Celestial Jet

Ha, ha, nothing so simple for the Lookheed. I was thinking of a medium gray on the bottom and a dark gray "splinter" camo on the top but at that time I was having huge problems with paint issues so I didn't continue. Also, I never did settle on the markings.

-Bob

neil_w said:

At first I chuckled and thought this was a joke (it is pretty funny as written)... but it could be pretty cool. Dunno if Marten was going for that sort of thing, but I like the idea in general.

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If the words caught you as jokish at first then on second thought kinda cool, then the words reflect exactly what I wanted the paint to do.

BBowmaster said:

I think the Thunderbirds paint scheme would work.
https://images.app.goo.gl/szG83couVUoSsT3H6

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BABAR said:

For the Celestial Jet, OTOH, I was thinking of something either Thunderbirds or Snarky for a paint scheme.

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I do really like those colors and that design.

Thanks all for your input! It has been helpful to stir up a pot of ideas, and a few of them are percolating. Another idea occurred to me last night while I was trying to fall asleep. I'm going to try draw up some candidates.

Greg Furtman said:

Hit YouTube and search for air brushing cars. Some amazing videos out there

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Wow. That's just crazy

JMO, but I think some sort of thunderbird derived scheme would look great also

-Bob

The Thunderbird idea is definitely growing on me, the trick will be to pick out the essential elements of the Thunderbird in a simple enough way that I can paint it, and still look like a Thunderbird.

Started with something simple, I like the framing of the colors with white:



Tried to include more Thunderbird on the front:


Just something totally different:


Needs more Thunderbird:

Here are my high level, hand-wavey suggestions:

I feel like #1 and #2 need something stripey going on on the wings and dorsal.

I like #3 a lot, but getting the mask lines to line up perfectly like that in a side view will be... extraordinarily difficult. If you don't care about that, it'll be a fun look. I would add some sort of dark decal design on top of the yellow.

#4: I don't like the red strip on the dorsal. I feel like it should go straight back from the strake, and then you can fill the remaining space in a variety of ways. The way you have it there just looks off. I like the top view though.

neil_w said:

Here are my high level, hand-wavey suggestions:

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Thanks for the input, hand-wavey suggestions are just what I'm after.

I totally agree with doing the masking on #3, I'm not quite sure how I'd pull that off. But I like it as well. I picked up some plastic Dublo blocks that my son was playing with, in that color combination, and it struck me.

Regarding #4, yeah, the stripe does look kind of kinked. Were you meaning the bottom of the stripe line up with the strake, or the top? As in top or bottom (below).





Or something like a starburst:

I had been thinking of the red strip more in line with the last image, although I'm not crazy about the blue piece touching it at the point like that. The way you have it in the firs image looks good too.

I REAAAAALLLY like the nose and the upper wing surfaces.

Thin rim of red on the forward edge of the vertical stabilizer. Put a big T-bird logo dead center on the side of the stabilizer.

Need to add the bottom blue wing pattern, this will also splash some blue on the scoop that you can see from the side.

And a tiny decal on the cockpit edge
Major M Beels
Would be good.

BABAR said:

Need to add the bottom blue wing pattern, this will also splash some blue on the scoop that you can see from the side.

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Oh my, I have no idea how I'd pull that off, but it would be cool. A vinyl sticker would be hard to pull of with that shape, and masking would be a task.

BABAR said:

And a tiny decal on the cockpit edge
Major M Beels
Would be good.

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hehe, I like that....

Now you're going to have to make five more.

mbeels said:

Oh my, I have no idea how I'd pull that off, but it would be cool. A vinyl sticker would be hard to pull of with that shape, and masking would be a task.



hehe, I like that....

View attachment 411180

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I like it! Have to admit I am biased, I graduated from 27th Squadron Thunderbirds from USAFA. Unfortunately we had nothing to do with the REAL Thunderbird Demo squadron, but it was a cool name for my squadron.

My first two years I was a Wild Weasel from 35th Squadron.
My Dad worked on the Standard ARM missile the Weasels used to take out SAM Sites. He sent me a copy of the the logo General Dynamics used, and while I was at USAFA we got the patch redesigned to what you see above.

Wild Weasels flew one of the most dangerous types of Vietnam flying missions.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Weasel

Unofficial motto of the Wild Weasels was YGBSM
It’s worth googling.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=YGBSM

Thank you for your service, sir.

mbeels said:

View attachment 411082View attachment 411083

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Backing it up a bit, when I saw the above I had another thought. I'd like to see 1) the strake all red: check; 2) the top of the red stripe continue along the same line as the top of the strake: check; but 3) the bottom of the red lift from the fuselage right where the strake ends, going parallel to the top line, leaving a little white below. As if the whole thing were a single constant width stripe, but with part of it, right where the strake is, disappearing into the fuselage.

The blue could then be another constant width stripe, the same width and parallel to the red one, positioned above it so that its top aft corner is on the conder of the fin.

Confession: from the first mention of "Thunderbirds" until post #103, I thought we were talking about the puppet animation TV show.

kuririn said:

Now you're going to have to make five more.

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And get them to fly in unison.

BABAR said:

Unofficial motto of the Wild Weasels was YGBSM
It’s worth googling.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=YGBSM

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Just read the Wikipedia page, it tells you there.

BABAR said:

I like it! Have to admit I am biased, I graduated from 27th Squadron Thunderbirds from USAFA. Unfortunately we had nothing to do with the REAL Thunderbird Demo squadron, but it was a cool name for my squadron

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Cool, what was your role in the squadron?

jqavins said:

Backing it up a bit, when I saw the above I had another thought. I'd like to see 1) the strake all red: check; 2) the top of the red stripe continue along the same line as the top of the strake: check; but 3) the bottom of the red lift from the fuselage right where the strake ends, going parallel to the top line, leaving a little white below. As if the whole thing were a single constant width stripe, but with part of it, right where the strake is, disappearing into the fuselage.

The blue could then be another constant width stripe, the same width and parallel to the red one, positioned above it so that its top aft corner is on the conder of the fin.

Confession: from the first mention of "Thunderbirds" until post #103, I thought we were talking about the puppet animation TV show.

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Ah, well described. The only aspect of this that I'm not sure about is how wide to make the stripes. After doing this, I wonder if it would look better if the red, white, and blue stripes were the same width. And I think my parallel stripes aren't quite parallel.

mbeels said:

Cool, what was your role in the squadron?

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Academics officer

mbeels said:

Ah, well described. The only aspect of this that I'm not sure about is how wide to make the stripes. After doing this, I wonder if it would look better if the red, white, and blue stripes were the same width. And I think my parallel stripes aren't quite parallel.

View attachment 411435

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It might be an illusion, but it looks to me like the stripe takes both a slight bend and a slight reduction in width where the strake changes into the fin. IF you want to go more precisely with what I described, focus on one of the last ways I tried to describe it. There is an imaginary extension of the bottom of the strake, parallel to the top edge, disappearing into the fuselage. The stripe is the full width of the imaginary, extended strake, and it continues unchanged in width or angle up onto the fin. A picture is worth a thousand words, but I don't have a tool at hand to draw a picture nor the time to write a thousand.

If the blue stripe is parallel to the red and hits the top aft corner then the white will end up wider. That's how I'd go since it's too late to reduce the fin span or widen the strake. It's (obviously) your call.

jqavins said:

IF you want to go more precisely with what I described, focus on one of the last ways I tried to describe it.

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Ah, I see. A few dozen precise words can do where 1,000 isn't possible. I would move the bottom of the red stripe rearwards slightly, so that it begin where the strake ends.

Lots of options here, I will let some of these percolate and when I have an opportunity to buy more paint, make some decisions.

Two different thunderbirds. Your call.

Make the white Parts black! Dare to be different!

Nytrunner said:

Make the white Parts black! Dare to be different!

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I've got so many ideas now for paint schemes, I should just build another jet and do one black, one white, ala "Spy vs Spy".

Nytrunner said:

Make the white Parts black! Dare to be different!

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Go to 31 seconds:


Is it not possible link directly to a time here? That's annoying.

mbeels said:

I've got so many ideas now for paint schemes, I should just build another jet and do one black, one white, ala "Spy vs Spy".

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And a blue and gold one too. Go Navy!

Maybe something like the tail on this RC airplane for inspiration or ideas:



https://sigmfg.com/collections/sig-kits/products/sig-kobra-kit

GlenP said:

Maybe something like the tail on this RC airplane for inspiration or ideas:

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Ah, the Kobra, what a classic kit. That definitely has the advantage that it is a paint scheme that I could do!

I have something gelling, I just need to gather the right supplies and have a little extra time. But I'll get this rocket in the air as soon as the HPR launches resume. I think that the first flight will be with an H128.