More boring gray ideas

[SebastianP]

So sue me, I like Light Ghost Gray and Dark Ghost gray, and I use it for just about everything these days. (Not that there's actual rebellion involved in that, given that I mostly paint US fast jets...)

I've been trying to come up with *more* uses of these splendid shades, though - some of which could be pretty striking in their simplicity.


First, use an old scheme as-is and tone it down - like I'm doing on my Tomcat, which is eventually going to have a dark ghost gray top and light ghost gray everything else, with gunship gray (ex-red) squadron markings and stencils.

Second: Take a vintage prop aircraft like a Mustang or Corsair, and paint it up in modern low-vis paint schemes. The Mustang would have a dark ghost gray nose and fin, light ghost gray underside, and a gunship gray back, like an F-16; the Corsair would be dark ghost gray on top and light ghost gray on the bottom like a Hornet. (Converse idea would be to use the "liberated" decals on an NMF F-16 with invasion stripes, and a dark blue Hornet). I want to build a Focker Tri-Decker and Typhoon like this...

Third was an airshow demo scheme I came up with on the fly - a Hornet with a huge ghost gray maple leaf over the whole back, and a matching blue-gray one on the bottom. No need for national roundels except on the sides, and stencils. (Which would make or break this build...) There aren't all that many national insignia which are simple enough to do this with, which is too bad.

Four: The US paints their fast jets in Russian colors for training purposes all the time - posit that Russia did the same - a MOD-Flanker? I'm doing a MiG-29 like this just for fun (and since the kit was a dog, but I digress), and one of these days I'll see about getting a pair of Heller Su-27UB kits - one to do as a Strike Flanker, and one as a Tomkatski, complete with Skulls and Krossbones, Tovarisch!

You can also have lots of fun painting ground vehicles in modern aircraft schemes - how about a MOD-Hummer for Air Force base security?

Finally, does anyone else think a B-52 would look cool in an F-15C scheme? Either Ghost/Compass or MOD-BUFF... (At least there's a good kit of that in my scale - I'd really like a B-1 or B-2 that didn't need major work...)

Does anyone have more outlandish ideas for boring gray?

SP

(Too bad I ditched my last ruined car kit - that Corvette would have looked spiffy in TPS...)

[SebastianP]

Addendum: Just had another one, which may just be lack of sleep talking: Invert a typical two-tone scheme. Including the stencils. Topsy turvy!

SP