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SR-71 weathering.


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I've been near 3 in service Blackbirds in my life and the browns and greys as suggested would work best ... One thing I noticed all three times was that the whole central wing area between the engines on the bottom surface was damp from fuel leaks ... You could even see fuel dripping ...

HTH

Gregg

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Here is an SR-71 that I 'panel highlighted'. The lighting in the photos exagerates the effect making it easy to see what I did.

I first painted the model flat/semi black then masked individual panels with drafting tape and post-it notes and sprayed a tint of lightened black (95 % dullcoat and thinner, 5% black and a few drops of white) along the leading edges of the panels and outward from the centerline.

The effect looks nice if not overdone and zebra-striped. Add streaks not just stripes, keep it subtle. If you over-do it, spray a tint of dullcoat/black over it to tone it down.

Gloss-coat, decal and flat...

You can build on top of this adding dirt and grunge, or leave it as is for a clean, yet used look...

Sr-71sm.jpg

SR-71closeupsm.jpg

SR-71botsm.jpg

:blink:

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One thing I noticed all three times was that the whole central wing area between the engines on the bottom surface was damp from fuel leaks ... You could even see fuel dripping ...

I recall having read somewhere that SR-71 would leak all the time when on the ground. They said it had to do with the heat generated by Mach 3+ flight, and the cooling down of the airframe afterwards. Also, that an airborne SR-71 would be several inches longer than on the ground because of stretching from the expanding metals...

Is it true...or just a tall story???

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Here is what I did for my Rafale C. I filled the airbrush with slightly "lighter" black, thinned it, and did horizontal small streaks to the whole airframe.

016.jpg

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