Different colored panels

Thanks a ton guys. Greatly appreciate it. I'll get started here in the next couple weeks or so. I'd like to get started earlier but the girlfriend is moving in and I don't want the model getting smashed by a moving box. I'll start a build thread soon enough

Here's my N Squatch.  There's a tutorial in there on how I used Alclad.   

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/151736.aspx?sort=ASC&pi240=1

Joe

You are correct Don, they were seam filled and painted with silver lacure to preserve the crytical laminar flow airfoil for fuel economy on the long range escort sorties.

Lateron the putty started to be stripped and the bare matal finish came though on the wings as I understand it.

Theuns

I have been under the impression that NMF Mustangs originally were done with wings painted silver, though that was sometimes stripped in field.

Best way to figure out which panel is which color is to look at prototypes, either by picture or finding one in your area at museum or whatever.  

It is all just practice, no majic with alclad :-)

I also do an ink wash to highlight the pannel detail, ot brings them out nicely.

I will go google as many pix of a plane as I can get to see if there are any specific pannels that look different , that's it.

Theuns

Squatch88

Do Theuns technique,it looks waaay better...I will too next time .

"That certainly works for me! Did you just pick random panels to change colors or was there a reason"

I just picked random panels in what I thought looked good as an experiment.  I should have done more research.

IIRC the pannel around the exhaust on the P-51 was stainles steel and that is why it will diss-color differently to the allu cowls.

Alclad sheetmetal has a grain direction as it comes off the mill. The rule of thumb is that you want to bend metal accross the grain, therefore you might have bent pannels with the grain running in different direction to others.

This grain plays with the light falling on it if you look at it from different angles, that is why pollished planed look a whole lot more "uniform" in texture.

Remember that when allu is in short supply they sometimes used magnesium alloys aswell.

It is also true that different alloys are used to make different hardness of alclad sheets, this will also have a different look to the sheet.

When alclad weathers it becomes slightly dull and gets a grey look to it.

Here is my 1/32 J-6 . I used only dark alluminium and airframe alluminium over a gloss black base to give it some depth. I am also a cheap skate and don't buy many different alclads. The more coats you put on the lighter it gets. I sometimes put on a few coats of say airframe allu, then mask of some pannels and shoot some more of the same alclad on, this gives a nice tone difference yet is subtle.

Protect the alclad after decals are on with ONLY alclad's range of clearcoats, they do not take away from the alclad look.

Hope it helps

The difference in the panel shades is all down to the thickness of the actual metal on the plane.  Gun bay covers, undercarriage doors and any small opening panels are thinner on the real aircraft than the rest of the airframe, and in fact may well be made from a different material. Engine cowlings and other panels which are regularly removed for servicing have to be lighter in weight.  It pays to research colour photos of the aircraft being modelled to look for these differences.  Any panels which have been replaced in service will also have a different hue as they have not weathered at the same rate as the rest of the airframe.  I hope this helps explain the different shades.

Colin Russell

Following this because I have the same question. I know on a P-51 that the panels behind the exhaust are different and the wings are duraluminum, but I don't know if some panels weathered differently across all planes or if each was different or if that's even a real thing, haha.

I will say that the P-47 posted looks great!

-BD-

JayJay,

Nice idea! And nice finish.

Chris

The kit is going to be a 1/72 Hasegawa P-47. I got the detail set to go with it, I was wanting the 1/48 but couldn't find any gun bay kits that were within price range. (The plane kits were ~$60 and the AM sets were ~$30) Has anyone built this kit/am set? I usually do 1/48 so 1/72 will be a tad smaller for my pudgy fingers!

That certainly works for me! Did you just pick random panels to change colors or was there a reason?

Squatch,  I've done only a few Alclad projects so I'm no expert, but I am cheap so here's how I handled the different shades without having to buy a ton of Alclad  .  I basically shot my P-47 with the obligatory gloss Black.   After that dried I went back and masked some panels and shot some with flat black, and some with grey primer...voila, the same polshed aluminum shade of Alclad came out like this