GrumpyGnome Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 I'm close to finishing the build (NOT straightforward!) of my SIG Smith Miniplane, and thinking about colour schemes. It's going to be red, white, and red & white chequerboard, possibly with a little silver. But not the red and white scheme on the box. Underside of wings and tailplane, and the rudder will be red & white chequerboard Fuselage and fin - red or white? Top surface of wings and tailplane - white or red? Possibly a silver cowl? Do you guys use a computer programme to see what looks best ? If so, what? Or do you just envisage it in your head ? (I know lots of you will copy an existing scheme but I'm not after scale - I just like the look of this plane!) TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 Hi Grumpy, I do quite a lot of this sort of stuff. Photoshop is undoubtedly best, but expensive, and pretty difficult to use. There is a simpified version called photoshop elements, which you can buy. You can probably pick up a reasonably priced version on ebay or suchlike. There are also many clones, of varying quality. The results can be very good indeed. If you need more detailed advice, just PM me ernie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wookman Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 Fus and fin white with red horizontal stripe widening to red cowl. Red pin stripes either side if you are feeling keen. Wings and sailplanes tops. Red and white outbursts. You know you want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Carlton Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 I draw an outline, photocopy it a few times and use crayons. Or draw up a simple outline in MS Paint, save it and try different schemes, really easy way to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 I'm not mad keen on covering. Consequently I tend to avoid dreaming up new colour schemes and just kind of do everything the same way. And those are my "fancy" builds. If I'm on a "quick" build, I just do dark underneath and light on top and the fuselage gets the light colour all over. You might note I can't be bothered much with pilots or cockpits either... Black spray paint on the inside... done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 I have zero artistic talent, I look in the mags/online and pinch ideas, models get done to assist when flying, bold colours for me, yellow n black is my favourite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Gates Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 I prefer picking "different" colour schemes for my aircraft so they are not quite what you expect and also so they are easy to see. I have a yellow & black striped Beaufighter (target tug), all black Mosquito (night fighter), and currently a black & silver Magister (Irish Air Corps). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Stephenson Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 I draw my schemes out on the PC first so I can see what it looks like before I apply paint or covering. The top picture is how I envisioned it and the bottom one is how it came out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted April 13, 2022 Author Share Posted April 13, 2022 15 hours ago, Matt Carlton said: I draw an outline, photocopy it a few times and use crayons. Or draw up a simple outline in MS Paint, save it and try different schemes, really easy way to do it. I tried this. Looked like a 3 year old was trying to draw an aeroplane from a verbal description provided by someone who hasn't actually seen the aircraft, using a large crayon, wearing mittens ? I'll have to persevere..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted April 13, 2022 Author Share Posted April 13, 2022 14 hours ago, Nigel R said: I'm not mad keen on covering. Consequently I tend to avoid dreaming up new colour schemes and just kind of do everything the same way. And those are my "fancy" builds. If I'm on a "quick" build, I just do dark underneath and light on top and the fuselage gets the light colour all over. You might note I can't be bothered much with pilots or cockpits either... Black spray paint on the inside... done. Very neat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted April 13, 2022 Author Share Posted April 13, 2022 14 hours ago, john stones 1 - Moderator said: I have zero artistic talent, I look in the mags/online and pinch ideas, models get done to assist when flying, bold colours for me, yellow n black is my favourite. Yeah, I do that too. All the ones I've seen on-line (full size or models) either have the box scheme, or are ones I don't like. I'm pretty settled on the colours, it's just where I use those colours... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted April 13, 2022 Author Share Posted April 13, 2022 14 hours ago, Andy Stephenson said: I draw my schemes out on the PC first so I can see what it looks like before I apply paint or covering. The top picture is how I envisioned it and the bottom one is how it came out. What programme is used for that? Looks very good..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted April 13, 2022 Author Share Posted April 13, 2022 And thanks everyone for the responses...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Stephenson Posted April 13, 2022 Share Posted April 13, 2022 1 hour ago, GrumpyGnome said: What programme is used for that? Looks very good..... It's a bit sad really, I use a 30 year old program called ClarisDraw it loads from 6 floppy discs. A better option for the modern age would be CorelDraw, earlier versions of this can be found on ebay for not much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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