burner12 Posted October 16, 2010 Report Share Posted October 16, 2010 I am building a 1/72 usn tomcat, and would like to know for a 80s style camo with light ghost grey and white with the waves on the sides are the waves the same on either side or random since you can't see it at the same time?and was that the correct grey color?and also after airbrushing it i have a lot of dust on some areas can you get that off by sanding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 16, 2010 Report Share Posted October 16, 2010 I think you have the schemes confused. The USN gray/white scheme that was used from the 50's-80's is 36440 gull gray over insignia white. You can use gloss or flat colors, but they ended up "flat" pretty quickly once they went to sea! If the camo demacation lines on the sides of the aircraft are wavy, generally it was rather random and no attempt was made to make each side perfectly match the other. Those wavy lines could also be soft or hard edge, depending on the time frame and airplane; use your references to help you decide which is right for your build. The overall grey schemes (no white on the bottom) used from the 80's onward use different grays other than the gull gray. There are several different schemes; so once more, check your references for the proper FS numbers. Kit and decal instructions are pretty good at getting the FS numbers correct, but do NOT rely on their color drawings to accurately depict those gray colors! They're mainly there to show you where the different colors go and not to duplicate the actual finish (though they're reasonablyy close usually). Airliners.net is a very good place to see a lot of color pics of whatever subject you need to research. It's a good place to see how the real colors look on the real planes. Hope this helps! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
802chrisg Posted October 16, 2010 Report Share Posted October 16, 2010 Richard, I was a catapult crew chief serving on board USN aircraft carriers during the 80's. I do not recall any WAVE patterens on the aircraft during that period. Basically the grey was faded into the white where they meet. I served both on the west coast and east coast ships. All the paint on these aircraft was flat. dull as hell, no gloss or semi-gloss. As a side not, some aircraft still were painted in the all white paint patteren with very colorful numbers and squarden markings. Check your references to be sure. Hope this helps, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcorley Posted October 16, 2010 Report Share Posted October 16, 2010 Richard, I was a catapult crew chief serving on board USN aircraft carriers during the 80's. I do not recall any WAVE patterens on the aircraft during that period. Basically the grey was faded into the white where they meet. I served both on the west coast and east coast ships. All the paint on these aircraft was flat. dull as hell, no gloss or semi-gloss. As a side not, some aircraft still were painted in the all white paint patteren with very colorful numbers and squarden markings. Check your references to be sure. Hope this helps, Chris The wavy lower boundary seemed to disappear in about 1978 or so. The early tomcats sometimes had a shape wavy line as if they were painted the old fashioned way with a rubber mat to cover the white/gray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mquan Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Yes, sanding with a very fine sandpaper - 600 grit or finer (1200 grit) should remove the dust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weedeater Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Hello Richard, - FWIW, over on the "Moving Targets" website forum, user "Clave" has posted a series of profile artworks of numerous Tomcats ranging from the mid 70's up to 1990. They show the variations of the Tomcat's schemes from era to era of the Gull Gray & White to overall Gull Gray to a Ghost Gray looking scheme. It does not look like he has included on this page a representation of the "blue-gray" scheme they went to in the later half of the 1980's. It is possible that Clave has these schemes/artwork posted elsewhere though. Tomcat Artwork from Clave - The one piece of advice that I thoroughly agree with is "check your references." While I cannot speak from an in-person experience (I only spent one full day cruising on the Kittyhawk from San Fransisco to San Diego in 1986, Tomcats and all during flight ops), I can say that I just plowed through 7 references and nowhere was I able to find photos of active duty Tomcats in an overall white paint scheme. I did find repeated shots of the "B" prototype/Super Tomcat in overall white with red graphics. These references might help you out better: Squadron/Signals's F-14 Tomcat in Action, No. 1032 Squadron/Signals's F-14 Tomcat in Action re-print, No. 1105 Detail & Scale, F-14A & B, Vol. 9 Detail & Scale Colors & Markings of the F-14 Tomcat, Vol. 2 World Airpower Journal, Vol. 7/Winter 1991 World Airpower Journal, Vol. 19 & 20/Winter 1994 & Spring 1995 Best of luck nailing down exactly what you want and hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burner12 Posted October 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Well i guess I just didn't add one important fact and that is I'm modeling the last Tomcat at the retirement. Here's a picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 That looks like they used a "retro" scheme (60-70's) of 36440 gull gray over insignia white with a hard edged wavy demarcation line as an homage for the retirement. This was probably it's first scheme "in service" in the early 70's. Note how the rudders are masked off and painted white. You'll also find all of the flap, spoiler, and aileron surfaces on the wing tops are painted that way too. I love those early schemes. They're much more colorful than the later ones! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burner12 Posted October 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 (edited) That looks like they used a "retro" scheme (60-70's) of 36440 gull gray over insignia white with a hard edged wavy demarcation line as an homage for the retirement. This was probably it's first scheme "in service" in the early 70's. Note how the rudders are masked off and painted white. You'll also find all of the flap, spoiler, and aileron surfaces on the wing tops are painted that way too. I love those early schemes. They're much more colorful than the later ones! GIL Actually surprisingly I have about 5 pics of this aircraft and the top control surfaces aren't white, I know it surprised me too. Kinda hard to see from this angle but look at the port flaps Edited October 17, 2010 by burner12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Just goes to show why references areSO important! Sounds like you've got a frim handle on things! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonL Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 IMHO, Gull Gray out of the bottle often seems to need some "scale effect" white added, lest it look too dark gray/greenish and contrasty with the white, especially in the smaller scales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burner12 Posted October 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 (edited) Here's what i have so far almost ready for a final coat but first need to doing some touching up. you think the grey is too dark? I used FS36440 Edited October 17, 2010 by burner12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonL Posted October 18, 2010 Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 ...you think the grey is too dark? I used FS36440... I dunno...here's a brand new one, c.1973: http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Navy/...9c27d2f7a80b591 The hard edge of that demarcation line may also increase the apparent contrast. Eyeball your model in different light levels and see what you think. Very subtle issue, which is what makes this stuff more art than science. My comment on this color was generic. Personally, I think your model looks great & wouldn't change it. Your call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burner12 Posted October 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 I dunno...here's a brand new one, c.1973: http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Navy/...9c27d2f7a80b591 The hard edge of that demarcation line may also increase the apparent contrast. Eyeball your model in different light levels and see what you think. Very subtle issue, which is what makes this stuff more art than science. My comment on this color was generic. Personally, I think your model looks great & wouldn't change it. Your call. I agree I have been mainly viewing it inside, and not in natural sunlight , which is where most planes stay. So when I take it out into the sun the color changes dramatically. So I wouldn't touch it either, plus I used what the directions said FS36440. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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