What's the basic Mig-25 Foxbat Color?

Hello!

As you can see from the picture, there's a lot of variation, so you probably have a lot of freedom here, but I believe the colour you're lookin' for might be FS36375 - Humbrol 127. I hope somebody else can verify this - good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

I purchased Begemot decals for a Mig-25 I plan to build one of these years. Anyway, the base color according to these decals is Light Grey FS26073. 

But, if you look at the Federal Standard colors: Here  The Grey is very dark.

I have a Kitty Hawk Mig-25, I'll see what is says in the instructions, give me a few.

Light grey w some bare metal areas...

The instructions call out FS36320 on the pylons: Here

I think I will just use generic very light gray for the body plus medium and dark grays and bare metal for the special details.

The problem with using a precise shade of grey is after years of service the color will fade anyway and it will look nothing like the original factory hue.

The paint job on the MIG-25 in the photo looks a bit oxidized (old paint job). A few panels look like they have been replaced recently and painted.

The instructions scanned have on the painting instructions a formula to mix gunze sanyo H308 90% + H337 10%. (Humbrol Hum 127 90% and Humbrol 145 10%)  The Federal standadrs are 36375 Light ghost gray (light compass gray) 90% plus 35237 which is a blue-gray.  35237 is labeled "medium gray" by testors. 

Rather pragmatically a good guess for the aircraft's color would be Testor's "Aggressor Gray". Its a color modeled after the gray used on soviet aircraft in the cold war. its federal standard is 36251.  

I have been up close on this aircraft myself and from what I could tell it was not painted at all, it looked to just be steel, I remember a documantary saying thy had to create heat resistant paint for the red stars because the paint kept peeling off but didn't menation the rest of the aircraft, plus when I was next to it, it just looked like unpained steel.

Have a look at the photos I have.

The landing gear was obviously painted a light grey but in the photo below when the sun hits the aircraft you can see that the matt grey is actually unpainted metal. I think maybe some of them may have been painted however this one wasn't.

Anyway I hope these photos help, I wasn't able to get to the back of the aircraft as it was off limits however I'm sure you have see the back of it before.

The aircraft's skin must be made out of some sort of aluminium alloy that can tolerate high heat. I remember reading that pilots in the SR-71 used to put their food up against the canopy to warm it up while they were flying to warm it up so that they can eat it. Flying as high and as fast as a MIG-25 could go I suspect the skin has a burnished look to it from being "cooked" while flying at high altitude.

Aluminum wouldn't take the heat, so steel was used in the MiG-25.  This was discovered when a MiG 25 landed in Japan when the pilot defected.  Pretty ironic when you take into account that the titanium used in the structure of the SR-71 was imported from Russia.  Learning how to fabricate parts from titanium was one of the breakthroughs that made the SR-71 possible.

Have you checked out Mr. Paint paints? http://mrpaint.sk (might have to click for English).

Lots of Soviet Bloc colors on there, and they are EXCELLENT paints. I can't recommend them highly enough. Pre-thinned for airbrush use, they are in the same size bottles as Alclad paints. And here's an American supplier: http://www.hobbyworld-usa.com/Store/1248-mr-paint

I've ordered from each of them, and really love their products. If they have a color for the Foxbat, it's likely dead on.

-BD-

You can alos try Akan paints. They have a wide range matched to Russian and Soviet colors.

http://www.lindenhillimports.com/akan.htm

Cheers, Aaron

Hi;

    Guess What ? I was given one of these birds by a friend that used to have an address behind the Iron Curtain .It was a " Builders Model " . It is a very light metallic grey/blue .So that might reflect the steel fuselage ? I am not sure .  T.B.