B-1B Builders

[utley]

https://imgur.com/a/Y0v8zLK

Started pulling the sprues off today and probably going to start painting them tonight. This kit...looks amazing. I really wish that met details had used this resin for their landing gear bays and weapons bays because this stuff is a lot more sturdier and less fragile.

Edited June 14, 2025 by utley

[utley]

Quick question: trying to figure out how best to paint the engine case. I know its made out of either steel or titanium (most likely steel), but painting with AlcladII will make it look polished. Its not polished, it has a really rough texture to it making it look grey instead of steel. How do I get that effect with AlcladII? Thats been bugging me since I started painting my Apache models (something I havent touched in a year either....), so if anyone has a tip on that please let me know. Looking to get these painted this week; already primed them with AlcladII gloss primer, but easier enough to just spray them with another coat of enamel flat primer if needed. 

[Specter1075]

Not sure what parts you're referring to, but you could use alclad and then dull the finish with a top coat. Between satin or flat, you can change the look of the metal a lot.

[utley]

32 minutes ago, Specter1075 said:

Not sure what parts you're referring to, but you could use alclad and then dull the finish with a top coat. Between satin or flat, you can change the look of the metal a lot.

lets use this as an example: its not painted, but its definitely not steel either. Its just a really rough coat of aluminum oxide blasted steel.

https://imgur.com/pDWLWY6

Edited June 16, 2025 by utley

[JNordgren42]

15 hours ago, utley said:

lets use this as an example: its not painted, but its definitely not steel either. Its just a really rough coat of aluminum oxide blasted steel.

https://imgur.com/pDWLWY6

Alclad II makes a fairly wide range of metallics, not just the shiny aluminum most people are familiar with. I'd try dull aluminum, and if that's still too shiny apply a matte coat on top of it. They also have magnesium, and steel which are darker shades.

https://alclad2.com/finishes/regular/alc-117-dull-aluminium/

[Specter1075]

17 hours ago, utley said:

lets use this as an example: its not painted, but its definitely not steel either. Its just a really rough coat of aluminum oxide blasted steel.

https://imgur.com/pDWLWY6

Sorry, which part are you talking about in the picture? The thing that says no step? The airframe around the opening? Something else? 

If talking about the No Step part, I wouldn't even use a metallic color on that. 

[utley]

That no step piece is the exhaust manifold and it is steel or inconel. paint wouldn't last very long; its just blasted with aluminum oxide or something that you would blast it to put some anti corrosion coating onto the surface. Most likely not aluminum oxide since it's a dissimilar metal on a hot piece, but yeah. Not colored like typical steel.

Edited June 16, 2025 by utley

[davetur]

3 hours ago, utley said:

That no step piece is the exhaust manifold and it is steel or inconel. paint wouldn't last very long; its just blasted with aluminum oxide or something that you would blast it to put some anti corrosion coating onto the surface. Most likely not aluminum oxide since it's a dissimilar metal on a hot piece, but yeah. Not colored like typical steel.

Sorry to contradict, Utley, but if the photo depicts, as I think, a Blackhawk engine installation, the part marked "NO STEP" is not what you call the (engine) exhaust manifold. It is the GE T700 duct that blows out the sand that is extracted by the T700 integral sand separator, blown outside by a fan which is in the nearly spherical part to the left of the duct.

Having to deal with a cold flow (the separator is on the engine intake) the duct is normally made of painted composite material or aluminum. No need to use steel or inconel in that part. Having followed the T700 engine installation on the NH90 for the Italian Army/Navy and EH101/AW101 in the past, I know quite well how the T700 works.

 

Anyway I agree with JNordgren42 that dull aluminum should be OK for the B-1B engine casing color, or even Gunze H08 or C08, to be mixed with some matt grey. To achieve this effect:

 

B-1B Engine

 

Cheers

 

Davide

[utley]

1 hour ago, davetur said:

 

Having to deal with a cold flow (the separator is on the engine intake) the duct is normally made of painted composite material or aluminum. No need to use steel or inconel in that part. Having followed the T700 engine installation on the NH90 for the Italian Army/Navy and EH101/AW101 in the past, I know quite well how the T700 works.

 

 

I dont mind being corrected, I never worked helicopter engines before. So on that subject since its brought up now, is that piece actually painted? I ask because Im still working on my apaches and I want it right. Back on subject, theres plenty of other parts I can refer like turbo casings, nitrogen generators, bleed air ducts attached to the case...they arent painted, they're cast blocks of aluminum. I dunno, it just seems...wrong...to paint them gray when its just unpolished material. Ill look for some dull aluminum tonight and give it a shot. 

Edited June 17, 2025 by utley

[utley]

anyone have any decent reference pictures for the GE F101-102 engines? painting mine right now and I need pictures of the bleed air, gear drive assemblies, FADEC,hydraulic tank and fire bottle if possible. Im also trying to identify this...and jesus, when did IMGUR become so crappy?

https://imgur.com/HFmTk3N

 

 

Edited June 22, 2025 by utley

[utley]

Deleted

Edited June 30, 2025 by utley

[utley]

 

I have 3 pictures attached to this post; are any of them visible? Someone let me know pls...

Edited June 30, 2025 by utley

[markiii]

33 minutes ago, utley said:

 

I have 3 pictures attached to this post; are any of them visible? Someone let me know pls...

Yes they are visible.

[utley]

10 hours ago, markiii said:

Yes they are visible.

Awesome. No more need for imgur since you can host here now. Anyways, broke a piece of my exhaust nozzle off and carpet monster ate it. Waiting on a replacement to arrive so I can cut a new piece off and fix it...but coming along nicely.

[habu2]

Was the 100kb image file size upload limit removed somehow?

[utley]

29 minutes ago, habu2 said:

Was the 100kb image file size upload limit removed somehow?

those pics I posted were of the 3.0+ MB size persuation, so either they were reduced or limits were removed. Id like to know what the limits are, Imgur isnt a very good host for this forum anymore.

[phantom]

2 minutes ago, utley said:

those pics I posted were of the 3.0+ MB size persuation, so either they were reduced or limits were removed. Id like to know what the limits are, Imgur isnt a very good host for this forum anymore.

 

 

I do not think anything has changed in the couple of years Steve has been AWOL. None of us have the ability to change the settings.

[utley]

well, if those pictures I posted above are full sized but downsized to 1.8mb...but if anyone can view them, then something changed definitely. Cant tell you when, but definitely going to try to take advantage of it until I find a new hosting site.

[davetur]

On 6/17/2025 at 2:04 AM, utley said:

I dont mind being corrected, I never worked helicopter engines before. So on that subject since its brought up now, is that piece actually painted? I ask because Im still working on my apaches and I want it right. Back on subject, theres plenty of other parts I can refer like turbo casings, nitrogen generators, bleed air ducts attached to the case...they arent painted, they're cast blocks of aluminum. I dunno, it just seems...wrong...to paint them gray when its just unpolished material. Ill look for some dull aluminum tonight and give it a shot. 

Sorry to reply so late Utley, I have been away for some time from my PC, which is the only place from which I post (the smartphone is too small for and old man like me to use 😉).

Back to the point, that piece is definitely not painted, it could be anodised aluminum or even a magnesium casting or superformed part. Light alloys anti corrosion treatments can make them very dull.

 

But anyway, I have seen that you've perfectly got the different metal tones on your GE engine: you are an artist!

Cheers

 

Davide

[BWDenver]

While don't build the Bone, if I did it would be this one.  I shot it at Edwards, flew in with an OH-58A and flew with my knees while I snapped a few pics.

 

[black_widow]

The stage of painting the model has come. And I have a number of questions about painting the nose cone. 

As you can see in the photo, zones 1 and 2 have different color tones. Or rather, I think that zone 2 is more faded in color than zone 1. Of course, we can talk about color tabulation and color changes, etc. But in this case, I want to reproduce the color palette as in these photos. Therefore, I see 3 ways. 

1) This is painting the entire nose cone in black and then applying a layer of black diluted with solvent. 

2) take a white primer, paint the fairing with it and black on top. 

3) take black diluted with white and paint the fairing. 

Which method is better to use?

[JNordgren42]

That looks like a pretty smooth transition between the darker color and the more dusty weathered area to the rear. I'd probably base coat it with a warm grey (maybe light gull grey with a bit of tan?), and then fade in the darker color (maybe NATO black, it's definitely not a true black) from the tip to the back. Then I'd finish it with oils and other weathering techniques.