My Tamiya instructions tell me to use Gunmetal + Red in a 1:1 ratio. How would you go about doing it? Metallizers? Which color? Any tips will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I would spray the mix that Tamiya suggested on scrap styrene and see how it looks. If I was unsatisfied I would then, spray various metalizers that I had on hand on scrap styrene and compare the results and use the ones that best matched my own F15 resources. Best of luck.
You may know of this site, but just incase you don’t, there are loads of photos of the F15 here. The exhaust pictures should be perfect colour reference material.
That site is a great resource for F-15E’s! Thanks! I’m having a blast reading throught it.
Here is another very good group of F-15 photos compliments of Zoltan Pocza:
http://community.webshots.com/album/378280400thPxSw
The exhaust in the second row of photos is, according to a friend who flew them, a very good representation of what they usually look like. From what I have been told the cans are ceramic coated to dissipate the heat, and as such are predominately white or light gray inside. That shows up very well in that photo.
I’ll post my F-15E’s afterburner pics later, but, I use stainless steel (testors metalizer) on the can section, and titanium (again, testors metalizer) on the feather section and actuator arms. I really didn’t think white looked good on the inside, so I painted mine exhaust (testors metalizer), this is the only inaccuracy on my model.
By mixing those two colors it sounds like they are trying to replicate what the exhaust would look like burnt, as it would be after some use. I would suggest trying Model Master’s Burnt Metal or Burnt Iron. Maybe adding a rusty wash over that will give it a pretty good look, but I can’t see any crew letting them get rusty, in fact, I’m not sure what they are made out of, but I doubt its a metal that will rust? Good luck!
I think eizzle has it right. In older, more well worn aircraft, portions of the afterburner section takes on an almost pink/purple hue. I have some reference material that shows the aft end of a GA ANG F-100. This particular aircraft saw some duty with the Thunderbirds demonstration team before it went on to it’s ANG career. You can barely make out the word “ONE” where the flight leader had his number painted on the side of the reheat section of the tail, which most operators of the “Hun” left unpainted from the leading edge of the stabilizers back. There are multiple bands of a darker, burnt metallic color all through the area that might be what the red/metallic mix is trying to replicate.