Model Forum / General / Models / July 2007

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.