Painting AIM-9M Seeker Head

[pminer]

Top of the day guys! Ok...I'm having a heck of a time getting the seeker heads right on my AIM-9M Sidewinders. When I say "seeker head" I mean the chromish section near the tip of the missile. 

How do you guys paint this section?? It's been hard to mask and spray without bleed-through the tape. It's also been hard to get that shiny chrome look. 

 

Thanks!
Paul

 

[markiii]

I don't know if this will help, but check it out.

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/296337-kinetic-148-fa-18c/&tab=comments#comment-2837158

 

[Joe Hegedus]

For the silvery bit just behind the seeker window, the easiest way is to dip the end of the missile in the cap from a jar of silver paint.  WHen that is dry, repeat the process with the seeker color but just put the very tip in the cap.  You’ll end up with the window and a silver ring behind it.

[Joe Hegedus]

11 hours ago, BustedJaw said:

It’s far from “chromish” - it’s a very (very) slightly metallic dark olive grey-green color.

The guidance section overall is this color, but there is a ring just behind the sensor window that is a silvery chrome color

[Solo]

What about that topic:
AIM-9L/M & X missile head colour - Jet Modeling - ARC Discussion Forums (arcforums.com)

[Raptor.777]

I've read that using tamiya clear orange and clear blue mixed together over the silver looks pretty decent

[pminer]

Guys….I’m not looking for the colors. I’ve got that down. I’m looking for how y’all mask this seeker head area. It’s been really hard to get this area masked neatly. Thanks! 

[Cliff C]

On 11/4/2023 at 6:08 PM, pminer said:

Guys….I’m not looking for the colors. I’ve got that down. I’m looking for how y’all mask this seeker head area. It’s been really hard to get this area masked neatly. Thanks! 

 

As mentioned earlier, try dipping them. I paint the overall forward section using Gunzy Metalics II and then dip the tips into small pools of enamel paint. If you don’t like the effect or don’t get the colors lined up just right, you can use use a little Turpinoid to wipe off the enamel colors and try again.