Hi All, Currently I'm building the nice Revell Typhoon.Will be in RAF markings.But some sources said the cockpit is Dark Admiralty Grey.Can't find it in the Humbrol paint range.If I see some sample on the web,it is a very dark grey,comparing with the cockpit color I see on photo's.So what color is "right" and useble in the Humbrol range.Also a FS is ok to me.
Reg. Han krol, Holland -EU-
I'm curious too! Enzo, how about some help ???
I can only give you a purely subjective comment. My memories of Dark Admiralty Grey (from the cockpits of Harrier GR3s and Tornados) is that is it slightly darker than Dark Sea Grey, but more of a neutral grey without the blue component.
Cockpits are very high traffic areas and so the paintwork doesn't stay fresh for long. Groundcrew constantly climbing in and out of the cockpit ensure that the walls, floor and consoles get very scuffed indeed, with both chromate primer and bare metal showing through. This scuffing process is so quick that by 1986, the cockpits of the Falklands War attrition replacement Harrier GR3s (barely four years old at that point) were indistinguishable from those of the first batch which were nearly twenty years old!
I use an initial spray of Xtracrylix XA1130, Gunship Grey FS16118. Note that this is entirely too dark, but does have the neutral tone needed. I then lighten the cockpit by drybrushing extensively with XA1131 Dark Gull Grey FS16231. A simple spray of Dark Gull Grey would be too light and have an incorrect tone, but the drybrushed combination seems about right. Then, drybrush the floor, bulkheads and console sides with an aluminium colour to provide the scuffed appearance. The cockpit edges had an anti-slip coating that was a very dark grey - almost black. I find that XA1203 RLM66 Schwartzgrau is perfect for that, but again it needs to be heavily drybrushed to represent the scuffing.
Once you have painted the instrument panels and console tops, give the whole thing a light wash with thinned Tamiya X019 Smoke, which will tend to accentuate the detail but will turn everything even more glossy than it already is. Spray over with your favourite matt varnish - ensuring that it is *very* matt. Do whatever you normally do with the instrument faces.
That process gives me satisfactory results with cockpits of British aircraft. It may not be completely accurate colour-wise, but it does provide the rather shabby appearance that I always associate with cockpits.
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