strikeeagle801 Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Hello all Building an F-14A circa 1982, and am wondering what colors the missiles would be. I'm doing a full load-out of AIM-54A's, AIM-9L's, and AIM-7E's. I know the Mike model came out in 1982, but I'm assuming that the Echo was still used in the fleet during that year? Anyways, if you guys can help me figure out if the missiles were white or gray during that period, I'd appreciate it. Thank's Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grey Ghost 531 Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 I'm pretty sure they'd all be white in '82, That's the year I got out and I never saw a gray missile while I was in. The Lima 'winders were still pretty new then so maybe G's or H's would also be appropriate, but I guess the F-14s would have been the first to get Limas. I only saw them once during a missile shoot. We shot the first ones ever tried off of an F-4N. That was probably spring of '82. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
achterkirch Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 AIM-9Lanother sidewinder and sparrow https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-14A_Tomcat_VF-32_in_flight_in_1982.jpg AIM-54. Scroll down till you see the Phoenix shot in 82. http://www.seaforces.org/usnair/VF/Fighter-Squadron-11.htm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Viper_944FW Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 The attached pic is from our (vf-213) Indian Ocean cruise (April-Nov 81), please note the color of the missiles. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DonSS3 Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Looks like the motor sections were Gray and the rest (except for the readily apparent sections) was white. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 The AIM-7 is made up of several sections: i don't think they worried too much about colour co-ordination. Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Murph Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 9 hours ago, Viper_944FW said: The attached pic is from our (vf-213) Indian Ocean cruise (April-Nov 81), please note the color of the missiles. That's an AIM-7F, and he was looking for an AIM-7E-4. AFAIK, they stayed white. Regards, Murph Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 10 hours ago, achterkirch said: AIM-9Lanother sidewinder and sparrow https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-14A_Tomcat_VF-32_in_flight_in_1982.jpg AIM-54. Scroll down till you see the Phoenix shot in 82. http://www.seaforces.org/usnair/VF/Fighter-Squadron-11.htm Kind of hard to tell...White body, but a gray nose on the Phoenix? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Murph Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) 11 minutes ago, strikeeagle801 said: Kind of hard to tell...White body, but a gray nose on the Phoenix? The radome was ceramic material (same as the AIM-7F, AIM-7M, and AIM-120) that was off-white when new, but as it picked up dirt and grime it turned gray. The same thing happens to the radome on the F-16. Navy missiles tended to pick up more dirt than Air Force versions, because they were handled. loaded, and flown more frequently than Air Force missiles. Regards, Murph Edited March 28, 2017 by Murph Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 Just now, Murph said: The radome was ceramic material (same as the AIM-7F and AIM-7M) that was off-white when new, but as it picked up dirt and grime it turned gray. The same thing happens to the radome on the F-16. Navy missiles tended to pick up more dirt than Air Force versions, because they were handled. loaded, and flown more frequently than Air Force missiles. Regards, Murph Thank's Murph. Same thing with the Sparrow then? All white, no gray or tan? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Murph Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Just now, strikeeagle801 said: Thank's Murph. Same thing with the Sparrow then? All white, no gray or tan? AFAIK, the AIM-7E never made the transition to gray, I saw live AIM-7Es as late as 1988, and they were inevitably still white. They did have the black "L" on the forward wings since they were "dogfight" Sparrows; those were introduced during the Vietnam War. The radome on the AIM-7E was a fiberglass material, but it still picked up dirt the same way as the later variants, so I would go with off-white or a slightly darker gray, depending how grungy you want it to look. Regards, Murph Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-14A_Tomcat_VF-32_in_flight_in_1982.jpg I'm doing a VF-32 jet from this deployment. It looks like a white AIM-9L, and a gray Sparrow...what version, I can't tell. Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Murph Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) 3 minutes ago, strikeeagle801 said: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-14A_Tomcat_VF-32_in_flight_in_1982.jpg I'm doing a VF-32 jet from this deployment. It looks like a white AIM-9L, and a gray Sparrow...what version, I can't tell. Aaron It's an AIM-7F. The F model introduced the unpainted wings and fins, moved the warhead forward of the wings (the yellow stripe moved too in consequence), and added the fuze windows on the forward section. The AIM-7F only had two fuse windows, where the AIM-7M had four which were aligned with the forward wings. Regards, Murph Edited March 28, 2017 by Murph Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) Does anyone make an AIM-7F in 1/48? I've got the E and the M from Eduard, but it does not seem they make the F. Or is it easy enough to convert the E or M to an F? Aaron Edited March 28, 2017 by strikeeagle801 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skull Leader Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Ghost grey missiles began showing up around the same time as the low-vis initiative of the early 1980s went into effect (82-83 on average). By that same token, a buddy of mine deployed with VF-154 in 1998 and said they still occasionally saw white phoenix missiles (he remembers seeing this because he thought the missile looked very out of place). Just food for thought. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grey Ghost 531 Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 13 hours ago, strikeeagle801 said: Thank's Murph. Same thing with the Sparrow then? All white, no gray or tan? The radomes were/are ceramic and brand new they were almost white. It's very similar to the material ceramic knife sharpeners are made out of. As a matter of fact, a couple of times when missiles were dropped on the flight deck and radomes broken, the bigger shards quickly went into pockets to be used for sharpening knives. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 This pics how the missiles got a little dirty: http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/76b273606fe9ab6a_large also Hasegawa Weapon Set C has some AIM-7F missiles, although the fuze windows are bit too pronounced, but easily fixed. Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
viper730 Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 mix it up and paint them white, then some white and gray, some faded some dirty and some clean(ish)....you won't be wrong however you decide to go cause if you look at enough photos you will see so many combinations that your head will spin... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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