The SAAF Forum

Good Afternoon, I am going build a 1/72 Impala as one of the Silver Falcons. I have one question, what colour metallic were they? We’re they natural metal, aluminium or chrome? I will be using the alclad range of colours, I’ve a lot of success in the past with their products. https://airbrushes.com/index.php?cPath= ... a6bhonkin4
Thanks
Clint

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Clint

I have it as just the standard Impala Mk I "Silver."

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How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

Ceemark,

The Impala as well as other aircraft in the SAAF were painted in a "high Speed" silver finish.

At the present time no paint manufacturers can supply the "High speed" silver, only a silver colour.

I will try and describe the colour. The "High Speed" silver had a gloss coating to it, one can almost say that it was a silver with a gloss coat over it.
It wasn't a bright silver, rather a dulled silver colour.
Some aircraft and under certain lighting conditions the silver was brighter colour.

Humbrol 27002 metalcote gloss silver would be an ideal colour to use on your model.

I have also used Humbrol 11 silver in the past and gave the silver a coat of clear gloss, this colour was as close as can be to the "High speed" silver used on the SAAF aircraft.

Unfortunately I haven't used the Alclad products yet and I cannot comment on the correct shading of the silver that Alclad offers. I will try it sometime in the future.

In the years gone by there was a "rub and buff" silver coating / paint available which the more you buffed it after spraying the shinier the silver would become. This system did have it's flaws also which I found out by trial and error.

Which Silver Falcon scheme are you going to build?

There's a number of Silver Falcon schemes.

Geoff

Thanks Geoff, I’ll do a couple of tests with those before I commit myself. These photos are of some I did with Alclad Chrome.

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Clint

Clint the Alclad system has some beautiful colours but as I said, I'm not so clued up on the application of Alclad. So I don't want to give comment about stuff I don't know how to apply.

I need to brush up my act in this regard.

I have seen some beautiful models that has been completed with Alclad products.

Those models of yours look great and the silver looks good also!

You now need to build 2 more Sabre's in the silver scheme, one with a blue 1 Sqn band and the other with a red 2 Sqn band.

The Silver Falcon's had 5 variations of their colours from just the numerals on the tails, to a squarish striping on the tail, to the last blue and white scheme.

Geoff

Hi Geoff

Very informative, I was wondering about this as well as to whether the Mk 1's were painted silver or kept in natural metal.


I see that Alclad now has a paint called High Speed Silver...

https://www.hobbyline.co.za/alclad-125-high-speed-silver-30ml

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

I saw that too. I went to my local hobby shop here in the U.K. and nearly choked when I saw the prices of Revell paints. I spent £9.00 (R180) on 2 pots. The Alclad range is about c £4.00/bottle.

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Clint

The high speed silver works very well.

Did it on a Canberra(not the best model build from myside as there was some issues)

Thank you Mars, I will definitely have a look at the Alclad product.

HP is that a PR9 Canberra?

Geoff, it is the Airfix B(i) 8 1/72 kit

Marc, Imp Mk. Is were painted silver with, I suspect, a gloss coat applied.

Re. Alclad paints - very nice stuff if not rather pricey. Nice thing is you use them straight out of the bottle - no whining required. They need to be applied over a gloss black base. Alclad has a black primer but I use standard Tamiya X-1 gloss black acrylic. The Alclad paints go on beautifully with an airbrush and if left to dry properly, can take masking with Tamiya tape.

When using Alclads it's important to do your research as to how the actual aircraft was finished :
a) Painted silver
b) Left natural metal but with gloss sealant applied - this typically shows a patchwork of various metal tones and hues depending on the grade of metal (aluminium / steel / SS) used
c) Natural metal without protective coat which resulted in a duller finish due to natural oxidation of the surface - again various metal tones and hues

It's a minefield out there....