I am very much impressed with the ability and talent of everyone posting here…I wish I could devote more time to some of my finishing skills…I am truly blown away.
Paint chips, smoke stains, oil stains and faded panels. All truly eyecatching. yet I wonder if it is too much. All I read from the Western Desert Campaign to the Pacific, Israel or even the Persian Gulf talk very fondly of the ground crews. In turn the ground crews speak fondly of thier aircraft. Nothing new there of course…
Has anyone out there ever attempted to contact veteran armourers or riggers? If you have how did you do so?
Joe, I try to base my WW II weathering on photo reference material, these are mostly B&W but there are some color shots available. I think you would be surprised at just how beat-up and stained these aircraft can get even in a short amount of time. You just need to bear in mind the environment they operated in also has a lot to do with the sort extremes of elements the aircraft are exposed too. The desert is a hot dirty dusty place, with dust and grime getting into every crack or crevice and the sun fades paint like nothing else. However, even in milder climate such as Europe I have photos from the Battle of Britain that show a massive amount of paint chipped away from the wing root of Spitfires by ground crew. But if you were to model this as it appears in the photo the model would appear to many as over done.
In my opinion, a weathered aircraft model looks better than an un-weathered one. But the key for me, is to have subtle weathering. I’m not a huge fan of models with a whole heap of paint chipping or over done weathering. I’ll just add a bit of exhaust and gun staining, some light paint chipping and a bit of shading to make the model look a bit more realistic.
However, if I see a picture of the actual aircraft I am modeling and it has alot of chipping and is very dirty, I’ll try to replicate it on my model.
My advice is, if you think it looks good, and like to weather your models, then do it. Don’t worry about whether someone will say it is over weathered. Just build for yourself.
I prefer my shelf sitters in pretty clean configuration. Too me, a heavily weathered model looks great in a diorama setting that reflects the environment, but looks sorta out of place sitting by itself with no other reference. I don’t argue with modelers who like to do extreme weathering on aircraft, that’s their choice. Just a matter of preference I guess.
this is a hotly debated item most of the time. i think it all boils down to the personal preference. i love to weather an aircraft, but i also like the factory fresh look too. modern aircraft certainly get more attention than the when war was hard fast and furious. i hate getting trapped into trying to research the aircraft that i’m doing to try and make every little scratch and oil stain be in its right place. as a matter o’ fact, my builds are probably incorrect to say the least, but i sure have fun doing them up!!LOL i’m far from a rivot counter, i just like to kick back, and do what pleases me. show it to my friends here, and if they like it…excellent, if they don’t…so be it. i’m having fun and enjoying my modelling time doin’ it my way. have fun with it and you can’t go wrong friend. later.
Chris is right -
It’s really about personal preference…if it feels good, then do it.
By all means, use reference material to gain a knowledge of how a particular aircraft appeared in theatre after an extended operational period and try to recreate that - or make your planes factory fresh.
Either way, a subtle application if weathering certainly enhances the look of a model.
Some aircraft weathered enormously - witness many Japanese aircraft in Asia, or the Black Cats Catalinas - after even a short period of time, they looked like they’ve completed thousands of missions.
But ultimately, you just have to do what you think is best.
As much as I love military aircraft the military aircraft I have ever seen up close were at the Air Show or in Museum and of course those birds are kept shiney CLEAN.
BUT when I work at the airport for Continental, those birds were only washed about once a month or so. And the birds that missed the washing that month would come in real filthy. As far as paint chips, the smaller plains like the Cessna single engines, would have chips all down the wing. It seems the smaller the bird the easier to push, therefore the easier to bang into things. Also the more the planes were in the air the more they looked used. This is just my experience with civil birds, this may very with military birds.
I agree with several of the previous posts that the amount of weathering is a personal choice. I spent 3 years in Viet Nam and saw A-1 Skyraiders, F-4 Phantoms, F-105 Thunderchiefs and many other planes that were everything from factory fresh shiney to dirty,greasy and weathered to the point I am surprised pilots would even consider flying the horrible looking things. The piston engine birds were pretty much replaced by jets during that war, but those like the A-1 Skyraider were notorius for throwing oil all along the fuselage and dripping it down on the bottom and any centerline ordnance. If an air cooled, radial engine is not using a bunch of oil, then it is not running correctly. That “used” oil went both out the exhaust and just plain leaked out. Both made a mess. Inline, water cooled engines leak oil to some extent, but not nearly as much.
The South East Asia climate was very hard on paint. It faded and chipped very fast. The newer paints in use now are much better quality, so weathering on modern jets is not as severe, but it is still there.
Highly acentuated and contrasting panel lines are usually not particularly accurate, especially if they are shown the same density over the entire aircraft. Like on the A-1, the fuselage of a gray painted bird would have a lot of oil and the dirt it collects in the panel lines. The wings, especially toward the tips would have a LOT less. The leading edges of the wings have considerably more of this that further back. The same for the fuselage. The further back, the less staining.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
I like 'em all - from “factory fresh” to “absolutely whooped”. Variety is the spice of life man !
I model mostly WWII stuff and most of the old photo’s I see, show planes that look really toasted compared to the way they are usually modeled. Even using different colors on individual panels doesn’t really mimick reality - but it certainly gives the impression that there is something that has happened over time.
I’m trying to learn how to weather more. I add a little and try different things with each kit I make.