scotthldr

I always thought that the colours were similar to 36320/36375, until I started to notice that there’s a strong resemblance with the landing gear struts which are BS381-631 Light Grey. However I’m still not convinced either way if the scheme is a two tone upper/lower or overall one colour. Some photos clearly show a light/dark demarcation, then the next it looks overall one colour 🤷‍♂️ I wonder if it’s a case of a poor paint job and what I’m actually seeing is the old scheme starting to show through after a while. Light Admiralty Grey is too Blue for it to be that.

The last A’s were flown around the 1978 mark and the last of the B’s were retired around 1987 both times it was USNR units that were last to fly them. VA-305 “Lobos” at Pt Mugu was the last unit I think to fly the B in 1987, although that’s not to say that one or two didn’t continue with the VX units. I will be able to get a list together but not until later, of the units and approx timescales if that helps?

Green flying suits, Yellow preservers and White helmets.

Looking good, may I suggest purchasing one of the Steel Beach F-16 FOD cover sets. They rid the problem of getting the inside of the intake looking passable and add something a little different in the cockpit. You can get a set that would give you exactly what is seen in your photograph above of the real jet.

Official colour on US practice ordnance is FS35109, although it’s probably one of the worst colours out there that is represented accurately by the various paint manufacturers. I would personally go with what your own eyes tell you.

Wasn’t it just the case that the markings were reversed from the colour that they were applied upon. So the tail codes would be 36118 on top of 36270 and the Star & Bar would’ve been 36270 on top of 36118?

Who’s to say that the colours correspond to the FS system. They could be BS, RAL or even an Uruguayan standard. Who’s to say that the colours correspond to the FS system. They could be BS, RAL, Pantone or even an Uruguayan standard.

The F3 only wore two standard colour schemes, the original Barley Grey over LAG, and later on the overall Med Sea Grey. The transition between the two occurred in the mid 2000’s, so both your examples will be in the early two grey scheme. Upper surface: Barley Grey BS4800.18B.21 now referred to as Camouflage Grey BSC381C:626 Undersides: Light Grey BSC381C:627 Mid 2000’s onwards Med Sea Grey BS381C:637

Looks very much like both sides got the same treatment just to even things out https://www.vaq34.com/a3list/138922_03.jpg

How about applying the kit supplied decals, mask them off, then spray Black. They’re all straight lines so masking will be a simple task.

Pretty sure that the pilots seat(l/h side), also sat higher than the bn’s on the r/h side?

The Green colour between the Green Tops and the White Tops is different and neither have a recognised FS number. See here for more info http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/290199-hmx-1-green/

The RAF’s commitment to ‘Op Herrick’(the UK’s combat operations in Afghanistan), ended in 2014 by which time the Typhoon only possessed a basic air to ground capability, so were deemed to be unsuitable for such operations. However the Typhoon did conduct air to ground ops in Libya in 2011 when they dropped GBU-12 with the assistance of Tornado’s providing the laser designation.

In real life I would imagine that the actual radomes were the same, and only the forward part of the under nose fairing would have been different. However the way Hasegawa has moulded the parts in scale form they are very much different. Both kits share the common fuselage halves, so you could try and order the specific ‘E’ radome sprue (‘K’, I think it is).

Not sure about the U2, but on other aircraft I’ve been around namely Buccaneer/Hunter/Jaguar/Phantom and Tornado, the plexiglass would be about 4cm in thickness.

Very nice build, but isn't it 1/35 and not 1/48?

Both the RAF and RNZAF examples are Gloss Black, the Canadians are FS15044 Dark Blue.

https://defense-militaire.over-blog.com/2020/11/combien-coute-le-retrofit-des-rafale-marine-du-standard-f1-au-standard-f3.html Found this site, which has several photos of a Rafale M in deep maintenance, all internal bays and bulkheads appear to be in same colour of what very much looks like flat aluminium.

Pretty sure they’re a dark shade of Aluminium, by that I mean that they appear darker than the under carriage struts although that could be down to shadows. In general the bay doors are only open during the deployment and retraction of the undercarriage and of course maintenance phases, so not much can be seen in there during normal ground conditions.

Thanks all for your invaluable information, the Eduard kit sounds very promising so I'll hold on until it hits the shelves.

Is there anything similar in any of these colour profiles? http://www.tayyareci.com/digerucaklar/turkiye/1951ve2006/f104.asp

Probably can’t or more likely not allowed to post a pic without infringing some copyright law. If you can post the serial number of the a/c in question we might be able to find a picture on the ‘net. The a/c isn’t 62-841(8-841)up a pole at Kutahya AB by any chance?

Icarus Productions sheet 32002 is the one, although you’re either going to struggle or be lucky in getting a set Try emailing: [email protected] Since the owner of Icarus Productions passed away several years ago, I don’t know for sure who took over the stock. Other places you could try are Fasma Models Scale in Detail the 48ers

As others have said thin the upper and lower wing parts until translucent and the same again with the wheel bays . You’ll then have to chamfer the wheel bay edges. Is it worth the hassle, only you can decide that but I know where you’re coming from having installed them 3 times. Aires stuff although pleasing to the eye are renowned for being tight fitting.

Thanks Troy and Graham for the advice and info. The intended subject is a Spitfire Vc of the Royal Hellenic Air Force circa 1945/46 maybe later. I’d more than likely be using the LM decal sheet. https://www.lmdecals.gr/index.php/en/1-48-scale-decals/186-royal-hellenic-air-force-spitfire-mkv-greek-lm-48003 The build would be either JK809, JK652 or JK982 in the later distressed scheme, if you open the link at the bottom of the page I linked to above you can see some photographs of the subjects. I don’t mind having to get resin/etch am goodies but don’t want to start having to cut and shut a kit and rescribing etc ..... I’ve seen reference on here by yourself Troy that minor surgery has to be done on the SH kit to get the trailing wing root into the correct position, that I don’t mind doing.