I looked up Flint Gray, I have never heard of it until now. Not sure where it was ever used but it does have an FS number. Now I know where the green comes from!
1 Like
Yes that’s a barley grey Phantom. It’s a lot paler in colour. Compare the photo of the two rudders in the pages of the book. The J is much more blue in tone.
Now it’s a case of scouring books and the internet for photos of J’s in that paler barley grey. There have got to be some out there.
1 Like
Thanks Phantom, I now know what colors the U S used and have some in my rattle can collection if I do do a delivery scheme plane. Know knowing that barley gray is gray and not greenish I have a good idea of what paints I need to do a British paint version. I may just do the delivery version as that would cause me less headaches! The decals that had yellowed have had 4 days in the window in a zip lock bag and are almost good again. Thanks for the help with them.
1 Like
Happy to help.
Can you get Humbrol? A lot of their colours are better matched with RAF. Although I’ve largely converted to acrylic these days, their enamels are still my go to for RAF. I know the colours work.
For a AD grey Phantom you would need 165 Medium Sea Grey, 166 Light Aircraft Grey and 167 Barley Grey. Easy numbers to remember!
Everything from 163 to 168 are post-war RAF.
1 Like
Don’t do airbrush, I am strictly a “rattle can man”. I gave up on the hairy stick 50 years ago too! I only use Humbrol and Vallejo for detail painting.
1 Like
I have the cockpit in and fuselage closed up. I have 10 grams of weight in the nose. Also the decals are bleaching nice, they have been 4 days in the hot Florida sub tropical sun.
1 Like
Hope you can get the colours you need.
It’s going well so far.
1 Like
Thanks, Tamiya has a huge collection of AS and TS lacquer rattle can paints, many are IJN , Luftwaffe, British and U S airforce colors and some are basic colors which are very close to those used by the military. Would this be the “periscope” you mentioned earlier? If so it is very easy to scratch build or maybe I can “steal” one from a 1/72 Chieftan tank kit?
1 Like
That’s the periscope yes. Some of the RAF’s FG.1’s had them too. It’s possible it could be included as an optional part in Airfix’s recent Spey Phantoms. Been a while since I’ve looked in the box though.
Unfortunately, this is the sad fate of a lot of the RAF’s Phantom fleet. Besides from a few cockpits, practically none have been preserved. The FAA Museum at Yoeviltan has an FG.1 in it’s Ark Royal deck exhibition and I have heard that the RAF’s Black Mike is still in one piece.
Luckily one of the J’s was preserved and is currently at Duxford in its original US Navy colours from the Vietnam War. We also have a genuine Vietnam Mig Killer, an F-4C, on display at the Midland Air Museum in Coventry. Despite being practically on my doorstep, I’ve still not visited that museum.
1 Like
Now that’s one I hadn’t heard of. Might have to look into it.
1 Like
I looked at the Airfix kits and only the FGR.2 has the periscope. The FGR.1 has no option for a periscope. FWIW
From that we can tell that ZE380 was definitely repainted! Interesting that the other has wing tanks in the proper colours. But they would have been changed quite regularly from stocks. Definitely adds some colour variety to the build if you decide to do that.
Thanks, I am going with a bluish color as I heard many pilots say it was an awful turquoise color LOL, like ZE360 tail code O in this picture. I have this shade of paint to match .
1 Like
I have the wings, intakes and canopy on. I found a picture showing the armament I will use, 2 weapons pylons , no drop tanks and the gun pod. The kit has an SUU-23 gun pod for the C version , I had to modify the weapons pylons, I cut the MERs off the bottom.
1 Like
Nice references!
I arrived now for accompany your build
1 Like
Looking good.
1 Like