I’m in the finishing stages of my 1/48 B-1. I’m so used to working on WW2 stuff where faded and chipped paint, scuff marks, battle damage and oil leaks were the norm. But this is the first jet I’ve built since I was a kid! So does anyone have any suggestions on how to weather this monster? I’ve tried checking photo references but the plane looks so monochromatic except for the nose cone, tail cone and along the leading edge of the winig root. Other than these areas, should I just leave the plane in fairly one shade? I’d like to try to avoid accenting the panel lines because I don’t want it to end up looking like that AC-130 which was on the cover of FSM several months ago.
Thank you for any advice! I’ll try to post pics. I can’t believe I’m building this mammoth for my brother-in-law for FREE! But as my wife said, if I would have charged him then the model wouldn’t have turned out as well as it has. She’s right.
The Air Force has a pretty aggressive corrosion resistance program (we expect to fly them for decades now), so you’re not going to see too much paint chipping and scuffing. Probably the most weathered you’re going to see an AF aircraft these days is immediately after return from deployment, where they may have some mottled sun fading of the paint and darker sprayed on touch-ups (check out Navy aircraft after return from a cruise if you want to see touch-up taken to an extreme). They do get pretty dirty, though, if not washed frequently. Dark weather staining and oil streaks are quite common, though they may not show up well on an aircraft as dark as a B-1B.
I know what you mean about that mottled appearance of the Navy aircraft especially on those F-14s! Boy some of them can look real patchy. Makes you wonder if it’s some sort of new funky camoflage! LOL! I might try to oh so deftly, almost imperceptibly, shade the panels but nothing to the extreme. Thank you for the great pics (so sad to see them in the boneyard) and the great info!
Oddly enough, fading/streaking can be quite noticeable on the B-1 despite the dark base colour. Look at the following photos and consider the distance from the camera.
Those are awesome shots of the B-1! The one on the bottom really reveals some good tones. I’m going the dark gunship grey version as opposed to the multi-colored camo version. I’m going to print that picture out and keep it at my side as I do the subtle weathering. Thanks!