What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

RV8 Paint Jobs

Mine

oN2.jpg


oNB.png
 
Last edited:
Go to the Scheme Designers website to see what others have done. Plane Schemers may have some, too.;)
 
I'm always kind of torn about the warbird schemes. The -8 lends itself very well to P-51-esque schemes, and I definitely think they look good, but I feel somewhat iffy about going with one. I think I'd feel different if I had some personal connection to honor.

These are just my personal feelings, mind you, and don't reflect my opinion of anyone else's choices.
 
Honor your ancestors

I'm always kind of torn about the warbird schemes. The -8 lends itself very well to P-51-esque schemes, and I definitely think they look good, but I feel somewhat iffy about going with one. I think I'd feel different if I had some personal connection to honor.

These are just my personal feelings, mind you, and don't reflect my opinion of anyone else's choices.
I understand what you mean. I think the best way to honor all our ancestors, over 1000s of generations, who lived, fought, and died to make it possible for us to live the amazing lives we live, is to live our best life.

My guess is if you could somehow speak to one of the young men that flew one of these aircraft with those varied paint schemes, they'd probably be pretty cool with you painting your 2020 RV-8 the same way. They might wonder why we don't yet have flying cars - I wonder that a lot myself!
 
I understand what you mean. I think the best way to honor all our ancestors, over 1000s of generations, who lived, fought, and died to make it possible for us to live the amazing lives we live, is to live our best life.

My guess is if you could somehow speak to one of the young men that flew one of these aircraft with those varied paint schemes, they'd probably be pretty cool with you painting your 2020 RV-8 the same way. They might wonder why we don't yet have flying cars - I wonder that a lot myself!

I had a really wild idea for a while to come up with a scheme that invoked some of the WWII Navy camo schemes. I was specifically going to invoke one of the measures applied to USS North Carolina, since NC is my home state. This is also more personally applicable since my grandfather served in the Navy in the Pacific.

I eventually decided this was way too ambitious of an idea to turn into something decent-looking, not least of which because an RV-8 and a battleship and shaped just a bit differently. :p

I still may end up with a P-51 scheme...they do look damned good, and going through that RC forum with hundreds of images, I see some less-common schemes that I wouldn't mind cribbing.

In any case, it's not a bridge I'll be crossing for some time...I expect to be flying this aircraft in bare aluminum for at least a year. I'll need some financial recovery time from finishing the thing up before I can think about throwing fistfuls of cash at a paint shop...
 
Something unique with airbrush work

To quote a friend "Plane schemer does a great job of taking the ordinary, using louder color combinations, and producing lots of paint jobs for the ordinary..."

If you want something unique try http://stahrdesign.com/

 
I have been playing about in X-Plane with the RV-8 payware model. With MS Paint and a bit of trial and error, you can create your own liveries by re-working the .png file in the liveries folder. A great way to visualize the possible results.

Here's my first effort. Will probably change my mind before I'm done (with the wings...)

ACtC-3dggtgPfKfY1OsWOHG6lVtiv7mGK0ut8OviKyNOtZmM9AhwHotdHIwJtxT1QEir46NwnzNu5W-27gKbl3hmpCuhIUqQksOEYBxwTJSuRKENVsUGjEG05NDpZoGVmDHgLfGE0jB2NyFNFTkeSQegD3W1=w952-h703
 
Last edited:
I had a really wild idea for a while to come up with a scheme that invoked some of the WWII Navy camo schemes. I was specifically going to invoke one of the measures applied to USS North Carolina, since NC is my home state. This is also more personally applicable since my grandfather served in the Navy in the Pacific.

Don't give up on a Navy paint scheme, it comes out just as nice as the P51 schemes that are out there. That is if you like Navy colors :D

LITO1lGa53dy65_Zyjm1zsNEx9EyDQx8ua8ZnAyBB22I2cHZuQd_sxAJiJpk715345WyQ_JqnN6z-2xqbme7zSxd5fsbmZR0mVMChDLoaxJeHQY7edGNFHm6aBU76Vq0vmUKw6EnoQY=w2400


fIlWw0yNt5ZWSulSinVBEEmwzLD8FAEejwo4ox3YSrjfMBPX6H0CJithakmzzcSz10qbw8bHGZovL9vBmctwwp-ch6lI5d8az6CLBobkwOOpWSY0nL1MF4kzTcz1Ja-L_kH3JMMPTzI=w800
 
Last edited:
Our paint scheme is loosely fashioned after the 352nd Fighter Group, Blue Nosed Bast***s of Bodney. We named her EL CABALLITO or Little Horse. Paint, polish and vinyl wrap on the wings.
IMG_3520.jpg

IMG_3571.jpg
 
Modeled off of the P-51 Gunfighter

A couple of changes Red checkers vs. green, nose art name and of course no Horse on the rudder.


DEB458A9-448E-42BF-9A13-5313A2A320E7.jpeg

895F3667-8C27-4F93-A817-4F339F40289C.jpeg
 
Karl,

I really like your Navy blue on blue looks great!

Thank you Sir! It’s actually three colors but hard to tell in the picture. Royal dark blue, Bahama blue, and white on the bottom. Can’t afford an F4U Corsair so this is my version, modeled after the Corsair that’s hanging up in the Smithsonian. The boys at GLO Custom made it happen since my painting abilities are limited to priming and interior paint. The faux “tail hook” was my only exterior painting contribution. Nose art was custom made by Victory Girl in CA.
 
Whatever you decide on, remember resale value. When I was airplane shopping I turned away from more than a few RV8s because of the paint scheme. Some looked old while others looked plain ugly to me. I ended up finding one that was all white and the "paint scheme" it had was vinyl so I removed all the vinyl in 1 day and washed it and the next day had this entirely different plane. I didn't want a full military look but still wanted it be my way of honoring the branch that my dad, my brother, and I all served in, and keep it simple at the same time.



 
Love that paint scheme John.
And that hanger, wow!

Thanks JP.

That was the old “work Hangar”. I was able to wash the RV in the air conditioning

The normal airplane in there is this one:

EB091751-CAF6-41EC-BAF6-4F8066A56B85.jpeg

I miss flying it, but the RV easily makes me forget it :D
 
I have been playing about in X-Plane with the RV-8 payware model. With MS Paint and a bit of trial and error, you can create your own liveries by re-working the .png file in the liveries folder. A great way to visualize the possible results.

Here's my first effort. Will probably change my mind before I'm done (with the wings...)

ACtC-3dggtgPfKfY1OsWOHG6lVtiv7mGK0ut8OviKyNOtZmM9AhwHotdHIwJtxT1QEir46NwnzNu5W-27gKbl3hmpCuhIUqQksOEYBxwTJSuRKENVsUGjEG05NDpZoGVmDHgLfGE0jB2NyFNFTkeSQegD3W1=w952-h703-no

So.... How creative can one be? It’d be great to see how a scheme would translate onto something better than the Vans 3 plan drawings. Some designs look good on the left, right & overhead, but don’t translate well to 3D.
 
My newly completed slow build -8. Painted by me in my shop.
 

Attachments

  • 66BE1248-EA7F-461A-B421-E0DFA3031131.jpeg
    66BE1248-EA7F-461A-B421-E0DFA3031131.jpeg
    157 KB · Views: 609
  • 80D9855F-E43F-4C54-BC92-BC7196973C39.jpeg
    80D9855F-E43F-4C54-BC92-BC7196973C39.jpeg
    162.3 KB · Views: 305
  • DFB561EA-4D8A-425F-95F8-E28D5557E4BF.jpeg
    DFB561EA-4D8A-425F-95F8-E28D5557E4BF.jpeg
    165.3 KB · Views: 301
Paint

My son and I have owned two RV-8s. They had two very different schemes but I like them both.
 

Attachments

  • DC38A961-A658-4FD4-8412-19E9D9AEDE96.jpg
    DC38A961-A658-4FD4-8412-19E9D9AEDE96.jpg
    341.7 KB · Views: 276
  • 3A3BFE9A-A009-45D1-8647-B77A21CFC7BD.jpg
    3A3BFE9A-A009-45D1-8647-B77A21CFC7BD.jpg
    344.4 KB · Views: 295
Seems to be fairly popular...
 

Attachments

  • FIFF side view.jpg
    FIFF side view.jpg
    37.9 KB · Views: 293
  • FIFF Colleen.jpg
    FIFF Colleen.jpg
    58.1 KB · Views: 279
Here is my fully wrapped RV8
 

Attachments

  • 22A51F40-7A1D-4E10-B708-5F97D63641AB.jpg
    22A51F40-7A1D-4E10-B708-5F97D63641AB.jpg
    600.7 KB · Views: 460
  • B4881504-F1C8-4430-9D70-3A53B64AA9B7.jpg
    B4881504-F1C8-4430-9D70-3A53B64AA9B7.jpg
    461.9 KB · Views: 433
Short and pudgy

I'm not a professional graphic artist, but I know the basics.

I have noticed that from the side, some paint schemes make RV's short and pudgy. But in fact they should look long and sexy. You need something that draws the eye out longitudinally.

I didn't care for the two tone over / above which does help with that. What I found and am using for my inspiration is this one:

view


Sort of the horizontal sexist version of "legs that go all the way up" :)

Not that short and pudgy can't be sexy with the right attitude.
 
Last edited:
I'm not a professional graphic artist, but I know the basics.

I have noticed that from the side, some paint schemes make RV's short and pudgy. But in fact they should look long and sexy. You need something that draws the eye out longitudinally.

I didn't care for the two tone over / above which does help with that. What I found and am using for my inspiration is this one:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TpayWWbDV_2MhqBuw8bzMAoolHelWdAj/view?usp=sharing

Sort of the horizontal sexist version of "legs that go all the way up" :)

Not that short and pudgy can't be sexy with the right attitude.

Link didn't work for me
 
I'm not a professional graphic artist, but I know the basics.

I have noticed that from the side, some paint schemes make RV's short and pudgy. But in fact they should look long and sexy. You need something that draws the eye out longitudinally.

I didn't care for the two tone over / above which does help with that. What I found and am using for my inspiration is this one:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TpayWWbDV_2MhqBuw8bzMAoolHelWdAj/view?usp=sharing

Sort of the horizontal sexist version of "legs that go all the way up" :)

Not that short and pudgy can't be sexy with the right attitude.

It says access is denied.
 
I have been playing about in X-Plane with the RV-8 payware model. With MS Paint and a bit of trial and error, you can create your own liveries by re-working the .png file in the liveries folder. A great way to visualize the possible results.

Just want to say THANK YOU for this incredible idea. I downloaded the X-plane demo, bought the RV-8 add-on, and this morning taught myself the ins and outs of repainting.

I dunno if this is an actual idea I'll go with, but it was a super simply way to dip my toes in the water and see what kind of results I can get. Absolutely worlds better than messing around with the three-view drawings.

KZyezV5l.png
 
Here my finished RV-8. I am only waiting for the approval of my documents and then the final inspection.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3155.jpg
    IMG_3155.jpg
    563 KB · Views: 706
  • IMG_3210.jpg
    IMG_3210.jpg
    730.5 KB · Views: 860
  • AFB14BFA-41A6-4D6D-AF64-A0926FCF86D9.JPG
    AFB14BFA-41A6-4D6D-AF64-A0926FCF86D9.JPG
    464.7 KB · Views: 479
  • IMG_2543.jpg
    IMG_2543.jpg
    481 KB · Views: 626
  • IMG_2616.jpg
    IMG_2616.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 584
Last edited:
Wow! That's very slick, Yves! Those panels look like billiard tables! Congratulations and good luck with the first flight!
 
Just want to say THANK YOU for this incredible idea. I downloaded the X-plane demo, bought the RV-8 add-on, and this morning taught myself the ins and outs of repainting.

I missed your post, Philip. Glad you're having fun with it!
 
amazing fit and finish. I really like the photo with the raw timber building and the Homebuilt label on the side of the canopy. that photo should make the calendar. please submit it to Van's as I would like to see it hanging on my wall for a month.
 
Last edited:
superb scheme, superb aircraft, well done Yves!
Lookin forward to see her in real (today was another step) :D
 
Back
Top