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Markings for 1/72 mid-seventies USAF airmen?


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I'm building Revell's old 1/72 F-16, the H222 box from 1976 with the red-white-blue aircraft on a compass rose. The two figures in the kit turned out to be surprisingly nice, except for the two left hands of the marshalling guy. The figures look a bit boring after more detail painting (not shown), so I started thinking what could be added. Maybe rank insignia and a name and US AIR FORCE tags? I looked at Hasegawa's 'US pilot/ground crew set' (X72-7) but this set does not include any of this. Instead I found this diagram:

air-force-ranks.jpg?446863

I drew these markings (for two different ranks) in CorelDraw and positioned them over the figures to size them. But I don't know whether they are correct for a mid-seventies setting?

 

f16-15.jpg

 

A close-up shows the tags a bit better. The rank insignia should be suitable for an Alps, but the tags are too small to be readable.     

 

f16-16.jpg

 

Are these markings correct and suitable for the mid-seventies? Did I miss anything? Any comments are welcome!

 

Rob

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Yeah, they look close enough for 1/72 scale. Don't bother with the lettering; it'll be too small to see in this scale. Understand that the embroidered patches of the enlisted ranks were dull silver thread on dark (almost black) blue. They won't stand out like the ones in your chart and photos. Also, the insignias on fatigues in the combat zone were black instead of blue, on background color of dark green/olive green (no silver).

Edited by Paul Boyer
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geez, also understand that after you re-do the colors,,,,,a couple of other 1/72 guys are going to start bugging you to sell a sheet of them for their own model men.

 

Just sayin'

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I can say the ranks on the chart you've posted are correct from '68-'72. And, probably, for a decade or two prior.The seventies were a transition period for the USAF in rank and acft. markings. And I would add the name tags and the US AIR FORCE tags over the pockets for added detail. In 72nd scale they'd look great. Nice idea! "Just keep thinkin', Eustice..."

 

 

 

det1460

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I was in the USAF from '69 to '73, and the enlisted ranks were E-1 Airman Basic - no stripe, E-2 Airman - one stripe, E-3 Airman First Class - "A1C" two stripes, E-4 Sergeant - three stripes, E-5 Staff Sergeant - four stripes, one is a "rocker" the highest rank I achieved. After that is E-6 Technical Sergeant - five stripes, two are rockers, E-7 Master Sergeant - six stripes, three rockers, E-8 Senior Master Sergeant - seven stripes - three rockers and one top chevron, and E-9 Chief Master Sergeant - eight stripes, three rockers and two top chevrons. The "First Sergeant" was also considered E-9 but was like the top Chief Master Sergeant. It had that diamond just below the top chevrons.

 

I know they changed the rank insignias a couple of times since then, some that have no star in the blue circle (dumb) and did away with the third rocker and moved that extra stripe up as a chevron. The chart above must be the current system as they have now gone back to having the star in the circle (smart).

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Paul, Rex, ST0rm, det1460, kellyF15, thanks for the many comments! I made the following changes:

 

1 - I want stateside airman, so dull silver on dark blue will be my choice for the rank insignia. I changed the rank insigna to dark purple, the closest the printer can do the real color of dark blue. I could try to print silver instead of white, to make the insignia less bright

 

2 - the lettering of the tags is indeed too small to print, they are 4 or 5 print pixels tall. But I hope it will look like text. I swapped the USAF and name tags, made them blue and a bit taller. The blue is too bright, but I have a limited color palette.

 

3 - the photo inspired to add a patch on the right breast pocket. I picked the Air Force System Command, that seemed suitable to a new aircraft type like the (Y)F-16

 

4 - lastly I added a watch for the tractor driver

 

If you have any other comments, please let me know!

 

f16-17.jpg

 

Rob

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I'm surprised the USAFers didn't point out that the subdued rank, patches and tags didn't come in to vogue until '78. Some black rank was used in SEA but around the rest of the world rank was dark blue and silver, patches were in full color and name tapes were ultramarine blue with white lettering. The fatigues were cotton, baggy and I think called sage green while the permanent press cotton/polyester uniform depicted above was olive green "shade 107".

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On 2/17/2017 at 2:24 AM, BillS said:

I'm surprised the USAFers didn't point out that the subdued rank, patches and tags didn't come in to vogue until '78. Some black rank was used in SEA but around the rest of the world rank was dark blue and silver, patches were in full color and name tapes were ultramarine blue with white lettering. The fatigues were cotton, baggy and I think called sage green while the permanent press cotton/polyester uniform depicted above was olive green "shade 107".

 

BiilS, thanks for the additional comments. Seems I'm safe with my dark blue and silver rank insignia.Maybe I can ultramarine blue for the tapes with a different ink cartridge.

 

Rob

Edited by Rob de Bie
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This probably already been covered, but for the time period you are going for, ranks E-2 (Airman) thru E-4 (Senior Airman) may have a subdued star in place of the normal star, subdued meaning the star color was the same as the background color. From about mid 1976 to 1993 when I joined up, the official ranks only had NCO ranks (E-4 Sergeant to E-9 Chiefs) with non-subdued stars, although the new stripes from 1993 onwards weren't mandatory until 1996, so there was transition period of almost 3 years where you could see both the old subdued star and non-subdued star on junior enlisted airman. The USAF did away with Buck Sergeants in the early 1990s so from then onwards, almost all 3 stripe chevrons produced were Senior Airman stripes.

This chart should help Enlisted ranks 1947 - 2004.

 

As far as name tapes, I believe the white on blue tapes were phased out in the early to mid 70s, and replaced by the dark blue on OD green name tapes. But as with all uniform changes, there is sometimes a transition period where you may see both, but not sure as I only wore the latter tapes.

Edited by Sgt Spooky
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This is great; the artwork looks ready.  Now all you need is to find it something that can print the darn thing at any level of detail that would be legible in this scale.

 

Luckily the letters are big enough that you should not need a fancy-schmancy AFM (atomic force microscopy) gear. Even a 15-year old FIB-SEM should work nicely, just ask your friendly local semiconductor company or university ;-)

 

(Just kidding - even the basic outlines of the markings would be great to make the otherwise bland uniforms look "busy" in a diorama setting. Let us know what the final product looks like.)

Edited by KursadA
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  • 1 month later...

Agree that chart is too modern--number of stripes/position, and middle star are significant.

One small aside---marshaller has cap on:  okay since wearing ear protectors.

At that time there was variation about caps on the flight line.  Some NCOs/officers mandated wearing them while others wouldn't allow it.

Some of the difference was based somewhat objectively whether working props or jets.

 

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