F-4 Phantom VMFA-531 Grey Ghost.

[USMC Herc]

I will be building the Academy 1/48 F-4B/N Phantom for the upcoming Phantom GB.

I have the Modeler's Data File 13 for the Navy/Marine variants. I have looked online for information with mixed results .

So now to the Questions:

1. When did 531 transfer to the N model? Am thinking of making a Vietam bird.

2. what was the load out for the Phantoms in Vietnam?? Bomb truck, air to air or a mixed bag?

3. How dirty did these aircraft get with the gloss paint schemes? I like to weather aircraft.

4.Pics of these aircraft.

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

Cheers & Semper Fi

Jason

[GreyGhost]

Jason, VMFA-531 transitioned into the F-4N on 29 Aug 1975 ...

HTH ...

-Gregg

[av8iimech]

Hey Jason,

VMFA-531 was the first USMC Phantom unit to be deployed to Vietnam and served from April '65 - June '65 and flew out of Da Nang. I can't give specifics but I'd think their loadout would have consisted of mainly air-to-gnd weapons. Here is a great site for 531 F-4 Photos. As for decals, there are none that cover the 531 Nam scheme to my knowledge. We (Impact Decals) were planning on putting that scheme on a future sheet but can't give a good release time frame at this time. Our latest sheet has their Yuma det. scheme (prior to their SEA depolyment) which is really close but the EC on the tail is different.

HTH,

S/Fi,

Kevin

[Grey Ghost 531]

Impact did an OUTSTANDING sheet of Grey Ghost decals in 1/48th that includes a couple of aircraft from the Viet Nam era. There's an ancient ESCI sheet with one 'Nam era set in 1/72.

I don't know about the 'Nam era paint, but the stuff they were painted with in the all gull gray era was DuPont Imron epoxy paint and it was really tough stuff. It retained its gloss for life and was easy to clean. So, how dirty a bird got depended on how long it had been since it was last washed. Normally about a week, the top of the airframe would still be clean but the bottom aft of the main wheel wells could get pretty grimy from hyd fluid and engine oil, the exhaust area was usually greasy flat black after a couple of sorties and the usual minor streaking from the slats, flaps and what-not. Pre/post shading would be completely wrong - just some degree of streaking and maybe some grime from us snuffies' boots on the inboard forward section of the wing tops. Very little touch-up painting because the Imron was so tough.

Note one typical Phantom trait, the main wheel doors always had a streak of black from the center bottom of the door going up and aft at about 45° made by the rubber burning off the tires from no-flare landings.

If you get one of the '77-'82 timeframe sheets that just gives you the gray skull, if the instructions say to paint the tail black, don't. It was insignia blue. CAM does on their 1/32 sheet and Eagle Strike has the tail printed black on their 1/72 sheet.

Happy Phantom building and welcome to the world of the Grey Ghosts! Welcome to Ghost Town!!

[B2Blain]

If you get one of the '77-'82 timeframe sheets that just gives you the gray skull, if the instructions say to paint the tail black, don't. It was insignia blue. CAM does on their 1/32 sheet and Eagle Strike has the tail printed black on their 1/72 sheet.

I was too thinking about doing a Grey Ghost's F-4N, focusing on the deployment during. Eagle Claw. Are the line jet vertical stabs also insignia blue?

Thanks!

[Grey Ghost 531]

I can say first hand, yes. The yellow part of the wing stripe was matt, it was latex house paint! The black part of the wing stripe was gloss spray paint. There was a gap between the yellow and black that allowed the insignia to peep out. Weapons load was four AIM-7E4s and four AIM-9Ls and a 600 gal C/L tank.

[Andre]

I was too thinking about doing a Grey Ghost's F-4N, focusing on the deployment during. Eagle Claw.

Have you seen this?

Cheers,

Andre

[Sabre Freak]

This sheet has 531 Eagle Claw markings, and will allow you to get the right shade of blue

Furball Decals

Pretty sure Sprue brothers still has em in stock

[Grey Ghost 531]

Have you seen this?

Cheers,

Andre

That's the sheet that has the tail in black. Incorrect. The Furball sheet below lets you paint the tail the proper color and then place the gray skull on top.