Su-30MK from top	Su-30MK under

When I submitted Flankers in the past to ARC and other sites I was sent many complimentary letters asking how I painted the engine areas and got the burnt metal effects.  I thought with all the interest in Flankers (1/32 kits, new decals, group builds..) I would try to help others improve an important but often understated part of painting these and other kits.  Flankers have a lot of bare metal and make a good example as well as being my favorite.

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Su-37

Loads of references are helpful, each plane has different effects from usage.  I chose several clear ones that show a lot of discoloration (Su-35 from Concord book).  Then I pulled out every tin and bottle of silver paint, all shades and some Tamiya clear blue, clear red, clear yellow and smoke. 

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Su-33

First I sprayed a coat of Alclad, not too light or dark for the base, then masked off some of the bigger panels and painted them a different shade.  These could also be brush painted if necessary.  After the bigger panels I moved down to the smaller ones, brushing various shades of lighter silver on them, using the references as much as possible.  This all makes the engine areas look more interesting but a little too clean.  It is also the end of exact and controlled painting, the rest is rough and looser.  To remedy this sterile, clean look take a larger panel area and mask it near an edge of another panel and dry brush some silver next to the edge.  You can even put down some wet paint and finger rub it around the masked border.  The idea is not to change the entire shade and color of the panels but to show a bit of discoloration.  Do this to a lot of them, not forgetting the bottom and that some panels curve down and can be seen from the side as one piece. 

When this is finished, scrape the panel lines and give the whole engine area a good coat of Tamiya smoke to seal the paint and darken the panel lines.  I then use some clear blue/smoke mix and loosely brush it around the hotter rear areas of the engines, even some random "turkey feathers".  Also seen on these references besides the blue stain was a yellowish metal stain. Again, a mix of some smoke, clear yellow and a touch of red make a dirty gold stain  that can be brushed and smeared around an affected area. Black areas between  the turkey feathers can be roughly painted and rubbed with an enamel flat black to sharpen up the burners.

Click on image below to see larger image Su-35

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Su-35 engine from Concord book	Su-35 gun	Su-35 under	Su-35

Finally I take raw umber tubed water color, as well as black and burnt sienna and start to make oil stains and some more color effects.  One way is to place some drops of raw umber on a panel line and smear it back (windward) across the other areas.  Where there are drainage holes the same thing, take some burnt sienna with a touch of black and put a drop on a drain, let it sit a few moments and then smear it down like before.  On top or in another area add a drop of raw umber and black mix and smear it down, it makes a nasty, oily greenish hue.  This with some airbrushed shading on top looks pretty good to me.  If it goes bad wet a cloth and rub it away and try again, the coats of smoke and clear colors will protect the silvers from too much rubbing.

Click on image below to see larger image Su-27

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Su-27

All said these combinations of clean colorless silvers and cool blues and warm umbers make a nice reaction.  Next to a camouflage pattern they start to really look like metal which helps your overall paint scheme.  This technique can also be applied to smaller metal areas (Mig-25 photo) as well.  I hope this is helpful and relatively understandable. Good luck. Paul

Click on image below to see larger image MiG-25

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P-42 top

Photos and text © 2004 by Paul Brown