BillS

You could try Xtracolor X124. Their stuff brushes nicely

White is definitely glossy. Most of the boxes were gray

My two bits worth: At this time it ‘s 34102 judging by the fwd nose gear door. Later in life at Kadena the fin cap was painted. Colors during this time frame were so fungible.

Ben is right. I went o the BA change of command last fall. I talked to the paint shop and the current colors are from a commercial paint company in Mobile, AL. mixed especially for the BAs. They do rattle cans for the Blues touch ups as well. Their former commander, Eric Doyle is the director of the E model conversion. He flew the first one down to Whiting from Cecil in the past several days. The picture I saw looked like the same blue as the Cs but it was on a cloudy day. That blue changes so much in different lighting.

A veteran modeler friend of mine and I were talking about this very thing today. Darren is right. The BAs and T-birds both have very glossy jets. Youre right though. Piling on gloss coats somehow just looks odd. My preferred method Is using gloss enamel applied in very light coats with wet sanding between coats. The final coat or two I thin to a very translucent consistency. I then apply this so it goes on wet but in a light coat. I apply decals etc then had rub with a very fine polish. This yields a more scale gloss finish that looks natural. BA blue is actually a variety of blue paints depe

Wolfpack plus Hypersonic wheels. The late style wheels came along around the mid to late 80s I think. Solid or spoked nose wheels are both appropriate for all periods. Pre 1977 ejection seats don’t have the drogue chute container headrest if you're doing a jet from earlier times.

Thanks Rich! That’s what I need

The Kinetic’s kit lacks instructions for the pod markings. Any help on this esoteric topic?

Hmmmm, I opened s can ‘o worms. In some of these pics the tanks look like the Navy type, others have that stringer on the side. I don’t get it but an explanation lurks within the annals of ARC.

I’m being pedantic here. the answer is the compressor face supplied in your kit has a -17 (USAF) constant speed drive distinguishable by the two struts at the 5 and 7ish o’clock position. The -10 had a different fairing without the struts. The nozzles are identical on both and that’s the most noticeable feature. You should be able to search images of the -10 compressor face and simply make the corrections without too much bother.

Thanks guys. I kinda thought this was a common tank but didn't know Douglas made them. It all makes sense now i.e. having a common tank for shipboard use.

Were the A-7’s external tanks the same as those on the A-4? A-6?

Just saw an airborne pic of 5, flaps extended. Clearly red on both surfaces.

MM, Xtracolor, and Mr Color are all dang near equal and should satisfy the most discerning modeler. They all spray effortlessly and can be wet sanded between coats.I think MM dropped enamel GGG in the bottle but you can decant their rattle can.

When I do prime I like Tamiya gray primer in the rattle can. This may sound blasphemous to most guys but I often use the final color as the primer and wet sand between coats. If I can avoid another layer of stuff, I’m all the more the happier.