Hi guy's,

Can any on help me with this?

What colours are correct for early (white and gray), mid (two tone gray)and late (gray) service Tomcats? I'm using acrylic paints so paint names and or FS numbers would be best.

Last time I did a 'modern' US jet it was just gray now many years have past and its now compass gray L/D, ghost gray L/D or gull gray L/D, Help

Ciao
Luciano

Early F-14s had a white underside and light gull grey topsides with white control surfaces. F.S number for the grey is FS 26440 and the white is FS 27875.
hope it helps, as long as I'm right of course :-) .
Andy

Thanks Andy.

Any ideas on the colours for F-14D's, what shade of gray/s?

Ciao
Luciano

One tone Grey - FS16440

Two tone Grey - FS16320 uppers and FS16375 lowers

Grey and White - FS16440 uppers and FS17875 lowers

FS16440 - Light Gull Grey
FS16320 - Dark Compass Grey
FS16375 - Light Compass Grey
FS17875 - White

Note - FS numbers often are seen as starting with a 3 instead of a 1 - not sure why but the colours are the same anyway.

If you dont have these colours in stock I can recommend Extrcrylix available from http://military-precision.com/index.php?cPath=26

Regards,

Lee

Ooops, that is Xtracrylix.........

With FS numbers, the first number signifies the finish, only.
1 = glossy; 2 = semi-matt; 3 = matt.
the second number signifies the colour
for example 1 = red; 4 = green; 5 = blue; 6 = grey.
the last three numbers are the shade, and, as a rule of thumb, the higher the number, the lighter the shade (36118 is much darker than 36440)
Edgar

Ah, that explains it - Hasegawa specify Matt and Xtracolor/Xtracrylix being 'decal ready' specify Gloss.......

Thanks Edgar!

Lee

Lee and Edgar thanks to you both thats cleared that up for me.

Doing a couple of Revell F-14's in 1/144 and you know what Revells paint guide is like

Ciao
Luciano

[quote]One tone Grey - FS16440

Two tone Grey - FS16320 uppers and FS16375 lowers

Grey and White - FS16440 uppers and FS17875 lowers

FS16440 - Light Gull Grey
FS16320 - Dark Compass Grey
FS16375 - Light Compass Grey
FS17875 - White

Note - FS numbers often are seen as starting with a 3 instead of a 1 - not sure why but the colours are the same anyway.

If you dont have these colours in stock I can recommend Extrcrylix available from http://military-precision.com/index.php?cPath=26

Regards,

These FS numbers are a good starting point. However don't get to wrapped up in exact shade's because there arent any. The specific look can change from plane to plane and sqadron to squadron. When I was a plane captain on F-18's The exact shade could depend on the bucket you mixed the paint in.
Good luck with your tomcat.

Yep, fair point - in fact US aircraft (and the Navy in particular) always seem to me to be more 'patchy' than other 'Western' air forces and Navy aircraft are exposed to the elements a heck of a lot more so lots of difference in shading and weathering. As long as you get the shade there or thereabouts, I can't see to many people noticing - especially if you do weather your aircraft.

Lee