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CF-104 colours


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I'm about to build the Hasegawa 1/48 scale Starfighter as a CAF CF-104 in the "wraparound" scheme of dark green from the early 70's. The problem is I'm not sure of the correct shade to use, and every reference I have advises a different FS colour equivalent ! As far as I can remember they were not dissimilar to FS 34102 . . .at least the ones which visited Bruggen, where I was stationed in 1973, seemed to be. I would be most grateful if anyone could shed any light on this subject for me.

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From the IPMS Canada website:

What is the closest FS595 equivalent to the olive green colour that was used on the CF-104 Starfighter in the 1970's?

(info provided by Steve Sauvé)

Unfortunately there’s not one right answer to this question. The original green scheme was applied in Prestwick Scotland during one of CF-104’s overhaul cycles in the early 1970's. There were at least two variants of green applied to the aircraft before the three tone scheme was applied to the CF-104 a few years later.

The ‘CF-104 Green’ paint sample in the IPMS Canada Canadian Colours Guide, which was published in 1988 or so (long out of production) is fairly close to FS 34127 or 34098, but maybe these should be just a touch browner to be right on. FS 34088 is also very close, and if you went half-way between this colour and the first two mentioned, you’d be very close.

As an aside to this, I was actually in CFB Lahr Germany in 1974 when we had all the 1 CAG Starfighters in place from CFB Baden-Soellingen while the runway was being resurfaced. I shot many colour slides of the jets, and I remember the colour as being a nice rich green shade, and very unlike the normal CAF camouflage colour which was being used on the CF-5, CC-115 Buffalo, and our tactical helicopters. It was definitely a unique colour because the paint was procured in the UK to meet the Canadian Forces specification. Obviously a ballpark match was good enough back then!

Hope that helps,

Sean

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Comparing the color chip to paint samples in my arsenal, I find Tamiya XF-27 (Black Green) to be so close when dry, the difference is barely worth mentioning.

Tamiya XF-61 (Dark Green) is also very close, albeit a bit "browner".

HTH

Edited by smithery
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