Dennis Both of these planes are old refinish. One is 20 and the other is 13 years old. I wanted to keep them light so I used a method that free flight group has used for many years. Clear is applied to you get the surface sealed but not shinny. Then add color dope or any coloring to clear and thinner. 70% thinner 20% clear 10 % color. Spray it on until you get the density you want. I wipe it with a rag between coat as it had a light fuzz to it. Do not sand it It will look dull but later clear coats will make it shine. It gives the look of colored paper but it will not fade. Some of the old finish shows through these old planes but everyone seems to like them. I have done new planes this way also and it comes out as a very nice opaque finish. I had a plane done this way at the 1988 Nats and it made the second highest appearance point that year.
The proportions are not critical, almost any combination will work. The object is to use very little color and lots of thinner. Both of these planes have less that two ounces of color on them. The Saturn was repainted almost 14 years ago and still looks new. It was a fuel soaked 1000 flight plane before refinishing it.
This method looks much better than trying to use colored paper on old time and classic models. You can spray the fuselage with a grey primer if you do not want any odd fillers to show through the body. I use many coats of the mixture to get a almost pained took to the body. When held up to the sun you can see through the wing like clear silk.
Here are three from long ago. They are not colored silk. They were clear silk using the method mentioned above.