Subject: Re: Heavy Metal Flankers
From: "Steve Bamford ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Paul Brown" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 22:55:02 -0700

Hi Paul,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks for
sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Brown" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 12:57 PM
Subject: Heavy Metal Flankers

>
> When I submitted Flankers in the past to ARC and other sites I was sent
many
> complimentary letters asking how I painted the engine areas and got the
> burnt metal effects. I thought with all the interest in Flankers (1/32
kits,
> new decals, group builds..) I would try to help others improve an
important
> but often understated part of painting these and other kits. Flankers have
a
> lot of bare metal and make a good example as well as being my favorite.
> Loads of references are helpful, each plane has different effects from
> usage. I chose several clear ones that show a lot of discoloration(Su-35
> from Concord book).Then I pulled out every tin and bottle of silver paint,
> all shades and some Tamiya clear blue, clear red,clear yellow and smoke.
> First I sprayed a coat of Alclad, not too light or dark for the base, then
> masked off some of the bigger panels and painted them a different shade.
> These could also be brush painted if necessary. After the bigger panels I
> moved down to the smaller ones, brushing various shades of lighter silver
on
> them, using the references as much as possible. This all makes the engine
> areas look more interesting but a little too clean. It is also the end of
> exact and controlled painting, the rest is rough and looser. To remedy
this
> sterile, clean look take a larger panel area and mask it near an edge of
> another panel and dry brush some silver next to the edge. You can even put
> down some wet paint and finger rub it around the masked border. The idea
is
> not to change the entire shade and color of the panels but to show a bit
of
> discoloration.  Do this to a lot of them, not forgetting the bottom and
that
> some panels curve down and can be seen from the side as one piece.
> When this is finished, scrape the panel lines and give the whole engine
area
> a good coat of Tamiya smoke to seal the paint and darken the panel lines.
I
> then use some clear blue/smoke mix and loosely brush it around the hotter
> rear areas of the engines, even some random "turkey feathers". Also seen
on
> these references besides the blue stain was a yellowish metal stain.
Again,
> a mix of some smoke, clear yellow and a touch of red make a dirty gold
stain
> that can be brushed and smeared around an affected area. Black areas
between
> the turkey feathers can be roughly painted and rubbed with an enamel flat
> black to sharpen up the burners(Su-35 cans photo)
> Finally I take raw umber tubed water color, as well as black and burnt
> sienna and start to make oil stains and some more color effects. One way
is
> to place some drops of raw umber on a panel line and smear it
back(windward)
> across the other areas. Where there are drainage holes the same thing,
take
> some burnt sienna with a touch of black and put a drop on a drain, let it
> sit a few moments and then smear it down like before.On top or in another
> area add a drop of raw umber and black mix and smear it down, it makes a
> nasty, oily greenish hue. This with some airbrushed shading on top looks
> pretty good to me(Su-27 under2 photo). If it goes bad wet a cloth and rub
it
> away and try again, the coats of smoke and clear colors will protect the
> silvers from too much rubbing.
> All said these combinations of clean colorless silvers and cool blues and
> warm umbers make a nice reaction. Next to a camouflage pattern they start
to
> really look like metal which helps your overall paint scheme. This
technique
> can also be applied to smaller metal areas (Mig-25 photo)as well.
> I hope this is helpful and relatively understandable. Good luck.
>
>