BillS

It really didn't fly. It was so ugly, it scared the ground away!

I’m pretty certain there were some differences in panels/doors. If I remember correctly the crew chief’s comm panel and boost pump lights were under a smaller panel on the LH intake. Some blade antennas were different as well. Just behind the aft transparency was an A/R light. You should be able to see its location in photos. You might see how much the HUDs differed in appearance.

I dont have a corroborated definitive answer but I’ve got an old corrosion mil standard. It explains painted areas such as lavatories, interior areas etc. in general terms. I’ll see what it says. If it were me, silver is always a safe bet or maybe interior green wells and silver inside doors. I know I’ve seen several 135s with adc gray later in life. I would think somebody out there has a 135 corrosion tech order that might offer a clue.

If you're looking to use rattle cans for the areas you mentioned, I strongly recommend Tamiya’s various silver and gunmetal sprays. They are very realistic, spray ever so nicely and hold up to masking. For the areas you're talking about, i lean heavily on Bare Metal Aluminum, Dark Gunmetal and Light Gunmetal. I also use Tamiya acrylic clear Amber and Blue to airbrush heat staining. If you spray this over the spray can metal colors but don’t like the effect, you can wipe it away with a little alcohol and reapply until you get the desired result.. I’m sure other modelers have worthy ideas on the topic.

With the corona panic in full swing I decided to grocery shop at NAS JRB Fort Worth today. I bumped in to a pilot from the Spads, my old squadron. I recall we had PIDS pylons. Interestingly he was vaguely familiar with them but not the ones discussed above. They don’t fly with them. They expect 35’s in 4 years so those block 32s are progged for the boneyard or Homestead. I wonder if they’ll ever get the new ones at all.

I liked the little thread on the topic of “unload”. I recently met an old F-106 pilot who looked at me quizzically when I used the term “depart”. How about comments on this.

I agree that Xtracolor is variable and Hannants should address this. The tins I’ve got look good to me on the model though. Those particular French colors are sort of elusive from everything I.can garner and subject to lots of opinions. Anyway, it’s one solution to your dilemma.

Once again I’ll schill Xtracolor. Their line includes both Mirage 2000 grays. I’ve used them twice. They spray more easily than acrylics, look accurate and are glossy so the model is decal ready once dry. In the U.S. you can order from Kit Linx and from Hannants for the EU.

Darren, Even though you won’t be producing Steel Beach products, I hope you will still be present around the modeling forums. Your such a positive and friendly force to our community!

I’m going to get on my Xtracolor rant again. I’m a fanatic about less being better. With the very fine engraved detail on the newer models, all of the coatings ultimately can obscure detail. This hinders the application of washes for one thing. Since Xtracolor is gloss, no gloss coating is necessary. Properly thinned, Xtracolor sprays perfectly with no airbrush clogging, with near perfect feathering between colors and glass smooth when dry. Once dry it is hard as a rock and stands up to masking. It can be wet sanded between coats if need be. The range of colors is expansive. In the US Kitlinx and Sprue Brothers have it though SB has a limited amount. Hannants UK is the distributor and this is their house brand. The drawbacks are availability, long drying time (6-12 hours) and smell.To me though, all this stuff smells be it acrylic, enamel or lacquer. Lately I’ve noticed inconsistency between batches of the same color. Hannants must address this. The bottomline is this: you can’t get a truly gloss finish by spraying layer after layer of gloss whatever on grainy matt paint, not without diminishing detail to some degree. Save yourself a step or two, preserve detail and go gloss!

I was around the droned duece at Holloman; lots of ‘em. The doors opened opened together.

I’m a simple man and like simple approaches. The less coats of stuff, the better. If t you mess up and need to go back, more junk will inhibit spot repairs. I’m not even sure if there was a coat of zinc chromate under the blue final finish. Maybe one of the other better informed contributors know. The technique you outline does look realistic though. Love 11bee’s example, color, degree of sheen, etc

Ditto. One other thing that might prove useful is a silver prisma pencil you can use for scratches around the cockpit sills, steps, maybe hand holds and dzus or camlock type fasteners on engine cowls, fuel filler and gun bays. You can make a pin-point trace of scratch easily with this method.

Or see if you can find a Collectaire EA-3. I built one years ago. It was a very nice kit and I’m sure would line up with a loft sheet. It was a true EA-3. I have The Trump kit and all the Hypersonic goodies but haven't had a go at it to comment on how it compares.

i got mine a week ago and posted a question on cockpit color then. Dave is the man on his impressions because they are bang on. Mine too but not as informed because I simply know zilch about this jet other than I like it. It’s hard (for me)to unravel the 2000 especially since there have been improvements to the real thing over time. What markings apply to what improvements and when? Anyway, this is a very nicely molded kit despite being sans intake duct and cockpit variations.