Old Viper Tester Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 (edited) F-4Cs of the 122nd Tac Fighter Squadron, 159th Tac Fighter Group, Louisiana Air National Guard out of NAS New Orleans. Deployed to Red Flag 84-3 at Nellis AFB, April 1984. These F-4s normally carried the unit unofficial nickname, "Coonass Militia", in script along the vertical tail leading edge - a reference to the Cajun heritage of Louisiana. Lest they offend someone, the wording was painted over for this exercise. I don't know if the text was ever replaced after this exercise, but by the time they converted to F-15s, the name was changed to Bayou Militia. Doesn't have the same ring to it, but political correctness wins out. I seem to remember one aftermarket decal manufacturer covering the "Coonass Militia" in 1/72. I'm thinking it was either Modeldecal or Microscale. 63-7417 63-7471 63-7506 63-7556 63-7679 64-0673 64-0852 Thanks for looking, Sven Edited October 18, 2021 by Old Viper Tester Added "Coonass Militia" info 11 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canberraman Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 Nice images Sven. Can't remember seeing the later two tone gray scheme on the F-4C, was it widely used? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 48 minutes ago, canberraman said: Nice images Sven. Can't remember seeing the later two tone gray scheme on the F-4C, was it widely used? Mark I'm curious about that too: I've never seen that scheme before, although it somewhat reminds me of the Ghost scheme worn by the Hellenic F-4Es. Also, thanks for posting, as always, such beautiful pics Ciao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 1 hour ago, Old Viper Tester said: 64-0852 Thanks for looking, Funnily about 2 years ago I built this very plane, Im a big fan of these prototypical “Cloud” schemes and have tracked down about 2 Dozen airframes mostly from 83/84 Red Flag. Ive even come across one VMFA-232 operated at Red Flag in a coral cloud scheme. My personal goal is to build all or at least as many as I can. To a lesser extent Im also a fan of the Ferris schemes on all aircraft and would like to do them as well. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Viper Tester Posted October 18, 2021 Author Share Posted October 18, 2021 1 hour ago, giemme said: Can't remember seeing the later two tone gray scheme on the F-4C, was it widely used? No, not widely used. The 122TFS were assigned as "defenders" for this exercise. As Corsairfoxfouruncle points out above, several units took the opportunity to experiment with gray schemes during 1983-85 when they came to Red Flag. The 182FIS Texas ANG came with an overall water-based grey scheme that weathered very badly (previously posted here}. I don't know if this scheme is standard paint or tempera, but it seems to have weathered fairly well and was retained for at least several months after they returned home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 4 minutes ago, Old Viper Tester said: No, not widely used. The 122TFS were assigned as "defenders" for this exercise. As Corsairfoxfouruncle points out above, several units took the opportunity to experiment with gray schemes during 1983-85 when they came to Red Flag. The 182FIS Texas ANG came with an overall water-based grey scheme that weathered very badly (previously posted here}. I don't know if this scheme is standard paint or tempera, but it seems to have weathered fairly well and was retained for at least several months after they returned home. My somewhat limited research says it was standard and semi-permanent. The paint seemed to wear for a little while before any serious fading. The various photo’s Ive seen seem to show a reflective glossy surface at first also so possibly a gloss coat (wax) to help it along. If you track the various airframe #’s I think most wound up getting Euro-1 at there next heavy maintenance cycle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slater Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 Possibly the National Guard had a bit more latitude for experimentation than Active units? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainpeden Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 @Old Viper Tester, the decal firm which produced the "Coonass Militia" logo was Micro/Superscale and I think Esci also included it in a boxing of their F-4C. If it's vital info for anyone I'll dig through the sheets I have to get more detail. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 3 hours ago, Old Viper Tester said: I seem to remember one aftermarket decal manufacturer covering the "Coonass Militia" in 1/72. I'm thinking it was either Modeldecal or Microscale. 18 minutes ago, iainpeden said: @Old Viper Tester, the decal firm which produced the "Coonass Militia" logo was Micro/Superscale and I think Esci also included it in a boxing of their F-4C. If it's vital info for anyone I'll dig through the sheets I have to get more detail. In 1/72nd scale it's Microscale sheet 72-468. The sheet provides two options for the 122nd TFS/159th TFG: 64-0841 in the same segmented scheme which @Old Viper Tester has pictured as 63-7704 which wears a horizontal banded Light Grey FS36495/Light Compas Ghost Grey FS36375 scheme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 I have posted this photo before when Dennis was building his F-4C. Caracal also produced the markings in 1/48th in both black and white lettering on their ANG F-4C/D sheet CD48038. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 17 minutes ago, Richard E said: In 1/72nd scale it's Microscale sheet 72-468. The sheet provides two options for the 122nd TFS/159th TFG: 64-0841 in the same segmented scheme which @Old Viper Tester has pictured as 63-7704 which wears a horizontal banded Light Grey FS36495/Light Compas Ghost Grey FS36375 scheme. 7704 is also a Mig killer, shot down a Mig-17 on 14 May 1967. The particular version of the scheme on this always seemed similar to later Liw-Viz Luftwaffe Phantoms. 6 minutes ago, Retired Bob said: I have posted this photo before when Dennis was building his F-4C. Caracal also produced the markings in 1/48th in both black and white lettering on their ANG F-4C/D sheet CD48038. Yes you did and many thanks again. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainpeden Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 HiDecal sheet 72055 has some interesting Gray Phantoms; F-4Ds of the RoKAF and 65-801 of the 704TFS USAFRes in a cloud scheme and 66-751 of the 93rd TFS in what they call a leaf gray scheme - sort of SEA but in medium grays.I suspect it might have been a one off - or it's a figment of somebodies imagination because I have never found a picture. Now there's a challenge to @Old Viper Tester ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 14 hours ago, iainpeden said: HiDecal sheet 72055 has some interesting Gray Phantoms; F-4Ds of the RoKAF and 65-801 of the 704TFS USAFRes in a cloud scheme and 66-751 of the 93rd TFS in what they call a leaf gray scheme - sort of SEA but in medium grays.I suspect it might have been a one off - or it's a figment of somebodies imagination because I have never found a picture. Now there's a challenge to @Old Viper Tester ! No not a figment of imagination, and its on my to do list. You're correct its the SEA/Euro 1 pattern in all grey’s. my photo is larger so when downsized to meet Forum guideline's the picture got a little blurry. Dennis 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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