Black jet VS B-2, F-117, Colors

I've used flat black on a Nighthawk and It looked great. Gray wouldn't work because the finish is black. I have heard some say to mix a little blue in it but I wouldn't I was within 10 feet of one (the guy with the M-16 wouldn't let me closer) and it was FLAT BLACK.

I'd have to agree that the F-117 is indeed about as flat black as you can get. If you wanted to make some contrasting detail on it, I'd do a bit of dry brushing with gunship grey or intermediate blue along the edges of all the facets on the exterior of it. Don't overdo it though, you don't want to lose the overall blackness of it, just make a bit of contrast to add intrest to it.

As for the B-2, from what pictures I've seen of it in broad daylight, I'd be inclined to go with an overall gunship grey for that one.

Maybe try rubbing a pencil tip lightly along the edges of the facets. I think this would "suggest" a corner without defineing it. just do it light to start. I have used this on road wheels for armour with good results.

I'm building a 1/32 F-117 model from the Testors kit. I am using this picture and a few others for reference. I took this photo at Andrew's Air Force Base, 2001

You can see some of the orange tinting to the screens in this picture.

This was as close as I could get (alive)



-Muzzleflash

As far as i know its flat black but the radar absorbing materials (paint) have iron in them and that is what gives it its grey tint i would go flat black ive done SR 71and sea shadow in flat black and look prefect.

If any of you want to read a good book about Skunk Works (maker of the stealths) true story its called Skunk Works by Ben R. Rich has alot of cool pics and the story of each of the stealths.

PS. I like the alien hanging of the front landing gear.

When I get around to building it, this is how my Goblin'll look:




Fade to Black...

Hey isnt that the prototype color sceam?

It's one of the FSD aircraft.


Fade to Black...

fsd?

Oops, Full Scale Development. These are aircraft that aren't necessarily prototypes, but which also aren't necessarily up to production standards.

FSD aircraft are used for testing and evaluation of the aircraft and it's various systems.

For instance, one FSD airframe may be used to test the engines. It may not have any radar or weapons systems installed because there's probably another airframe for testing the radar, and another for the weapons systems etc....


Fade to Black...

ahhhhhh i seeeeee!!!!!!!!!!! btw great job on your models !!!!! they are really cool!!!!!!!

Thanks, T-Bolt!


Fade to Black...

Painting the surface of a 117 destroys the stealth ability.
They are black for a reason.

That's all I can say.

Yeah, they are black for a reason. They're black because they initially were flown only at night. Also, there may be a bit of tradition in it, lookit the U-2 and the SR-71/A-12. The vast majority of them were overall black.

With the exception of visual, the color of the aircraft doesn't matter at all as regards method of detection. It's not the black color that makes them stealthy, it's 1) the design (in this case lotsa facets and sawtooth edges) and 2) the RAM. (Radar Absorbant Material) These things aren't painted in the traditional sense, they're coated with RAM.

An F-117 could be neon green and it still wouldn't show up very well on radar. Now if it were PAINTED neon green (or any other color), yeah, that may increase the RCS (Radar-Cross-Section) of the bird. But if the thing were coated in green RAM instead of black, it would make no difference whatsoever.

And I wanna build a Goblin in that camo scheme simply because EVERYONE does theirs in black. (Or that gray bird with the flag on the bottom. That one's tempting too...)


Fade to Black...

Here is a photo of the F-117 and B-2 side by side. I took this photo at an airshow at Whiteman AFB last weekend. I can post more photos if requested

Hey mkarlin01...
The photo is not showing up. If you can, post more of them. My son is in the Spirits, and was working that show. maybe he's in one of your pics.
Bruce

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt, oops, iguess I hiccuped on the keys. I dont know about the F-117 for sure, but I do know that the B-2 is supposed to be gunship grey. I have been to Whiteman a couple of times, and all of the bombers are painted in gunship grey. The T-38's that they build hours on (they stick the same) are painted a color best described as a semi sheen charcoal grey---not quite a black, but not gunship grey either. Bruce Pease.

Ok Bruce then, how would you get that color in a testors paint?......Maybe they should make the paint for the B-2 and the F-117.

WAIT A SEC I GOT AN IDEA!!!!! I heard if I get pencil lead and smashed it up, rubed it into my finger and put it all over it lightly or left it on only in some of the places?

The initial color scheme for the F-117 was not black. Black is not the best color for flying at night. I believe that the Lockheed proposed color scheme was a mixture of blues and grays (similar to the Have Blue aircraft). It was the Air force that demanded the aircraft be black. Blue and grey were not sinister enough.

It's not that black is not the best color for flying at night. (I don't think any color will help you fly any better or worse at night) It's that black is not the best color to use, in all circumstances, for camouflage during the hours of darkness.

The first F-117 (FSD-1, NOT the Have Blue demonstrator) was originally delivered unpainted. The camo scheme in the photo that I posted earlier is the scheme in which FSD-1 first flew.

This color scheme was soon abandoned in favor of the standard grey scheme worn by all the flight test vehicles. The production aircraft were to be delivered in overall black as requested by the chief of TAC, Gen. Bill Creech. Black was deemed to be the best compromise between concealing the aircraft at night and masking the faceting and their shadows during the daytime, once daylight ops were conducted.

The head of Skunkworks at the time, Ben Rich, personally preferred the gray scheme and would have delivered all 117's finished as such. But he once said, and I quote; "You don't ask the commander of TAC why he wants to do something. He pays the bills. The Skunk Works plays by the Golden Rule: he who has the gold sets the rules! If the general had wanted pink, we'd have painted them pink."


Fade to Black...

The B-2 does not have a standard color for its paint scheme. there are 3 different colors of grey and two colors of black. The paint on the real aircraft is RAP (radar absorbant paint) and it is layered in thickness to help achieve stealth capability. The wheel wells and bombays are painted white. I have lots of pictures if anyone is intyerested.

The plane can be hot pink its the color of the radar absorbing material the reason its black is the type of iron they used to make the absorbing paint.

I painted a Testors F-119 "maybe the stealth" model in BMW's Anthricite Gray and
it turned out neither black or gray. It is a glossy paint but a coat of testors clear flat
toned it down just right.
Ray

I´m just thinking it´ll get really, really hot in those things.

Its summer time, you think weird things..

Update on the B-2. The bomb bay will no longer be painted white. I don't have the exact color at this time. The White interfears with it's low observability when the bay doors are open

Hey guy's
Being Stationed at Whiteman AFB I've seen both stealth A/C's and been able to get closer then most folks, the F-117 is diffently flat black and the canopy's orange haze is actually gold(just like the F-16's) and the side of the engine inlet screens are red with black fronts, as for the B-2's they are flattened semi gloss (it one of those weird combo's) Gunship Grey, with the same tint on the canopy glass, as for the "T's" they are gloss of what their parent unit's A/C are painted
have fun & relax
cuda