Painting/ space shuttle help needed

Hi;

 Ihave painted several of them. I can help, also the nasa.gov website has many very good photos that will help. Let me know what you need.

Ok I,ll try this what I'm looking for is what types of white,black Gloss or flat? what about the engines color? the wheel wells? from what I remember from looking at the directions is they are very gerneric(SP) The last time I looked at them was 2 months ago. Are there places that are flat white butted up to gloss white? what about the inside crew area? I hope this helps clear up what I'm look for Thanks again J

You can find some diagrams here:

http://www.answers.com/topic/space-shuttle-thermal-protection-system and it also wouldn't hurt to pick up Mike Mackowski's SIM#3 book, on the Space Shuttle, which you can check out here:

http://www.spaceinminiature.com/books/sim3.html

In general, the colors on the Orbiter are divided among the the Thermal Protection System layouts, and break down as follows:

FRSI -- Matte or semi-gloss white.

AFRSI -- Matte whtie

LRSI -- Satin white, but matte would be ok, too.

HRSI -- You can start a big argument with this one. New HRSI tiles are satin black. They stay black until the vehicle has entered the atmosphere, and then, depending upon where they are located on the Orbiter, you have about a dozen different shades of gray. The underside of an Orbiter that has done several entries is a patchwork of light gray, and the shades get darker as you go up the sides of the nose of the vehicle. The HRSI on the tail pretty much stays black. All in all, there is a very mottled appearance. When the Cutting Edge tile decals came out a few years back, there was much debate over whether they were the right color. Colorwise, they were probably correct, but from a "scale color" standpoint, I had my doubts. I always felt they needed to be darkened somewhat, and did on my model. (Which you can see here:

http://hsfeatures.com/columbiadh_1.htm

RCC -- As manufactured, the RCC panels are gray with a bit of a greenish tint (not sure if there is an FS color that's close) but they, too, are something that change color after entry. Just look at photos of the Orbiter's wing leading edge; the RCC panels are a patchwork of light and dark shades. The T-seals that cover the gaps in the wing RCC panels are generally a lighter gray color.

SSME and OMS nozzles -- Generally, a metallic titanium color. The plumbing on the SSMEs is generally silverish in color.

Photos I've got of the wheel wells show the interior (including the inner faces of the landing gear doors) to be silver. Or aluminum.

Most of the shuttle models I've done have been 1/144th scale, so I don't really worry about the vehicle's crew areas. There are plenty of photos online of the flight deck and mid-deck, though, and they'd show good detail, including colors.

Hope that helps.