbrush.When I say “clear” I mean mixes of color with varnish.
Another useful color for “shadowing” your Habu is Tamiya’s Smoke and an oil named Paynes Grey.
A suggestion here.For shading better mix colors like brown,red,blue with black.
From some real photos you can see the effect of heat during high speed flights and the black surfaces turn to “burnt black”.
And finish must be EXTRA FLAT.
Thanks to all for the excellent advice.
mmaker: Thanks for the link. I’ve never heard of filtering and I’m anxious to give it a try.
Another item I was thinking about as I was looking closer at this kit; this is a recon plane and there are supposed to be cameras? are they under the fuesleage? Do they have lens or are the painted over. I’d like to simulate those on the model.
neil
Yes, the SR-71 was a reconnaissance aircraft and it did carry visual cameras and other intelligence gathering equipment. The center of the fuselage aft of the cockpit was mostly fuel tanks. The cameras were mounted in the chine bays towards the sides. The bay immediately in front of the wing held the OOC cameras and the next bay forward held the TEOC cameras. The TROC camera was located on centerline just in front of the nose gear well and the OBC camera could be carried in the nose cone. Some missions called for the SLR, Side Looking Radar, to carried in the nose cone, which meant no OBC camera.
The Testor’s Italeri 1/72 and 1/48 models have a small camera window opening in the chine bays, but it is in the center of the bay. It should be at the very aft end of their respective bays. The OBC window in the nose is correct. There is no representation of the TROC window.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
The tyres weren’t alumium but it was a layer of real silver on the rubber of the tyres.
Cheers,
Jürgen
Yardbird78; I’m going to do the Revell/Monogram kit. The bays are part of the lower fueselage but no clear windows to represent where the cameras would be. How would I go about creating the windows and camera lens? I thank you for the detailed informaton.
Neil
flyingraptor I beg to differ with you, sir. The main gear tires on the SR-71 and it’s predecessors the A-12 & YF-12 were manufactured by the B.F Goodrich Comany. During this manufacturing process, aluminum powder was mixed with the rubber in some manner so as to produce a tire more resilient to the heat generated by skin friction during flight. This produced a tire with a silver or aluminum color, but there was NO silver metal as such in or on the tire.
bablenw I hope these 3 pictures explain the camera window positions. There was a rotating mirrow assembly located immediately behind each of these windows that bent the light rays 90 degrees and directed it to the camera lenses and film. They would be all but invisible from the outside even in the full scale bird and definately so in a 1/72 model. These windows can be replicated by cutting a hole in the bottom of the model and filling it with Kristal Klear. The opening for the left and right OOC cameras in the aft bay were rectangular with the longer axis crossways of the aircraft centerline. The TEOC windows in the next bay forward were very close to square. I don’t recall the exact dimensions, but the ones on the Testor’s model are at least close. The long axis needs to be enlarged to match the crossways dimension. 11 April/1315 CDT, I just did some checking and the windows for the TEOC camera are rectangular, the model has the correct shape after all.
The item on the left is the bottom piece of the Revell/Monogram SR-71. The chine bays are outlined with raised panel lines and are reasonably close. The windows would be located at the aft end of each bay as indicated by the toothpicks.
The item in the center is the bottom, forward fuselage of the Testor’s/Italeri SR-71 and shows the openings, but they are in the center of each bay. This is incorrect. There are several photos of the bottom of full scale SRs and there is a white rectangular spot in the middle of each bay that looks like and has been described as a camera window. This is actually a white painted spot with ground crew handling instructions on it. The windows would be approximately 3 feet behind that.
The item on the right is another bottom from the Testor’s kit that is attached to the rear section of a YF-12A airframe that I am converting to the SR-71C. This was a pilot trainer aircraft and did not carry any cameras or other sensors, hence no windows were necessary. The trainers also had the chines that extended in a straight edge all the way to the pitot tube without the RHAW antenna bulges just behind the pitot tube. I will be removing these from the model of the C.
I was just noticing the nose gear bay on the Revell model is more accurate than the one on the Italeri model. It shows the two ball shaped Liquid Nitrogen dewars. The nitrogen was used to inert the fuel tanks and purge vapors as the fuel was used. The amount of nitrogen was the limiting factor in mission endurance. After the ultra long distance flights from the US to the Mid-East and back, they added a third Nitrogen tank.
I hope this information is helpful to you in building your model.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
I built the big 48 scale testors SR-71 a few years ago. I have included a few pics of the airframe and landing gear for your reference if you like. I used a circle template to create the titanium sidewalls of the aft landing gear. The hubs are brown, while the treads I left a dull black. I also left the nose gear wheels black. Happily, from the posts I have read hear that seems correct. Hope you enjoy the pics.[;)]
I would like to ask if someone and especially you,Darwin,have any photos or drawing of the cameras and the area near them.
Thanks!
YARDBIRD78; This is great information and will be extremely helpful. You mentioned the gear bay. Are they aluminum as are the main landing gear? What’s the best way to paint them?
NICODEMUS: Thanks for your photos they will be a big help. How did you achieve what looks like shading on your paint scheme?
Neil
mmaker The chine bay cameras were in a long, rectangular equipment bay, so they had to be that overall shape. They looked like a long box with a coffee can on the aft end. The can had a large hole cut in the side and a mirror was inside the can at a 45 degree angle. This mirror directed the incoming light along the length of the camera to the film platen at the front. It rotated back and forth through an arc of about 50 degrees from slightly past centerline (down) to 45 degrees to the side. The camera body was attached via a framework to the actual skin of the airplane. This entire assembly was raised from its storage platform via 4 cables and secured inside the bay. Once it was in place, the only thing you could see is a slight outline of the whole panel and the camera window. The window itself was stored separately in a protective case and installed at the last minute before the mission started.
bablenw All three landing gear legs were cast from titanium and as such were a very dark silver/gray. The inside of the gear doors and most of the sheet metal in the bay was the same thing. The main gear wheel hubs were the same thing with the silver colored, aluminum impregnated tires. The tread portion of this turned somewhat darker after a few landings. There was a series of “wear indicators” molded into each tire that looked like someone had taken a big drill and drilled holes almost into the center of the tire.
I don’t have any photos of my own that I can reproduce and post. The only thing I have is from published books and those are copyrighted.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
Thank you YARDBIRD78 for your help!
I like tamiya acrylics for flat black…it produces a nice even flat look…You can also weather the craft with chalk pastels…
Good luck with it
Tank
Another reason that you would not find any bare metal wethering on an SR is that the flat black paint was not regular paint but a Radar Absorbant Material that was made to help make the aircraft stealthy and take the high heat caused by the friction from operating at Mach 3+ speeds at altitude. When working on the aircraft on the ground, technicians had to wear cloth booties over their shoes to prevent scuffing up the paint while walking on the upper surfaces.
Tom [8-]
I would like to expand on your statement somewhat. The F117 Stealth Fighter and the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber are covered with a RAM (Radar Absorbent Material) that is, I’m guessing, about a 1/2 inch thick. This material is literally glued on in sheets over the larger areas and sprayed on in smaller areas and seams. This stuff needs to be removed in areas for maintenance panel removal, etc and then replaced before the next operational mission.
The SR-71 was painted with a black, “Ironball”, ironoxide paint that, I have been told by the maintenance folks, actually contains microscopic iron balls. It is just painted on and stays that way with touch ups as necessary. It is radar absorbent to a fairly small degree, but not nearly as much as the RAM on the F-117 and B-2
Darwin, O.F. [alien]