F-14 weathering
abramsmbt
almost a greybrown color a lot of rust and some places that looks like new
panels. Im sort of new to modeling, and the weathering thing is difficult. I
have read some of the articles on different web sites and when I try them
they just dont blend or look natural, even with my airbrush. Any tips would
be great.
thanks
William H. Shuey
FWIW The latest issue of "Fine Scale Modeller" has a decent article on
airbrushing and another on weathering. With regard to Navy aircraft,
they operate in an environment that is less than kind to paint jobs and
the constant retouching makes for the patchy appearance.
Bill Shuey
Donald Harstad
William H. Shuey wrote in message <369578...@erols.com>...
>abramsmbt wrote:
>>
>> In a lot of the pictures I have of the F-14 the paint is faded in places
and
>> almost a greybrown color a lot of rust and some places that looks like
new
>> panels. Im sort of new to modeling, and the weathering thing is
difficult. I
>> have read some of the articles on different web sites and when I try them
>> they just dont blend or look natural, even with my airbrush. Any tips
would
>> be great.
The mottled appearance is made by ground crews, who have spray cans of gray
paint they use to touch up areas where the original finish has worn off. It
is almost (note the almost) always darker because the original finish has
faded in the meantime.
Also, scuffs from various kinds of incidental contact will change the
reflectivity of the paint.
Rust isn't present.
I use an airbrush with a darker shade to outline the high-wear panels, and
access areas. Doesn't look too bad.
If you squint!
Don H.
Brian Cable
darker (topside). Having worked around the aircraft, this is the
general apperance. The outlines are on most of the panels. Once I
outline the panels with the airbrush, I go back over the panels with
pastels. Nice and realistic effect. Also, I have never seen any rust
on a modern Navy aircraft.
Daniel Dudkin
Brian Cable wrote in message <369575...@erols.com>...
You're right...........Modern aircraft don't have alot of weathering to do..
Or atleast it's hard to do. One thing would be the jet exhaust. You could
use pastels or scrape some pencil lead put it on your finger and with your
finger do a like a medium drybrushing. Then a light one. The rust
thing....Me neither....... Modern aircraft are well looked after. You would
think they have rust because of all the humidity and stuff but they don't.
Also if the plane isn't flying a real nice thing to do is OPEN the closed
panels. It's hard to do but it's worth the time. You could use a hobby knife
or scraper or a dremel to cut it out. Not too deep though or you will cut
into the fuselage (if you do build it up with styrene). Then take out the
scrap box or you can use sprue from the model your working on and just cut
it into the right length. Stick them in the pane. and you paint them (maybe
use 3-5 colors or else it will look like shit, and they have to be in
contrast with the fuselage color). It's a real nice looking when you finish.
Also many poeple including me worry bout seams... Just today I was reading
Navy Aviation and there was a picture of (damn forgot) but anyway the nose
had a very big line there. So did the wings. But I did this on my Super
Tomcat (only two version built, modification of one of the other f-14.) I
colored the nose piece a light brown mixed with gray (the fueselage was
gray). It looked really nice. And the seam looked smaller. I also used a 5mm
pencil to outline the panels but it looked crappy. Turned out that it was
too big and the lead just came out and if you tried to erase it it looked
shitty. So don't try it.
Good luck
Random Smart Thing said from TV:
"Don't Bend OVER!"
jea...@woodland.net
"William H. Shuey" <whs...@erols.com> wrote:
> FWIW The latest issue of "Fine Scale Modeller" has a decent article on
> airbrushing and another on weathering. With regard to Navy aircraft,
> they operate in an environment that is less than kind to paint jobs and
> the constant retouching makes for the patchy appearance.
>
> Bill Shuey
The one time I was around a F-14 that wasn't all spiffed up for an air show,
it seemed like there was a great deal of staining from hydraulic or other
fluids all over the lower fuselage surfaces.
John Eaton
jea...@woodland.net http://woodland.net/user/jeaton/index.html
there IS no reason
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Tracy S. Weber
As far as the F-14 weathering, they do weather terribly at sea. after 4
WestPac/IO cruises i've seen more dirty Naval aircraft than clean. They
look pretty rough after about 5 months at sea but they are all spruced
up prior to coming home, well for the most part. the rust color you have
seen is a combination of many different things. The flight deck gets
covered with a mixture of dirt, grease, JP-5, Hydraulic fluid, and oil
so it stays messy alot. That in conjuction with TD-1 tiedown chains that
are steel and rust profusely create a conglomeration that gets on your
gloves and boots. This gook then gets tranferred to the airplane via
maintenance personnel. With the low-vis paint which feels about like
600 grit sandpaper some times the gook just gets ground into the paint.
F-14's are wash a minimum of every 14 days whether they need it or not (
most of them always do) Also the changes in color of panels is due to
the corrosion control workcenter(maintenance shop) doing corrosion
removal and treatment. They have basically all the tools you would find
at an autobody shop for body painting and some fiberglass repair(antenna
cover for ECM/DECM). They also have some of the nastiest paint out
there. It smells like bananas but man is it rough. Also just as there
is a big controversy over what is the right color in models the paint
schemes do not vary in pattern(for the most part) but do vary in color
due to batch mixes and manufacturer.
As far as panel lines, the most noticable lines are on the panels most
often accessed. The nose area in front of the intakes and the panels
just above the intakes. Internal panel areas vary from white to chromate
yellow(illegal for use in the U.S. now I believe), and Chromate green.
The cockpit interior is that universal filing cabinet gray color,
instrument panels are a satin black(they're a type of plastic) and the
cloth glareshields fade to a brown drab color after about a year in the
sun. The hard plastic glareshields are gloss black but are textured so
the gloss does not make that much of an impact. The black on the canopy
rails and such is a satin finish black also.
The reason for there being so much grime around the often used panels
is due to the paractice of spraying a light oil on the panel seals and
fasteners prior to closing as another corrosion control measure taken by
the shops that frequent those panels(Aviation Electrionics Technicians,
and Aviation Electricians).
I personally would weather and F-14 a little like a tank as far as the
intensity of grime, Lighten the top and side colors, go back with
unaltered top and side colors to simulate touch up, also adding a little
of the darker with the light and so on to come up with about 5-6 colors
(including the uncut paint)for doing touch-up work.
Pastels will work for the brownish color, I suggest experimenting with
a few oil pastels in that shade and see if I ould smudge it around with
a Q-tip.
Bare in mind the the spiffy clean Naval aircraft you see at airshows,
Publicity shots and on shore have been claened up considerably and stay
that way for the most part. Being at sea takes a terrible toll on the
finishes.
I hope this info helps,
Tracy S. Weber
Phoenix Missile System Specialist
ex U.S. Navy
85'-96'
"If it don't say Grumman it ain't a fighter!"
Romulus M. Mare
build by Doug (capn...@aol.com) that is very nice and I mean VERY nice,
weathered
Romulus.
abramsmbt <abr...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:773e50$n1v$1...@camel25.mindspring.com...
>In a lot of the pictures I have of the F-14 the paint is faded in places
and
>almost a greybrown color a lot of rust and some places that looks like new
>panels. Im sort of new to modeling, and the weathering thing is difficult.
I
>have read some of the articles on different web sites and when I try them
>they just dont blend or look natural, even with my airbrush. Any tips would
>be great.
>
>thanks
>
CJ Martin
[snip]
Excellent post, right in line with my own real life F-14 experiences. I would
like to add one thing:
> As far as panel lines, the most noticable lines are on the panels most
>often accessed. The nose area in front of the intakes and the panels
>just above the intakes. Internal panel areas vary from white to chromate
>yellow(illegal for use in the U.S. now I believe), and Chromate green.
White (originally gloss white) is the most common color for the back sides of
panels/doors. Interior bay color is usually chromate yellow, however the one
big exception I remember is the main computer bay on the starboard side
forward of the intake (that big panel). The inside of this one was always
white. Avionics boxes are medium gray, sometimes (but rarely) black. Usually
it was the smaller boxes that were black. Wire bundles are dirty white but
often look darker. Connectors are a metallic OD green or silver.
>The cockpit interior is that universal filing cabinet gray color,
>instrument panels are a satin black(they're a type of plastic) and the
>cloth glareshields fade to a brown drab color after about a year in the
>sun. The hard plastic glareshields are gloss black but are textured so
>the gloss does not make that much of an impact. The black on the canopy
>rails and such is a satin finish black also.
Yep, and you hit those cloth glaresides right on for color; they fade badly in
the sun.
Again, excellent post.
-CJ
(former VF-33 "Starfighter" avionics tech, 85-88)
CJ Martin
>The one time I was around a F-14 that wasn't all spiffed up for an air show,
>it seemed like there was a great deal of staining from hydraulic or other
>fluids all over the lower fuselage surfaces.
If an F-14 isn't leaking something from it's belly, it's because it's empty.
:-)
-CJ
Luis Dias
prefered).
The thing is: either they yellow after a short while, or they peel off easily (gloss white,
mainly) or are too thin and just won't cover.
I've tried Humbrol and Tamiya enamels with no luck. I usually avoid the problem in the
landing gears with some weathering (dust, hidraulic leaks, etc.), but the wells are always
difficult.
Sorry if this has already been discussed over here, but I've been off-line for quite a while.
Thanks 1E6,
L. Dias
anti.spam => altavista.net
"If it has wheels, propellers or tits, sooner or later, it's bound to give you trouble." -
Phyllis Moses
William H. Shuey
Sounds like what they used to say about a Harley!
Bill Shuey
Charles Metz
> Probably a bit off the original post, but does any of you
> know a decent white paint? (enamel prefered).
> The thing is: either they yellow after a short while, or
> they peel off easily (gloss white, mainly) or are
> too thin and just won't cover.
> I've tried Humbrol and Tamiya enamels with no luck. I
> usually avoid the problem in the landing gears with some
> weathering (dust, hidraulic leaks, etc.), but the wells
> are always difficult.
> Sorry if this has already been discussed over here, but
> I've been off-line for quite a while.
The white in Floquil's 'Railroad Colors' range provides the best
coverage, resistance to yellowing and sturdiness of any I've tried. The
trick to airbrushing this line of paints successfully is to thin it to
about twice its original volume using a thinner that consists of one
part of Floquil Railroad Colors 'Retarder' for each five parts of
Floquil 'Diosol'.
Charles Metz
BigMac
>
> Probably a bit off the original post, but does any of you know a decent white paint? (enamel
> prefered).
> The thing is: either they yellow after a short while, or they peel off easily (gloss white,
> mainly) or are too thin and just won't cover.
> I've tried Humbrol and Tamiya enamels with no luck. I usually avoid the problem in the
> landing gears with some weathering (dust, hidraulic leaks, etc.), but the wells are always
> difficult.
> Sorry if this has already been discussed over here, but I've been off-line for quite a while.
>
> L. Dias
> anti.spam => altavista.net
>
> "If it has wheels, propellers or tits, sooner or later, it's bound to give you trouble." -
> Phyllis Moses
Luis,
I don't know where you live, but if you have a Wal-Mart near you, and
you do if you're in the US of A, the best white made is this cheap craft
enamel found in Wally's paint department. It comes in a 2-oz glass jar,
which I have adapted the lid for airbrush use, and it it is called Odds
'n' Ends fast dry enamel. It is mfg by Plasticote and costs less than
$2.00/jar. There are several useful colors although most are craft
colors like mauve and turquoise. Their white, both flat and gloss, have
to be the whitest enamel that I have found. I have several ten-year old
airliners that I used it on and they are as pristine as ever. Be careful
when you close the jar back because it will not open again with paint in
the threads. Good luck.
BigMac
IPMS #10660
andy...@my-dejanews.com
cma...@origin.ea.com (CJ Martin) wrote:
> In article <3695C9...@mail.lig.bellsouth.net>, we...@mail.lig.bellsouth.net wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> Excellent post, right in line with my own real life F-14 experiences. I would
> like to add one thing:
>
> >often accessed. The nose area in front of the intakes and the panels
> >just above the intakes. Internal panel areas vary from white to chromate
> >yellow(illegal for use in the U.S. now I believe), and Chromate green.
>
> panels/doors. Interior bay color is usually chromate yellow, however the one
> big exception I remember is the main computer bay on the starboard side
> forward of the intake (that big panel). The inside of this one was always
> white. Avionics boxes are medium gray, sometimes (but rarely) black. Usually
> it was the smaller boxes that were black. Wire bundles are dirty white but
> often look darker. Connectors are a metallic OD green or silver.
>
> >instrument panels are a satin black(they're a type of plastic) and the
> >cloth glareshields fade to a brown drab color after about a year in the
> >sun. The hard plastic glareshields are gloss black but are textured so
> >the gloss does not make that much of an impact. The black on the canopy
> >rails and such is a satin finish black also.
>
> the sun.
>
> Again, excellent post.
>
> -CJ
> (former VF-33 "Starfighter" avionics tech, 85-88)
>
Well, guess I'm a little late on this issue but here goes...
I'm currently working on a Fujimi F-14 in 72nd scale and set out to do give
it well weathered look, cause I think it can be really attractive on the
F-14. I was very unsure of how to do this to make it look truly realistic, so
it was a bit of a trial and error during the entire project.
Started out with dropping all plans on following any specific paint scheme
but instead airbrushed 3-4 different mixes of Low Visibility blue/grays from
the Gunze range, applying these randomly to the entire model. Then proceeded
with handpainting mixes of Humbrol grays (127, 128 etc.) along many panel
lines and on entire panels. The paint built up a little too much on some
places requiring light sanding to correct.
After this I thought the model was beginning to look like I wanted it, but
the patchy paintwork was a bit too harsch(?), though.
Anyway, I glossed my model and went on with the decals (Superscale VF-212). I
next decided to apply a LIGHT mist of some mix of Low Visibility gray as a
final coat to weather and tone down the decals. I ended up covering the whole
model with this light coat and it really made the paint job look weathered
and just enough patchy to look convincing. After a little hesiteation I
finished off with a light wash of Payne's Gray oil color to accent and rudder
and panel lines. And then there was the final matt coat...done!
Well that was it regarding the paint job. Sounds easy? I think my poor F-14
balanced between catastrophe and success during the entire project, but I
hope I landed on the right side of the line this time.
I'm currently modifying the landing gear by lengthening the main legs to
represent the F-14 with gear/flaps/hook out and getting ready to catch a wire
on deck. Too bad the Fujimi kit doesn't come with separate air brakes like
the Hasegawa offering, but it will have to do. Going to pose the model
"airborne" using a clear acrylic rod in each jet nozzle.
By the way, does any one know if the front gear extends like the main gears
when not on the ground? I guess it should extend at least a little when
leaving the ground, but I can't see evidence of this in any photos.
Any ideas?
/Anders, Sweden (ai...@hotmail.com)
Jeff Rankin-Lowe
CAG who drifted a little to the right when landing on the boat in a Tomcat and
his wingtip took out the radomes and radars of more than a few parked F-14s. The
maintenance guys got everything patched and replaced as required, but the
switched the nose sections (at least the radome, perhaps more) so that the
aircraft all looked "not quite right". The intent was to remind the CAG daily of
his little adventure. the original post should still be in DejaNews or you could
post in r.a.m.n asking for it to be reposted.
Jeff Rankin-Lowe
Zoltan Djapjas
>By the way, does any one know if the front gear extends like the main gears
>when not on the ground? I guess it should extend at least a little when
>leaving the ground, but I can't see evidence of this in any photos.
>
>Any ideas?
Hello Andy,
afaik the front gear is somewhat comressed on the carriers deck to be
extendet shortly before leaving the deck while a catapult launch. The
aircraft's nose will be pushed upwards, so the aircraft gets some angle of
attack and it's easier to take off.
This procedure is also used on the A6 and F-18 (afaik). Hope this helped.
greetings, Zoltan
ai...@hotmail.com
> >By the way, does any one know if the front gear extends like the main gears
> >when not on the ground? I guess it should extend at least a little when
> >leaving the ground, but I can't see evidence of this in any photos.
> >
> >Any ideas?
>
> ZDja...@t-online.de (Zoltan Djapjas) wrote:
>
> Hello Andy,
> afaik the front gear is somewhat comressed on the carriers deck to be
> extendet shortly before leaving the deck while a catapult launch. The
> aircraft's nose will be pushed upwards, so the aircraft gets some angle of
> attack and it's easier to take off.
> This procedure is also used on the A6 and F-18 (afaik). Hope this helped.
>
> greetings, Zoltan
>
Hi Zoltan,
Thanks for your reply. I went for a compromise and added a 1mm thick piece of
styrene in the front wheel well to make the nose gear stand out a little more
than normal, without bothering about modifying the nose leg...a decent
compromise, I guess!
/Anders (ai...@hotmail.com)
Jnoack
>> >By the way, does any one know if the front gear extends like the main
>gears
>> >when not on the ground? I guess it should extend at least a little when
>> >leaving the ground, but I can't see evidence of this in any photos.
>> >
>> >Any ideas?
>>
>> ZDja...@t-online.de (Zoltan Djapjas) wrote:
>>
>> Hello Andy,
>> afaik the front gear is somewhat comressed on the carriers deck to be
>> extendet shortly before leaving the deck while a catapult launch. The
>> aircraft's nose will be pushed upwards, so the aircraft gets some angle of
>> attack and it's easier to take off.
>> This procedure is also used on the A6 and F-18 (afaik). Hope this helped.
>>
>> greetings, Zoltan
>>
>Hi Zoltan,
>
>Thanks for your reply. I went for a compromise and added a 1mm thick piece of
>styrene in the front wheel well to make the nose gear stand out a little more
>than normal, without bothering about modifying the nose leg...a decent
>compromise, I guess!
>
>/Anders (ai...@hotmail.com)
The F-14 nose landing gear incorporates a "stroke" feature. When attached to
the catapult, the nose gear strut is significantly depressed, yielding an
obvious nose-down attitude.
Near the end of the cat shot, the strut extends (almost 14", IIRC), assisting
with the rotation to an appropriate angle of attack for takeoff. Anecdotally,
I remember hearing that the Tomcat was one of the few aircraft that did not
"sink" when transiting the bow of the carrier, meaning that positive climb rate
was immediately established.
I am 90% sure that the A-6 did not have this feature. Can't speak for that
F-14 wannabee, the F-18 though (is it blatantly obvious where my sympathies
lie?)
JN
John Noack
IPMS 23017
President, IPMS/USA