Painting jet exhaust cans

Anyone?

HEY,
Are you talking about the exhaust nozzles? I usually just brush paint them using gun metal. Looks nice and its dark but not black.

Randy

I have had good luck airbrushing either Tamiya Gunmetal or MM Metalizer Gunmetal.. I like to paint the nozzles separately and then attach them as a final step

Mike M

If you look at photos of real ones, they aren't a solid color. The soot gets down in the gaps and turns them grungy black, the blast keeps most surfaces blasted clean, but the heat has turned them blue, red, and orange in places.

I'd recommend using stainless steel metallizer to start with. Spray them then buff them out. Use thin black paint to wash the grooves and gaps, and then go back and drybrush random areas with some thin blue and others with thin orange or red.

I'm building an F-4 now and that's what I plan to do. Hers's a link to a page with some pretty good pix of F-4 cans:
Click Here

The last one I did (which was also my first in a long time) was to brush paint the outside Testors steel. This came out much lighter than I wanted, so I applied a "wash" using the top layer of unstirred Testor's acrylic flat black - it ends up with a lot more pigment and thickness than a standard wash, and did a decent job of darkening the whole thing and accentuating detail. The color still isn't quite right, but I'm happy with it.

You'll note that the insides (at least on an F-15) appear to be off white and dark (black with some brownish tints on the borders with the light areas). To try to replicate this, I painted the interior black, and then used my airbrush to paint white lines inside (varying success; use the finest line you can).

I think a lot of your ability to replicate this inner area depends on what you start with; I used the kit's parts which had no detail inside (part of the reason for varying success). Other manufacturers and aftermarket parts may come with more detail molded in, which will assist you greatly if you're shooting for accuracy.

Thanks for the replies. dubix88 yes, I was talking about the nozzles. The outside part mostly in particular. For the inside, I usually start with white then just do washes. I can never get those nice metal looking blends that some people do. But I'll try the methods mentioned here. Thanks.

Btw anyone know of any links on painting exhaust nozzles? I haven't had any luck w/ google. Thanks again.