Painting a MiG 15 out of the box

I have history with aluminium, sorry about my earlier comment. Duraluminium is an alloy of aluminium that has a few percent of copper and a few other metals added in. It is very vulnerable to corrosion. Everyones favorite green (and yellow) zinc chromate on interior surfaces of ww2 era models is an aluminium preservative. The pure aluminium clad to the surface is more resistant to corrosion. When polished the pure aluminium will form a thin layer on aluminium oxide that is inhibits corrosion nicely. If the aluiminium gets pitted an water sits in the pits you are in trouble, so keep it polished. Todays aerospace aluminium flavors are more resistant.  

Hello!

I Poland we had about 600 MiG's in the mid-nineties, when we started to phase them out. MiG-21's and older were natural metal at that time. Some -17s and -15s working as ground support aircraft were camouflaged. MiG-23s and -29s were already supplied painted. Some MiG-21s were also grey already in the eighties, but those were very rare. In XXI century the few surviving MiG-21s were painted gray, but there were only few of them in Polish inventory by that time. MiG-21s were withdrawn from the service in Poland on 1st January 2004.

Have a nice day

Paweł

I know that several Warsaw Pact air forces went to a light gray to replace the NMF on interceptor types. The Polish Air Force did not do that in that era? I have seen photos of a few Polish Mig-21s in light gray.

Hello Stik!

I meant more like a picture of a model, recently built, to make the thread recent again, but thanks a lot, the pictures you posted are valuable!

Here in Poland they didn't paint the -21's until they were retired. Let me post a picture too:

This one is taken in 1997. The white stripe is for the "Eagle Claw" exercise, that was conducted together with various NATO forces.

Have a nice day

Paweł

Here a couple of late modle Mig 21 photos I found at the end of the silver/NMF era.

a very even toned Czech Fishbed. Laquer perhaps?

and some multi toned NMF Soviet late model Fishbeds. Certainly not polished up for show... 

Pawel

Hello!

That specific aluminium mill was state owned! :D

But more seriously - I heard the American jets were made of duraluminium plated with a thin layer of pure aluminium, that could, and ofte would be polished to high gloss. The German and later Russian aircraft didn't have that thin aluminium coating, and so even if you polished them, you wouldn't get a surface this glossy!

Now somebody has to posta a photo of a recent MiG here! Have a nice day

Paweł

 

Not recent, and not super shiny. But not dull either. NMF with the Soviets went out in the mid 70s...

Hello!

That specific aluminium mill was state owned! :D

But more seriously - I heard the American jets were made of duraluminium plated with a thin layer of pure aluminium, that could, and ofte would be polished to high gloss. The German and later Russian aircraft didn't have that thin aluminium coating, and so even if you polished them, you wouldn't get a surface this glossy!

Now somebody has to posta a photo of a recent MiG here! Have a nice day

Paweł

Bare aluminium, who came up with that? Must have owned an aluminium mill.

Not all Migs were dull .(Message from the future)

No, an airbrush is not absolutely necessary for a stunning finish.  Please check this out for proof of that:

http://imodeler.com/2013/02/hasegawa-148-p-40e-112-sqn-raf-pilot-c-caldwell/

Not at all. But stay away from acrylic paints, as those metallics are usually pretty weak compared to enamels, especially when hand brushed. You can still get a good multi tone panel look with careful masking and proper brushes/brushing techniques. In enamels I would suggest using Humbrol and Testors shades of Flat Aluminum for hand brushing.

I don't have an airbrush so would painting the MiG 15 with a brush be a waste of time?

Thank you

Jim Barton

Gorgeous model! A very long time ago, I built a MiG-21 with Czechoslovakian markings that was a model of a plane I saw at the late Champlin Fighter Jet Museum that once existed near Phoenix. The real plane had a NMF that wasn't very shiny either.

Thanks Jim, if you're referring to my plane.  I'll immodestly take that compliment, lol.  I really like Stik's F-84 too!  The Monogram kit is from about 1987 I believe, and it is 1/48 scale.  Here's a link to the original thread if you're interested in more info and more pics:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/p/141045/1487579.aspx#1487579

I'm just now taking a break from working on my Hobby Boss MiG-17F.  I'm in the final stages and I always have a tendency to rush things the nearer to the end I get.  I've been fighting a few photo-etched pieces today, and I've only lost one so far.  I've "misplaced" the same tiny part three or four times and I can't believe I've found it each time.  So, take that carpet monster.  Of course, it's not attached yet but is painted and ready to go on.  So, I may still lose it yet, lol!

Gorgeous model! A very long time ago, I built a MiG-21 with Czechoslovakian markings that was a model of a plane I saw at the late Champlin Fighter Jet Museum that once existed near Phoenix. The real plane had a NMF that wasn't very shiny either.

Which scale kit is it, there are some nice Soviet ground support vehicles in 72nd scale.

Thanks a lot!  The model is photographed at our local small town airport.  It's placed on the "tarmac" atop a card table, with the tripod-mounted camera(using the self-timer option most of the time) at scale eye-level (usually).  The tarmac is a piece of masonite sprayed with car trunk paint.  It's weathered with diluted enamels.  The "tar strips" are drafting tape and the yellow painted stripes are of course, yellow paint, lol.  I think my models always photograph better in natural light and they look good in a natural setting too.  The airport is about 4 minutes from my house and that makes it mighty convenient for taking pics!  I do get a bit bored with the same scenery however and I'm planning a session at another small-town airport 20 miles away.  Hopefully, I'll have some more, different pics to post before too much longer.  

Thanks again, Gary.

Great model. How did you create the display? Is that a painted mural in the background or is it real? What did you use for the Tarmac? Thanks Texgunner and to everyone else who replied.

I like using Humbrol Aluminum (56 I think), it has a nice grayed dulled weathered look. Then selected panel areas with Tamiya Flat Aluminum for a nice multi panel effect

I used Tamiya's Bare Metal Silver spray (AS12) before I had my airbrush and it worked pretty well for me. You can always mask off some panels or flight controls to break up the monochromatic look if you want and spray something else on those.

mississippivol

TLAR, Tex!

TLAR, Tex!

I've only tried one build which would have a silver or chrome finish and tried the Tamiya silver for it, it didnt go well. Try Allclad or ModelMaster as I've seen many people on here get a lot better results than I did

Phil

Well, I've seen many MiGs 1:1, in Poland they used to be a common sight, and the silver paint really represents the original color well. You see, the russian jets were alclad-colored, which isn't as shiny as the as pure aluminium - and the Americans made their jets out of sheet metal that was alclad, plated with some pure aluminium on top, which looked much better and could be polished to a mirror-like shine. You might want to add some colour variation, like adding different shades of grey to silver and covering individual panels this way - just don't overdo it, the machines were normally pretty uniform in color. Good luck with your build, have a nice day

Paweł

Nice model!!!!!!!!!!!

I painted my Monogram MiG-15 with Floquil Old Silver.  I don't believe the natural metal finish was very polished and the Floquil color seemed about right to me.