what would you use for white lower surface color?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

I am getting close to painting Revell F-14A, and plan to do light gray on upper surfaces, and white on lower.

Would you paint straight white on, or would you mix the white with a hint of another color to take some starkness out of it?

Thanks!

2

Put the white over a base coat of black, and build it up in thin layers. That way you’ll get some nice variation in the finish.

3

Thats cool Doogs! Gunze makes a nice off white color, or you could mix in some deck tan or other sandish color to your white.

4

On the real thing, the underside was painted FS 17875 Insignia White, the same as for US Navy Vietnam era aircraft. This color should be pretty easy for you to find no matter what brand of paints you prefer. I would definitely try that white-over-black idea, as the underside of a Tomcat was not a very clean place. Depending on how you are planning to weather your model, also keep in mind that the Tomcat had a much higher pressure hydraulic system than its predecessors, and it was known to leak. Those birds would get quite dirty…

5

DoogsATX: When you build up that final thinned coat, do you let it dry between coats, or just go around the model one coat after another until you get the desired result?

F-8fanatic: I have come across a couple of pictures of some Tomcats that looked like they had been in service a while. Not sure I could weather up anything like what those old girls looked like. I appreciate your comment, and I need to get a few more photos for reference.

6

Thanks Nathan! For the record, that is Gunze Offwhite C69.

mgh - since it’s Gunze, it cures up pretty fast, so it was very much a “many coats in one sitting” kind of affair.

7

I would like to try to replicate something like this:

http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason/f-14a_161134/images/f-14a_161134_02_of_93.jpg

Do you think I could get this by putting black down irregularly, and then building up the light gray, or white? That is a well-worn bird in that photo!

Thanks for any suggestions.

8

Hey mgh, I think we need to introduce you to Promodeller washes! You could experiment with all sorts of preshade colors: black, brown, sand. I think that pic would be great for salt weathering.

9

That’s weird! It almost looks like it was originally painted in the high-vis gull gray/white scheme, then overpainted in light ghost gray that’s wearing off.

In that case, I’d recommend black base, then the “warm” gray in the pics, but keep it to areas where you know you’ll be exposing it. Then the light ghost gray on top of that. You could either freehand it, mask it, or use a chipping fluid to expose the gray underneath.

10

All I have seen for salt weathering is using it to replicate chipping. Is there some other salt technique for fading?

And you preshade with washes? Same idea as behind preshading panel lines with an airbrush, but you are washing areas to preshade before final coat?

One of my problems is that I seem to always be chasing a technique that is new to me, and never really get very comfortable with any one of them!

DoogsATX: I do not think I will try masking areas, I think I will go with your suggestion of beginning with the black basecoat, and then try some combination of whites and grays mottled on with the AB, and then the final white and light gray built up slowly and see what I can accomplish. Mostly I am too lazy to do that much masking[:)], but I was also happy with the experiment I did using your suggestion of black with white over it. Subtlety is not my strong point, but I can see there are some very cool things that can be done with that.

Thanks for the suggestions.

11

Mgh, the wash will help you dirty up the underside, and is applied after the painting/decaling/glosscoat is done. I threw out the Promodeler because its easy to use and is good for representing overall grime. As far as salt weathering, yes, its used for chipping, but can also be used for fading…Doogs can explain it better, or check out his blog. I know what you mean about all these new techniques! I went through it all bout 4 years ago,and it took a few donor models that look outa place on the shelf due to all the learning mistakes!