seawinder

According to information posted here: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/41612-f-15c-avionics-bay-color/ the last plane to receive the metallic green in Bay 5 would have been SN 79-0081, the last one produced in 1979. AFAIK, the boxes were black regardless.

FWIW, there's a photo of the cockpit of unrestored Glacier Girl that clearly shows the interior frame(s) in the cockpit interior color (green). Also, while I know it's not a good idea to trust restorations, all the museum photos I can find show interior green canopy frames, except there are some with black frames around the windscreen center panel. The photos don't seem to be adequately identified to be able to tell if this was on earlier or later variants.

I agree with Quixote74. Question if I may (pardon my ignorance on this): when was the overall 36375 scheme in use, and was it only found on F-14s?

Thanks for posting the pics, arnobiz. I'd seen the top one, although I wasn't focusing on the stencils at the time. The NO STEP markings, clearly visible, seem to be the larger size of what I've got (again I'm guessing 2-inch height). The other variety of stencils shown in the bottom photo (with the circles around the letters) matches all the decals I have -- there's no discrepancy for those. I've actually gone ahead and replaced all the NO STEP markings with the larger size. There doesn't seem to be any documentation that they were smaller in 1991, plus there aren't enough of them on the shee

I'm using the kit decals for a build of the Revell 1/48 F-15E in Desert Storm markings. The decals work fine, contrary to other reports I've read, but the sheet doesn't supply enough "NO STEP" stencils. I've got an Afterburner sheet, but the "NO STEP" markings are pretty much twice the size of those on the kit sheet. The kit markings look like 1 inch, the Afterburner ones 2 inch. Which begs the question: which size is right? No other F-15 sheets I've got have the markings as small as the kit decals, which makes me think Revell got it wrong. However, it may be that the stencils were enlarged at

Thanks again, Quixote74. I think I'll go with slightly darkening the 36118, or possibly using something like Extra Dark Sea Grey, for a bit of contrast on the sides.

I just found a photo of a large group of 4th TFW Strike Eagles in "Southwest Asia," 1992. The lighter gray dorsal blade antennas show clearly; no planes that I can see have the lighter gray side panels. I also found a photo of 87-0174 of the 333rd TFS that doesn't appear to have side panel(s) at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Fighter_Wing#/media/File:McDonnell_Douglas_F-15E-43-MC_Strike_Eagle_87-0174.jpg OTOH, in a set of photos that Bert Kinsey took of the 4th TFW just after returning from DS, SN 87-0209 has the side panel slightly darker than Gunship Gray, SN 98-0498

Thanks so much for the information. Although there don't seem to be a lot of photos around of DS Strike Eagles, I'd agree that the lighter colored side panels don't show up very much. I think I'll leave them in Gunship Gray.

That's more or less what I was thinking. Thanks for the confirmation. Do you happen to know if any of the other fuselage panels, like the two on the sides directly below the one in question, as well as the circular one aft of the cockpit, were also painted Dark Ghost during that period?

I'm wondering about the small square(ish) panel forward of the windscreen. It appears to be a much lighter gray than the overall 36118. Should I go with Light Ghost, Dark Ghost, or something else? Anybody know what the panel is for? FWIW, I'm doing the plane circa 1991, DS. Thanks, Pip

Whether or not the presence of rivet surface detail makes one kit better than another is a function of whether or not one wants to have rivet surface detail, and I don't think there's consensus on that point. I for one have one copy of the new Tamiya Mk. I and have built one of the recent Airfix Mk. Is. I haven't yet bought an Eduard Mk. I (I'll wait until they come out with a one-plane Profipack), but I've built three of their Mk. IX family and love them. My guess is that Eduard and Tamiya are a pretty close choice and have many features to recommend them, though perhaps not the same things.

Some of the wargame figure guys in my club swear by Citadel metallics, and I must say they look great.

May well be true. Does your comment in some way relate to the KH MiG-25? Just wondering ...

Hi Darren. Those photos are indeed persuasive. I still think I'm seeing a slight difference in the blues in Tapchan's photos. Could be a trick of the light, but looking at the outer edge of the FOD cover, it looks lighter and bluer than the roundel at the same angle. Is it possible they custom mixed the trim color starting with Insignia Blue?

Looking at the top photo posted above by Tapchan, to my eye the Insignia Blue of the roundel is distinctly darker than the dark blue on the fuselage. There's also, IMHO, a faint tinge of greenishness in the fuselage blue, so I would go with Gloss Sea Blue for the fuselage/tail color.