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Military Paint scheme

acam37

acam37

Well Known Member
We are finally at the end of our RV-4 rebuild and it's time for paint. I have purchased all the colors we need except the silver, which is the main color for a WW2 fighter scheme. My partner was wanting to go with a non-metallic silver, which we discovered is non-existent so our next option is a light gray to get as close to silver as possible. The paint we are using is PPG (Omni) base/clear. Is there an example out there of an RV that has used a non-metallic gray and had good results? Or for the effect do we need to use a metallic silver? Either way I am looking for some input and maybe some color codes. We looked at every silver and gray the paint shop had and couldn't make up our minds.
 
There are plenty of examples of military schemes using various shades of gray from almost white to very dark gray. If you're trying to mimic unpainted or polished aluminum you're probably going to need metallic silver. If you know someone good with Photoshop you can try out various effects. I used PS to settle on the scheme I used on my Navion. It was already mostly gray and I played with going lighter and darker with various markings.

Since RV's aren't military (other than Nigeria) no one can say whatever you do is inaccurate. Do what you like best.
 
I was going for that "aluminum" look for my TBD scheme and used metallic with clear coat. If I were to do the same scheme again, I'd pick an appropriate gray rather than metallic. Solid colors are more forgiving.

- my opinion and preference for me
 
I saw a plane at Oshkosh last year that had the fiberglass painted a silver that matched the bare aluminum almost perfectly. I'll try to find the picture, maybe the owner is on here and can tell us what the paint is.

My plan was to take a piece of alclad to the automotive paint store and tell them I want to match it. There are hundreds of different silvers out there.
 
My airplane is modeled off of the P-51 Gunfighter.

I changed the name, tail and color of the checkers. Everything else is exactly like the Gunfighter.

it is clear coated and the colors are not exact from the Military as I wanted the airplane to shine.

Here is my Silver paint code - Imron AF P1217ES



 
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That silver that's on Johns RV-8 is what I'm looking for. Something without too much metallic but still looks silver.
 
Ah, here we go. Here's a pic of a silver I saw at Oshkosh last year that almost perfectly matches bare aluminum. Click the images for really big views. Check out the vertical stab tip and wheel pants.

Does anyone know who owns this RV-12? I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the N number. I wanted to contact the owner and find out if he had written down the paint code used.
 
someone had to say it....

some guys are using bright silver chrome look wrap film.
note the wheel pants & fairings, if you choose the area wisely, avoiding the extreme compound curves, it looks do-able!:rolleyes:

HulaGirl_zpsgxq54s5k.jpg
 
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