These photos and
notes cover the painting of the airframe.
The kit instructions
show a color scheme of Gunship Gray for the wings and upper fuselage, Light
Ghost Gray for the undersurfaces and nose section, and neutral gray for the
ventral fins.
I traded some
e-mails with Bob Sanchez in the past year or so, as I was confused about the
color scheme. The Hasegawa 1/48th F-16 show the same scheme as the Tamiya
instructions, but Bob confirmed to me that the color scheme on the decal
instruction sheet is correct (Neutral Gray and Gunship Gray). I believe this is
for post Desert Storm F-16s. Evidently the Air Force was trying to
simplify the painting scheme.
A sharp eyed reader
(Duncan Lake) also pointed out to me that I painted the radome too dark.
Well, he was right. From looking at the decal instruction sheet, it looked
like to me the radome was a darker gray than the rest of the nose section.
It's darker, but not Euro-I gray! I took a closer look, and to my eye,
F-15 Dark Gray (part of the Mod Eagle scheme) is closer for this specific
airplane.
I'd also like to
thank everybody for the great e-mails I've received with tips, suggestions, and
comments.
Once the series is
done, I'll post a final article with a lot of their tips and suggestions and
comments.
I asked Bob about
the radome color last year, and since the radome is a composite structure, the
colors will vary depending on what color it was painted, exposure to the
elements, etc... so my word of advice, is to check the references for the
specific airplane you are building!
So, even though the
radome appears very dark in these photos, I've already repainted it F-15 Mod
Eagle Dark Gray.
Ok, to the painting!
Masking the
airframe
The first step was to mask
off all the areas that weren't going to be gray. I actually started
on the masking after the fuselage was assembled. I used Tamiya 10mm
tape to cover the wheel wells, gear, and cockpit, and then slathered
Ambroid Liquid Mask over the paint to seal it. The photos to the
right show the masking that I did.
The engine nozzle was still
covered with Parafilm from when the engine nozzle was painted.
I put cotton balls inside
the engine nozzle to protect the paint job on the inside, and did the same
(with tape as well) to protect the interior of the intake. |
|
Painting the
"trim" colors
I started off by painting
the radome (with the wrong color) and the tips of the RHAW "beer
cans" on the leading edge flaps. After that was done, I masked
off the radome with Parafilm, and the "beer cans" with tape.
The engine nozzle was still
covered with Parafilm from when the engine nozzle was painted.
I put cotton balls inside
the engine nozzle to protect the paint job on the inside, and did the same
(with tape as well) to protect the interior of the intake. |
Click on
image below to see larger image
|
|
|
|
Painting the
camouflage scheme
Now it's time to do some
serious painting! This is a big kit, so it takes a while.
The first step was to paint
the overall airframe Neutral Gray. I left it dry for 24 hours, and
then made sure there were no errant cat hairs that got into the paint.
There were a couple, and some fine sandpaper and a quick touchup took care
of the problem.
I masked off the black
portion of the canopy at the same time and sprayed it Neutral Gray at the
same time.
I sprayed the bottom of the
horizontal stabilizers at the same time (both sides to get the edges)
I then masked off the
neutral gray sections with Parafilm and tape (it took a lot to cover the
bottom of the airplane, the vertical stabilizer, and the bottom of the
horizontal stabilizers).
I removed the horizontal
stabilizers from the kit to make them easier to paint.
The curved demarcation
between the neutral gray and the gunship gray is always tricky to do.
The best method I've found is to:
1.
Place the canopy on temporarily
2.
Put a piece of Parafilm where the demarcation will be
3.
With a Sharpie Marker, make 3 dots -- at the canopy sill, the mid point,
and at the LEX
4.
Draw a curved line connecting the 3 points
5.
Cut the line lightly with sharp #11 blade on the demarcation and where the
canopy meets the sill (so it can be removed, the inside masked off, and
the Gunship Gray portion sprayed)
I then sprayed the gunship
gray (on the horizontal stabilizers, canopy and airframe), let dry and
removed the masking.
I was very pleased with how
well it came out, and don't worry, I've corrected the radome, and will
have a picture of it during the decaling phase
The pictures to the right
also show some of the detail of the underside after painting.
A note on the tires -- they
are easy to remove -- I just wanted to see what it looked like with them
on Steve |
|
|
|