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Early Aviation
Discuss World War I and the early years of aviation thru 1934.
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Pfalz silver-grey recommendations.
phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Sunday, April 07, 2019 - 08:03 AM UTC
Hello,

I have Eduards Pfalz D.III just about ready for some paint, but need a little help with the silver-grey applied to them. Hard to work out the shade from black and white photos.
Can anyone recommend a good colour mix?

Or would a matt aluminium work straight out of the bottle?

Thanks in advance.

Stephen
Kevlar06
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Washington, United States
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Posted: Monday, April 08, 2019 - 02:12 AM UTC
Stephen,
I like to make my own silver gray paint. I use Testors “square bottle” silver, mixed at a 3:1 ratio with Testors square bottle flat neutral gray. This provides a very smooth paint surface with just a slight sheen. Lately though I’ve been experimenting with Tamiya Flat Aluminum mixed with just a small amount of Tamiya (about 6:1) neutral gray, and that does a nice flat color of silver gray as well. You may need to experiment a little with the mixture, to get it to look like painted fabric (I understand Pfalz covered their monocoque fuselages with fabric for strength). Hope this helps.
VR, Russ
gastec
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Auckland, New Zealand
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Posted: Monday, April 08, 2019 - 05:33 AM UTC
Check out the Wingnut Wings site for their colour mix recommendation.
phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Monday, April 08, 2019 - 09:14 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Stephen,
I like to make my own silver gray paint. I use Testors “square bottle” silver, mixed at a 3:1 ratio with Testors square bottle flat neutral gray. This provides a very smooth paint surface with just a slight sheen. Lately though I’ve been experimenting with Tamiya Flat Aluminum mixed with just a small amount of Tamiya (about 6:1) neutral gray, and that does a nice flat color of silver gray as well. You may need to experiment a little with the mixture, to get it to look like painted fabric (I understand Pfalz covered their monocoque fuselages with fabric for strength). Hope this helps.
VR, Russ


Thanks. I'll give your mix a try. Mostly using Valejo these days, but silver and neutral grey are all the same. I tried a couple of different pale grey and white with silver mixes but they looked far too pale to me and I think my ratio favoured the non metallics.


Gary, you just reminded me that I do have the WNW Pfalz in my stash. Must get it out to look at the recommendations in the instructions. Beautiful kit and one I'm glad I bought before it went OOP. Cheers.
JackFlash
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Posted: Monday, April 29, 2019 - 11:27 PM UTC
Just scroll down here.

For the "silbergrau" fabric use the Testors Model Master buffable aluminum. Cover the whole aircraft. Then hit it with a dull coat let that dry. Next for all the "metal' areas just clean the "Dullcote" of with clean thinner. then at a gloss to them.

phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - 10:09 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Just scroll down here.

For the "silbergrau" fabric use the Testors Model Master buffable aluminum. Cover the whole aircraft. Then hit it with a dull coat let that dry. Next for all the "metal' areas just clean the "Dullcote" of with clean thinner. then at a gloss to them.





Thanks that looks good. Not sure where I can get Testors from over here, but I am wondering if Humbrols metalcote aluminium or 56 mat alu will work? Certainly looks similar to the finish you have on yours.

I'll see how they look on some scrap.
Kevlar06
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Posted: Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - 10:41 AM UTC
Stephan,
Can you get Tamiya Flat Aluminum and Tamiya Neutral gray? that would probably work, but you'd need to mask the non-fabric portions of the aircraft. What scale are you working in? I'd be tempted to try Steve Lawson's technique of removing the flat coat with thinner, but in 1/32 scale, that might be too much thinner.
VR, Russ
JackFlash
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Posted: Wednesday, May 01, 2019 - 09:55 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Stephan,
Can you get Tamiya Flat Aluminum and Tamiya Neutral gray? that would probably work, but you'd need to mask the non-fabric portions of the aircraft. What scale are you working in? I'd be tempted to try Steve Lawson's technique of removing the flat coat with thinner, but in 1/32 scale, that might be too much thinner.
VR, Russ


Not at all just make sure your using enamel thinner over the dried lacquer. Its easy to control.

phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Tuesday, May 07, 2019 - 07:38 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Stephan,
Can you get Tamiya Flat Aluminum and Tamiya Neutral gray? that would probably work, but you'd need to mask the non-fabric portions of the aircraft. What scale are you working in? I'd be tempted to try Steve Lawson's technique of removing the flat coat with thinner, but in 1/32 scale, that might be too much thinner.
VR, Russ


I can, but I'm not a huge fan of Tamiya
I never seem to have much luck with them. Airbrushing especially just becomes a nightmare for me. Maybe it's how I used them I don't know. Currently I'm using Vallejo as I found them to be the most user friendly acrylic I've come across.
I'm playing around with humbrol though to find a good colour I like based on the recommendations. Humbrols always ever faithful for me and if I bung enough of a mix in an empty tin it should last ages.
I'm working on Eduard 1/48 and I have the WNW in the stash too.
CaptnTommy
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Connecticut, United States
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Posted: Thursday, May 16, 2019 - 08:19 AM UTC
I used Testers flat aluminum. flat silver would do too, I believe. If you want to get an idea of the look take a b&w picture of the result and see how it matches the movie Pfalz or the WWI Pfalz. There are pictures about and you can take a digital picture of your model and using your computer's Paint program make a b&w picture.

BTW Pfalz aircraft were silver/aluminum doped NOT Silver Grey The dope faded/aged to a greyish silver in the sun. Now that would make a nice shading exercise. Top wing, lower wing different silver tints. oval fuselage with fading from spine to belly.

Enjoy
Captn Tommy
JackFlash
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Posted: Saturday, May 25, 2019 - 04:28 PM UTC
Here is my build of the Roden 1/32 Pfalz D.III (2007)

This Pfalz GmbH static replica has coverage that seems a bit extreme but you get the idea.

phantom_phanatic309
#372
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Posted: Saturday, May 25, 2019 - 10:40 PM UTC
Thanks Capt Tommy, that pretty much confirms my suspicion that it was an aluminium dope.
I've been experimenting with a few different brands and so far I like the look of the vallejo and humbrol aluminiums. I might try with humbrol 56 for the doped fabric and a polished aly for the metal cowls and inspection panels. See how it looks before I commit to the wnw kit seeing as how that has gone oop.
Interestingly the acrylic and enamel versions of hu56 are very different in colour. The acrylic being a grey while the enamel has a blue tint.
Hopefully I can start to get some paint on it this week.
Stephen, your build of the Roden kits are incredible. Have to admit that they have been my first port of call when deciding if to buy one.
Thanks for the help.

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