SR-71 Paint Scheme & Markings Q

[Cobra]

Hey Guys,a Small Q kinda hit me and i Figured i'd post that Q Here:would White or Grey Primer be good for Painting an SR-71 Model? kinda thinking about buying a Snaptite SR-71 and making look like it belongs to WASP from Stingray! I'm planning to paint it Grey but was unsure,so Decided to post here. wasn't sure if i'd find anything on Google about this.  Thanks for looking.Dan

[Maverick]

Dan, whilst I'm not up on the colours used by WASP, there's a precedent for using white on high-speed aircraft in the later X-15 flights that used a white scheme and the USN X-2, etc.

Regards,

Mav

[rallymodeller]

On the early white-painted X-planes it was a gloss white that didn't fare very well; on the X-2 especially it peeled very badly during test flights and had to be repainted after every flight. After the X-2, few US high-speed test aircraft were painted white. Generally after that they went to natural metal.

On the X-15A-2, however, the white colouring was not paint but an inch-thick ablative coating designed to burn off during flight to allow higher surface temperatures (the coating actually removed heat as it burned away) and thus higher speeds. It was actually pretty similar in concept to the heat shields on US space capsules of the time. If you take a close look at the white X-15s, it looks like they are covered in Plaster of Paris (all the details are blurred/muddied and it has a rough, almost stippled texture). Scratch off the coating and they're black underneath, and that looks up close almost like gun bluing or anodized metal, not paint. I've seen both existing flight examples, at the USAF Museum and the Smithsonian, although you can get a lot closer to the one at the USAFM, and they both have a metallic sheen to them.

In their lifetimes the A-12/M-12/YF-12/SR-71s only carried two different schemes, with variations in markings: the A-12 and derivatives were for the most part natural metal with black leading edges and (on some examples) all-black vertical tails; the YF-12 had that scheme or an all-over black scheme, and the SR-71s were always black. And don't let them fool you, it is indeed black, not dark blue (if anything it looks sort of brownish in direct sunlight).

White might work, though. There have been advances in things like ceramic coatings and such and a gloss-white paint simulating "enameling" might do the trick. 

[Cobra]

That's Interesting to know. FYI,I'm planning to paint the SR-71 in Gray,but thought i'd use Either a White or Gray Primer Before the Paint goes on. does that Sound Reasonable? Dan

[rallymodeller]

Sure. It's a What-If, no? Grey would actually look pretty cool on a Blackburd (Greybird?) IMO. Just upset that I never thought of it...

[Cobra]

Mav did a Profile at my Request of the SR-71 as a WASP aircraft. you can find it on his Photobucket page. Dan