Are there any go-to colors or best-practice techniques you guys use for jet exhaust nozzles? I’m doing a Harrier GR.3 and have zero idea what to do with these (see link below). After watching tons of vids of builds, jet nozzles range from black to silvery white, totally flat to very metallic-y. Some are absolutely filthy and some are spotless clean. So much variety and tonal variation.
Is there anything I can do besides base color, wash, highlights and blends? Thoughts? Thanks!! [Y]
On my he 162 I used dark and light burnt iron from alclad to give a bit more frrl to the different heat areas.
On a nozle with pettals I would do a darker wash insode the oberlaps of the petals to give some shadows.
Most exhausts I have seen are a matt to semi satin look to it.
Revell 1/32 HE 162 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr
Theuns
Keep in mind that the forward nozzles on a Harrier pass relatively cool bypass air, so there is little, if any heat discolouration on those.
Also note that there is often heat discolouration/sooting on the fuselage side heat shields/deflectors behind the aft nozzles.
For the exhaust I used alclad burnt iron and highlited the pettals with a graphite pencil to look “metal” the pix dont really reflect the look as well.
IMG_20180603_120847 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr
On the indise I did the same but added tamiya smoke to tone it down a little.
IMG_20180603_120826 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr
Theuns
Alclad makes a Jet Exhaust color that works very well for this purpose. You can experiment with different colors and weathing producst to achieve the look you want.
BK