Thanks I'll take a look at those too
I'll take it one step further: The color of individual panels may change subtly from the interior to the edge, especially with time.Are you after the look of an aircraft that has been painted with a metallic paint, or one that's actual bare aluminium? Probably the latter, if you're painting a Mustang.
Metallic paint is easy: just use an appropriate silver or aluminium paint that you don't need to buff up or similar. With these, you're not aiming for a realistic metal finish but for one that looks like metallic paint
Bare metal is harder, and IMHO one of the main things to consider is not soo much exactly what paint to use, but to vary the shades on different panels. If you look at photos of real unpainted aircraft, you'll see different shades of metal all over the plane, and adding those — rather than painting the whole model a single colour — will make it look much more realistic. Another thing here is that I've noticed that these shades are often symmetrical between the left and right sides of the plane. That is: if a certain wing panel is a darker shade on the left wing, it will usually also be on the right wing.
I won't claim to be a great aircraft modeller, but here's an example of what I mean on this BAE Lightning I made some years ago:
View attachment 172893
The panel under the canopy is clearly darker than the ones around it, but there are also more subtle differences in colour visible on other panels in this picture.
I did these by spraying the model in one light metallic colour first, and then brush-painting panels in that same colour with small amounts of other colours mixed in.
maybe , it's difficult to control , but you can experiment on scrap .
I primarily build jet aircraft, so this is a common challenge. If you are looking for a polished aluminum finish (airshow warbird), Alclad is probably the easiest way to get there. A more realistic finish will show some oxidation, so you have more paint choices. I like MRP lacquer, but you need ventilation. I work with the full set of their metal colors. Paint the entire aircraft in the lightest/brightest color and then start masking off. It's not always "darker" that you are looking for. Sometimes, you need to use or mix in a bit of anodized color to yellow the panel. Depending on the specific location and purpose, some panels will be made of different alloys. Then there's also the issue of panels that get replaced during the life of the aircraft being entirely different than the opposite side. One final thing: It is my understanding that the wings on many P-51s were actually painted silver, so wouldn't have the polished look.
MRP makes a color called "anodized aluminum". It has a yellowish/greenish tint
"Anodizing" is a process whereby color is chemically bonded (for lack of a better term) to an aluminum surface. It can be any color.
Yes, but aircraft generally don't have pink or purple anodizing like a water bottle. In fact, the colors we are trying to duplicate probably aren't anodized at all, but rather a different alloy, stained or heat affected. The yellowish color from MRP seems to achieve that illusion fairly well.
Did you gloss coat it or anything afterwards?
Then they shouldn't call it anodized. Probably a disconnect between the technical folks and marketing. It would not surprise me to learn that the formulator named it "Stained Aluminum," but the ad wonks decided that name wasn't "sexy" enough.
For gosh sakes! We all know that model color names are arbitrary. Combine that with a paint that is made in Eastern Europe and sold in America, you can add a bit of translation error.
I have been using AK Interactive extreme metal "lacquers" and find that they look good but are very fragile even after days of curing. I used their back filler primer first, then their metallic line black base . Tamiya masking tape can pull it up in little bits, making the masking of panels very hard. I also tried it with and without their metal line thinner, and you don't really want to thin it, it is air brush ready. One other thing- brush painting it over airbrushed layer, or dripping it on the airbrushed layer by mistake, causes it to re-activate. When I wiped off the drip it went down to the black primer.
That would make sense. If made in eastern Europe, I can see it being a translation problem.
