Painting real aircraft

[tigercat2]

Here is a question I have wondered about for some time.  In painting a multi-color model, such as SEA cammo, I paint the whole model (the top and sides) first with the lightest color, tan, then go back and paint the medium green, followed by dark green, then cammo grey or black underneath.

Is a full size aircraft painted like this, or do they paint ONLY the tan, then only the lt. green and only the dark green?  In a model, there will several sections with 2 or 3 thicknesses of paint, no big deal, but in a real aircraft, this could add extra weight.

Thanks in advance for the answers.



Wes W.

[arkon]

when i was in the navy serving in VQ-1 we primered the whole thing , then on our two tone birds white was done on top, only where needed then the grey on bottom , and on our other birds it was haze grey all the way