I decided to go with a Greek Air Force scheme for my Kinetic F-5A. The instructions provide the appropriate FS colors for the scheme. I looked these up on www.colorserver.net, compared them to a few photos, and then looked at what Tamiya paints I had on hand. After a rigorous and thorough analysis of the Tamiya paints (which consisted of a brief look at the bottle lid and stating “that looks about right”), I proceeded to paint.
The grayish-tan color is XF-20 Medium Gray, the darker gray is Tamiya XF-66 Light Gray, and the blue/gray is Tamiya XF-18 Medium blue. I went light to dark in the colors, masking off after each color. I got confused in a few places with the pattern, but rather than correct it I decided to leave well enough alone. When it was all unmasked I thought it looked pretty cool anyway.
I finished it off with some initial fading using light version of each color- basically 1 part of the base color mixed with two parts XF-2 white and highly thinned with alcohol. I then gave the whole model a “blending coat” of XF-55 Deck Tan to give it a faded look. More weathering will follow, of course.
Overall I am really happy with this model’s progress. I think the shape of the N-156 family is absolutely gorgeous, and I’m having a hard time not starting on an F-20 and T-38 as I build this one.
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