Maintenance Stencils

[Jeff Ital]

I'm building the new Academy F-4B, which comes with a metric crap-ton of maintenance stencils. I also picked up Impact Decals VMFA 531 set to model my buddy's aircraft from Vietnam. The impact set comes with huge Stars & Bars, much bigger than the navy version that comes with the kit, and covers a decent area where the stencils would otherwise go. Would the stencils have been painted over the Stars & Bars, or vice-versa?

Further, I've only just realized that I applied the Stars & Bars UPSIDE DOWN on the bottom. I have a spare, but how would I get the old one up? It's been micro-soled on to the surface, which has a coat of future on it. If it's a no-go, I'll just live with the upside down Stars & Bars. At least it's on the bottom, and it's a valuable lesson learned for the future.

Thanks,

Jeff Ital

[Liberator24]

Great question. I am thinking the same thing. To help you with the decal removal, get you some strong duct tape....it will take it right off....

-Jim

[Jennings]

Would the stencils have been painted over the Stars & Bars, or vice-versa?

I think it would depend on whether it was a factory paint job (in which case stencils would be on top of insignias) or a depot repaint. It's nearly always the case that the number of stencils drastically decreases once the airplane goes to the depot for repaint the first time. So it would depend on the time frame of the particular airplane and color scheme you're doing.

The number one hard and fast rule is: there are no hard and fast rules.

[Jeff Ital]

My buddy seems to think it was stencils over markings, so I'll go with that.

Thanks for the duct-tape tip. Worked perfectly. I was afraid it was going to pull up some paint, but no worries.

[Grey Ghost 531]

My buddy seems to think it was stencils over markings, so I'll go with that.

Thanks for the duct-tape tip. Worked perfectly. I was afraid it was going to pull up some paint, but no worries.

If it was early Viet Nam, '65 or '66, likely the aiframe had never been back to depot or had been repainted. Stencils over the national markings would be likely. They were pretty new birds at that point, like F-22s are now, and would be kept pretty close to spec.