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USAF WW 304’s later Days.


Corsairfoxfouruncle

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Looking great.  SEA camo turned out really well.



I don't need a Hill Grey Phantom, I don't need a Hill Grey Phantom, I don't need a Hill Grey Phantom.....

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On 9/24/2021 at 2:16 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

was raised in Wisconsin

 

May I ask where? My wife's family is from thereabouts and my in-laws live in New London (well, Mukwa, actually) and sister-in-law lives in De Pere.

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3 hours ago, opus999 said:

 

May I ask where? My wife's family is from thereabouts and my in-laws live in New London (well, Mukwa, actually) and sister-in-law lives in De Pere.

Tomahawk about 40 miles north of Wausau and 26 miles east of Rhinelander. My wifes family is originally from Crivitz Wi. as well. 

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24 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Tomahawk about 40 miles north of Wausau and 26 miles east of Rhinelander. My wifes family is originally from Crivitz Wi. as well. 

I recognize those names!  I've been to Rhinelander. I grew up in the state of Washington.  My girlfriend in college (now wife) moved to Roscoe Ill. in my first year of college and I went to visit several times before she had enough money to move back.  That was my first taste of the midwest.  Since my in-laws live in WI, I get there from time to time.

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1 minute ago, opus999 said:

I recognize those names!  I've been to Rhinelander. I grew up in the state of Washington.  My girlfriend in college (now wife) moved to Roscoe Ill. in my first year of college and I went to visit several times before she had enough money to move back.  That was my first taste of the midwest.  Since my in-laws live in WI, I get there from time to time.

Closest Ive been to your neck of the woods is Deer Lodge Montana, or Los Angeles. I haven't had a chance to get to the Pacific N.W. yet. 

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2 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Closest Ive been to your neck of the woods is Deer Lodge Montana, or Los Angeles. I haven't had a chance to get to the Pacific N.W. yet. 

I spent a few weeks in Deer Lodge in college.  Beautiful country.  Washington is a pretty state too.  We have such a wide variety of climates... from rain forest on the Olympic peninsula to arid (almost) desert where I live.  Lots of great scenery within 3 hours of home. 

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Morning everyone .. I was able to do the radome and sensors on the nose, also painted the walkways. bfjs8qu.jpg
 

APi5wcS.jpg

 

2AlGoyr.jpg
I tried to paint them yesterday but the original color was too close to the gunship grey. So I re-masked them and sprayed them darker tonight. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 
 

Dennis

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        Morning everyone … Well I was happy with this, not so much now. I really really wish decal companies would give ideas as to which paint/color they use. I put the decals on this last night and promptly lost half of them due to identical colors. So tonight I went back and custom mixed a color to hand brush on the invisible decals. Its not perfect but close enough that I can take it and run. Y0Hhxck.jpg
 

FwxCmli.jpg

 

zrTSmG5.jpg

You can see the worst of the offending decals on the vertical stab. But I bet you cant see the decals on the port intake splitter plate. 

iDKLvG5.jpg

 

ZgtQkQ9.jpg

 

zVfNysg.jpg

Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 

 

Dennis

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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Morning everyone … Cans are mounted but not the stabs. Though I did finish painting the stabs. xHpuwiL.jpg
 

6BFCUP7.jpg

Next up is a loadout. Im thinking either two wing tanks and two Harms with centerline and sparrows in the rear bays. ECM in the port forward. If not that then two harms, two mavericks, same centerline load. Any thoughts on this ? 

 

Dennis

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  • 3 weeks later...

        Good morning everyone… I was able to catch the two builds up to each other. Canopies and antennas are it now. npE0KEB.jpg
 

0Cflp3F.jpg

 

KVcZ6fm.jpg

 

23jFkPU.jpg

I know its hard to tell from these shots but that is the later F-15 tank on the center line. A coupke of photo’s of the two together. qjDT8n6.jpg

 

BILqyDC.jpg

Please feel free to ask questions, pist comments or add thoughts. 

 

 

Dennis

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6 hours ago, Dansk said:

Looking great, that gray scheme with the slime lights is super cool 😎 

 

5 hours ago, opus999 said:

I like the gray scheme a lot!  I wasn't sure I would, and its the one I'm least familiar with, but this looks terrific.

Thanks guys, Im familar with it being called Hill one. Though some publications list it as Egyptian one ? Not exactly sure why, it was created at Hill Air Force Base Utah. 

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On 11/7/2021 at 4:32 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

 

Thanks guys, Im familar with it being called Hill one. Though some publications list it as Egyptian one ? Not exactly sure why, it was created at Hill Air Force Base Utah. 

 

You're correct that the all-gray scheme was developed at Hill AFB, actually designed for the F-16 originally during the FSD phase before it entered service. The FSD fleet wore quite a few interesting variations of grays before settling on a 3-tone "countershaded" scheme of FS 36118, FS36270, and FS36375.  Being developed at Hill the name "Hill Gray" was at least semi-formal, but at some point (probably after the scheme was also adopted on Phantoms) it was nicknamed "Egyptian I" --- strictly informally -- most likely as a play on the well-known European I camouflage scheme, and based on the probable location of a major regional conflict in the late 70s/early 80s.

 

Note also that technically your Weasel is in the later "Hill II" scheme, which deleted the lightest gray (and for F-4s extended the FS36118 gray to a glare shield area in front of the nose). This actually happened for Phantoms long before the F-16 fleet, as all of the gray F-4s serving during Desert Storm in 1991 had the two-color scheme but the F-16s didn't drop the 3-color scheme until well into the mid-90s.  (For the record I've never heard of any reference to "Egyptian II" for the later scheme, which tends to reinforce the idea it was both informal and derived from a particular time/political climate).

 

One other detail note re: colors - it looks like your AGM-88s are painted white, but in reality operational HARMs have always been painted FS36622 - the same light gray as the underside of your earlier model of '304. Obviously it's a really subtle difference, and it's always been strange to me that HARMs seem to be the one and only missile type in the US inventory that use that color (even after the undersides of all its carrier aircraft, and most other AGMs, went to FS36375 or FS36270).

 

Not by any means to take away from the great work you've done with both models - I love the history represented by the same airframe near the start and end of its service life, especially when both are so historically significant to the Phantom's story as a whole.

 

I am curious about the decals you used for the Weasel - it looks from the photos like your paints are the correct 36118 and 37270 (or reasonably close, anyway), but the tail codes seem much lighter than they should appear.  I have a couple of these Desert Storm Weasels in my stash and want to be sure I avoid whatever maker missed the mark so badly.  Again, not a critique of your work, as you seem to have salvaged it as well as anyone could - great job, and thanks for sharing!

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2 hours ago, CT7567 said:

I am curious about the decals you used for the Weasel - it looks from the photos like your paints are the correct 36118 and 37270 (or reasonably close, anyway), but the tail codes seem much lighter than they should appear.  I have a couple of these Desert Storm Weasels in my stash and want to be sure I avoid whatever maker missed the mark so badly.  Again, not a critique of your work, as you seem to have salvaged it as well as anyone could - great job, and thanks for sharing!

Hello CT, Thanks for the info and explanations on the schemes. As far as decals its a mix, most come from this sheet. 


https://spruebrothers.com/amp/camms72008-1-72-milspec-decals-f-4g-phantom-ii-no-69-0292-562bd-tfts-37th-tfw-1990/

 

rUUi7he.jpg

Where it differs is the code numbers. The decal set is for 69-292 and about 1/4 the size they should be from the few photo’s I have of 304. So I made up the difference using codes from F-16 and F-22 sheets in the files.As soon as I put the 69-304 they almost disappeared against the background. My only option at that point was to paint them into as close a color as I could make. 

 

Dennis

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21 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hello CT, Thanks for the info and explanations on the schemes. As far as decals its a mix, most come from this sheet. 


https://spruebrothers.com/amp/camms72008-1-72-milspec-decals-f-4g-phantom-ii-no-69-0292-562bd-tfts-37th-tfw-1990/

 

rUUi7he.jpg

Where it differs is the code numbers. The decal set is for 69-292 and about 1/4 the size they should be from the few photo’s I have of 304. So I made up the difference using codes from F-16 and F-22 sheets in the files.As soon as I put the 69-304 they almost disappeared against the background. My only option at that point was to paint them into as close a color as I could make. 

 

Dennis

OK, I believe the "undersized" codes are correct for that particular airframe - as with most squadron/wing COs the squadron/AMU number is presented in the size normally used for the serial number, with the actual serial presented smaller (the scaled down version including the AF/FY format in tiny size is definitely unusual).  You can see the real thing here:

https://www.airfighters.com/photo_9999_61090.jpg

 

The F-22 codes would be lighter than needed for the Hill II Gray scheme (FS36118 on the lighter FS36270 background) since the Raptor wears a variant of the "Mod Eagle" colors (FS36176 over FS36251), so there would be a noticeable difference there (assuming the decals use the correct grays to begin with).

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1 hour ago, CT7567 said:

OK, I believe the "undersized" codes are correct for that particular airframe - as with most squadron/wing COs the squadron/AMU number is presented in the size normally used for the serial number, with the actual serial presented smaller (the scaled down version including the AF/FY format in tiny size is definitely unusual).  You can see the real thing here:

I will P/M you the photo I used, don't have permission to post it openly. 

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1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I will P/M you the photo I used, don't have permission to post it openly. 

Just to clarify, "that particular airframe" in my previous post was referring to the Milspec sheet for the 562 TFTS "boss bird."  I'm sure 69-0304 would have worn standard-sized serials, just saying the decal sheet was correct for its subject (size-wise, anyway). Sorry for the confusion!

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     I didn't want to wait anymore so I muscled through the back and neck spasms and I am calling these done. IzFkNjO.jpg
 

HMcs2Er.jpg

 

XTfG5Wq.jpg

 

 

Dennis

 

RFI Link

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235101856-69-304-an-f-4-phantoms-life-from-beginning-to-end/

 

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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