hello people!

i just got into modeling a few months back and so far, i have 4 tanks under my belt. i decided to venture into aircraft for a change (i love WWII tanks and aircraft in equal measure) and just finished building and painting the basic camo on tamiya's spitfire mark I. i'm a bit curious how i should go about weathering this particular aircraft. i do realize that weathering planes is more of a challenge since it has to be more subtle compared to AFVs. can someone help?

Hey there Rovik,

There are several good articles on Swanny's Models that you may want to have a look at to get some tips on weathering

http://www.swannysmodels.com/

You should also have a look at this link for some further hints

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/weatheringda_1.htm

One thing to remember about Spitfires is that they leak a large amount of oil from under the cowl so don't forget this.



Cheers
Darren

Depending on how long the Spitfire remained in service, the paint wore away, slightly, on the wingroot fairings, mainly on the port side. Avoid the temptation to put long streaks, of black, over the top of the wing, from the gun ports. It didn't happen, just a faint, short, streak will suffice. There were bigger streaks under the wings, from the shell ejection ports, a combination of gun oil, grease, and cordite, as you can see in the photo. The exhaust streaks shouldn't be too prominent, either, faintly black, with a brownish centre.
The best method, that Peter Cooke taught me, was to finish the model, then smear Designer's Gouache (black) over it. It's a water-soluble tube paint, so won't damage your varnish. The next part is mucky, and slightly unbelievable, but wet a cloth, with saliva, and wipe off the paint, in the direction of the airflow, in other words, from nose to tail, and wing l/e to t/e. The action will leave a slightly streaky finish, and how much is up to you. The beauty of it is, if you don't like it, it can be washed off, and done again. For oil streaks, or leaks, I put on a large(ish) spot, of black, or brown, and swipe it, with the damp cloth, again in the direction of the flow.
Edgar

great tips guys! i’ll be sure to try them this weekend. also thanks for being patient enough to answer even though there’s a whole article on weathering the spitfire in the features section i didn’t know aeroscale had the same sections as armorama so i didn’t check out the features first. my bad. anyway, i had fun building the spitfire and from now on my stash will include a mix of armor and aircraft kits. i might try my hand on a bf-109 or focke-wulf 190 next. i see these planes a lot these days since i‘ve been spending a lot of time playing the latest il-2 sturmovik flight sim.

Here in Aeroscale (Features) you have some articles about weathering AC.
Here´s one about weathering a Spitfire.
https://aeroscale.kitmaker.net//features/86

thanks carlos! i found that article after i posted my question.