some RF-4B help please....

[KEB]

I'm building a 1/48 Hasegawa RF-4b VMFP-3...I'm not a seasoned Phantom builder so I was wondering which color is best to use on the exterior of the plane, I doing the Gray scheme

thanks!

[phantom]

Well, that is an open question. There were MANY different schemes. But the early 36440 grey upper white white lower was the most common or at least longest used.

[KEB]

thanks for the reply....I'm doing a jet in the later years the VMFP-3 was flying Phantoms....would the Scheme for that era be the one you listed?

[Grey Ghost 531]

I'm not sure if P-3 was ever gray over white, the squadron didn't form until '75 when the Marine Corps split up the VMCJ squadrons by airframe type into the VMAQs and VMFP-3. They might have been over-all gloss light gull gray from the start. They were by '77 when I got to El Toro. They went gradually to a tactical paint scheme starting about '82 or so. What decals do you have? That would determine the paint scheme.

[Dutch]

I have photo evidence of VMFP-3 Phantoms in the Lt Gull Gray over White scheme from 1975 until at least 1976, specifically their Bicentennial birds: 153101 & 153107.

[Grey Ghost 531]

18 hours ago, Dutch said:

I have photo evidence of VMFP-3 Phantoms in the Lt Gull Gray over White scheme from 1975 until at least 1976, specifically their Bicentennial birds: 153101 & 153107.

I stand corrected. I did a GIS and found that plus the black RF tail with three white bars and a special scheme on BuNo157346 that had a red tail and a red "film strip" painted on the spine.

[Dutch]

Dave, I'm pretty sure the RF tail with three white horizontal stripes was dark blue, ala the bicentennial RF in circle of white stars on dark blue tail.  Microscale decal 72-201 has the correct colors, AFAIK.  I recently saw a picture of it here on ARC forums. Search for RF-4B in title by Tomas Macourek.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Dutch
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[LanceB]

On 7/9/2017 at 6:29 AM, Dutch said:

Dave, I'm pretty sure the RF tail with three white horizontal stripes was dark blue, ala the bicentennial RF in circle of white stars on dark blue tail.  Microscale decal 72-201 has the correct colors, AFAIK.  I recently saw a picture of it here on ARC forums. Search for RF-4B in title by Tomas Macourek.

I would be hesitant to use Microscale decals as a color reference.  For example, that particular sheet shows the VMCJ-1 bird as having a forest green vertical stab, as their 1/48 sheet does.  VMCJ-1 birds were either black:

 

or at best a very, very dark green:

http://www.cloud9photography.us/US-Squadrons-USMC/US-Marine-Corps-Reconnaissance/VMCJ-1-GOLDEN-HAWKS-pictures/i-CsLfZnh

 

I stopped believing them when they did an AV-8B sheet, the one with the Gulf War VMA-231 birds on it, and they gave color call outs for Yuma birds in BS381c paints.  I can state with some certainty that the last US base one would find BS381c-standard paints stored at would be MCAS Yuma.

 

[Dutch]

Lance,

 

Too true!  While Microscale's research may be good at times, their production is sometimes suspect in regard to color and data on their instruction sheets. Back in the day, they were the best show in town. When I built my VMCJ-1 RF-4B circa 1985, the Testors/Italeri RF-4B was the best there was as well.  Yeah, I know, the thick wing is wrong for the BuNO, but the build looked very good to me.

 

R/

Dutch