Rhinolover Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 (edited) I know this is a matter of personal preference but I'm curious what colors you prefere on your GBU12's. Any pictures of how you all work your GBU-12 magic would be appreciated. Edited December 24, 2008 by Rhinolover Quote Link to post Share on other sites
elmerfudd94 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 like the grey body more, but have to do the green body every once in a while to change it up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JP34 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 When i was in the sandbox we flew with green 82 with grey guidance & controlsection and grey tailassy's. Thats why i voted for option 1. Sometimes we had green fins on a grey GCS, or 2 grey and 2 green, just fore fun. Gr Jan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 (edited) I like to vary things a little bit, so if I have more than one bomb on a plane, it's likely they will be different from one another. Since I've been mostly an AF builder as of late, it's always a green body (I don't think there are any gray bombs in the AF, think that's just a Navy thing) but I like to do the GC units in gray. Here's a couple I did for my now defunct F-16. It might be hard to tell in the pics, but I also try and fade the OD on the bombs and make the nose and tail a "newer" looking OD, as those are kept in climate-controlled storage whereas the bombs themselves are not. Aaron Edited December 24, 2008 by strikeeagle801 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thegoodsgt Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 I agree with Aaron. It's all about variation. You don't want your models to look like everything came out of the factory at the same time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rhinolover Posted December 24, 2008 Author Share Posted December 24, 2008 What technique do you use to fade the OD? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Hi Rhinolover, One of each....... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cvnf14p3ordy Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 I know this is a matter of personal preference but I'm curious what colors you prefere on your GBU12's. Any pictures of how you all work your GBU-12 magic would be appreciated. I'd be surprised if they make the OD green kits anymore. When I was in the fleet during the first Persian Gulf war they were green and then they started changing everything to the TAC gray. I'd be curious to know, any of the other Ordy's, either Air Force or Navy/Marines know? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ski6502 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 We were using green nose/tail kits as recently as '06 over in Al Asad. At the time, I was an Ordie with VMFA(AW)-332, and all of our bombs were BLU-series (all grey bomb bodies). Every now and then, we'd see grey guidance kits, though... IYAOYAS!!! Ski Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 What technique do you use to fade the OD? I usually add a little bit of a light gray (like Model Master Camoflage Gray) or white to it. To darken it, I'll put a little bit of black in it. If you eperiment with it a bit you can get some pretty interesting tones. Start light and work your way from there. As they say, just a little dab'll do ya. Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
F-16 Weapons Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 I like to make my MK-82's as flithy as the real things. Sometimes we would get decent looking ones then put our guidance kits on them with quite the contrast. Sometimes we would get what I like to call "the bottom of the heap" where they would be a faded Olive Drab with a lot of rust streaks on the bottom half from one end to the other. That combination along with brand new guidance units, either gray or green, would look the most realistic in my honest opinion. Merry Christmas everyone. Pat Green, Quote Link to post Share on other sites
otis252 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Interesting topic. Does it seem that the Navy has more Grey Mark 82's and the AF has green ones. Both with gray guidance and fin units it seems now. Is this true or just the references I look at? Chuck Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 Chuck- I think you are right. I don't believe that the AF have any gray colored bombs. This may have something to do with there being two different supply lines, as the Navy/Marines have the ablative coating on them, and the AF ones don't. I personally have yet to see any pics of Air Force aircraft carrying anything but OD bombs. As was mentioned, I think the guidance sections and tailfins are universal, and probably are all made together now, and all painted gray. That's just a guess on my part though. Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
otis252 Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 Thanks Aaron, kinda what I thought. Where's Roof when we need him? LOL IYAOYAS Chuck Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reddog Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 (edited) The Mk 80/BLU Series bomb come from the same manufacture for both the USAF and USN/USMC but are filled/painted/coated to the services specifications before delivery. The USN/USMC use mostly TP (thermailly protected) bomb while the USAF doesn't. The guidance kits are the same and most are univeral between the serivces but there are several different variants of them and some are strictly AF while others are USN/USMC variants. I won't go into detail because unless you are an ordie you would not understand and plus, it would confuse the heck out of you and take several pages to explain. Anyway, the color of the guidance kit depends on which variant of guidance kit is installed, there are three different types of guidance kits in use today, the MAU-169 series, the MAU-209 and the WCU-10 (old and hardly used now). Also, there are two different variants of the tail fin in used today (called the Airfoil Group or AFG), the MXU-650/B and MXU-650A/B, depending on which one is installed will determine the color. Part of the AFG parts are the adapter collar for the guidance kit and guidance fins so it is possible to have a grey AFG with a green guidance kitg and the fins on the guidance kit being grey. As to which color is each variant, I can no longer keep track of that because to my knowledge there is no ryme or reason to which one is what. Now if you want the configuration for the GBU-12 I could give it to you but then I would have to ..........well, you get the picture. :D HTH Reddog <_< IYAOYAS Edited December 25, 2008 by Reddog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Josh1971 Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 Great info! Thanks Reddog! JB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
F-16 Weapons Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 There are no gray AF bombs. That is a Marine/Navy thing. After 20 years of dealing with them, yet to see one on an Air Force jet. Pat Green, Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 (edited) There are no gray AF bombs. That is a Marine/Navy thing. After 20 years of dealing with them, yet to see one on an Air Force jet. Pat Green, Thanks for the confirmation. That's what I thought. Aaron Edited December 26, 2008 by strikeeagle801 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eric2020 Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 (edited) Very nice to see this topic on the forum. I'm currently working on GBU-10 of the early versions but i have trouble in seeing the colours. So this far I painted them OD overal and one yellow line. I used Revell 46 paint as I feel best with that and looks good altough one keeps thinning the paint. I want to add more colour on them but no idea what to use numberwise to get the GBU look even better than today. What number of humbrol or Revell should I use to paint the WCU and what should I use for the Airfoil Group or AFG? Thanks for helping! Edited January 4, 2009 by Eric2020 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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