F16-C colours

[Andy341]

Hi, apart from photos of individual aircraft, is there a standard colour for the nose cone, hard points and stores, i.e. fuel tanks? This is a question I would ordinarily not ask, however there appears to be a range of greys.  It doesn’t help when aftermarket decal providers insist on different colours for the same aircraft at a given time.

 

If if anyone can advise on the best, or most common, FS number to use I would appreciate it.

 

 I am building three F16-Cs, all ANG aircraft:  Ohio ANG with General Electric engine, Wisconsin ANG with GE engine and an Arkansas ANG machine with the Pratt and Whitney engine.  All from Tamiya

Edited March 3, 2020 by Andy341
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[Bobski]

Hi Andy,

 

F-16Cs began in a three-tone camouflage, with FS 36375 on the lower surfaces, FS36270 on the lighter grey upper surfaces and FS36118 for the dark grey. That's 'factory' paint, which over time has become FS36118 and FS36270.

 

Radomes vary in shade depending on weathering, a bit like on a Typhoon. Your best bet is to check photos and then try to match them. If you're mixing then FS36270 as a basis with maybe some darker grey and a touch of brown will probably work.

 

Pylons and fuel tanks would be the same colour as the jet - so FS36270 - however they also would have been repainted more slowly than the jets themselves. You could, therefore, have a mix of FS36270 and FS36375.

 

Hope that helps.

[Andy341]

Thank you so much for the information.  I usually build Cold War aircraft, but the appeal of the F16 was too great.  You don’t build one then three come along at once!

[Seawinder]

As Bobski says, you can scarcely go wrong with any choice for the radome, which was actually unpainted and non-metallic. If you google F-16 images, you'll see a wide gamut of shades.

[FortyEighter]

3 hours ago, Seawinder said:

As Bobski says, you can scarcely go wrong with any choice for the radome, which was actually unpainted and non-metallic. If you google F-16 images, you'll see a wide gamut of shades.

Agreed,

 

There are a couple of photos in Danny Coremans excellent book showing line ups of F-16s where every radome is a different shade of grey (and some of the airframes are different shades too).