I didn't do a build thread for it, but I'm really happy with the way the painting turned out, so I had to post.
The kit came with bullet hole stickers and I figured that if a rocket had been shot up like that, it's not going to be all pristine and shiny. So I decided to try and give it a beat up and well flown weathered look.
After the normal finishing, I painted it with a lighter green. I sanded it down so it wasn't too thick, but so that it was still on there.
I then covered it again with a gray primer and sprayed an orange - red (Rustoleum Paprika) over some parts of it (first two pictures). This was followed by complete coverage with hunter green. The paprika color was specifically chosen in hopes that it would look like rust in the finished product.
The cone got its primer, followed by a dark red, and covered with the metallic silver. Once that dried I painted the nose tip a dark red. I had basically what is on the package with the addition of a red tip on the nose and no stickers yet (third picture). At this point, I was pretty happy with the look and started second guessing the distressing idea. But I figured if I didn't like how it turned out, I could always just repaint it.
When the paint had all dried, I took a coarse sandpaper and at random locations sanded down. In some spots I sanded to the light green, others to the paprika, and some to the primer. At first I was being really careful and trying not to do too much, but it wasn't looking natural, so I just went to town with the sandpaper. Once I had it looking sufficiently beat up, I took a fine sandpaper to smooth the surface and try to get rid of any shine left on it. Then the stickers went on (last picture).
Tomorrow night gets a very light clear coat to protect the stickers. I'll try to get a picture or two in the sunlight so it shows up better.
Post copied to gallery with permission
