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F-16 leading edge colour on vertical stabilizer


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So I'm building a Hasegawa F-16C.  am wondering, how come the fin sometimes had a darker colour on the leading edge?

 

I know the two following pics are black and white, but it seems the top portion of the right side is dark, while the left side seems the colour of the rest of the fin?

 

death_dealer_1.jpg

 

2djnp79.jpg

 

Edited by Benner
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You might be in luck. I was a maintenance officer on the ‘16 through the mid 80s then after a stint on F-4s was on them again from 93 to 2003. I was in three F-16 organizations, the 474 TFW, the 704 TFS and 457 FS. The leading edge flaps were totally painted 36118 on top and  one of two lighter grays on the bottom  (you can look those up.) if memory serves me correctly,  some of the stabs might have had a teflon rain erosion strip on the very leading edge that would really be indescernable on a model. The Air Force and Navy tried various leading edge coatings in that period which explains that yellowish stuff on lots of Navy jets and on some USAF equipment notably the T-37.  That was an adhesive backed plastic material. I’ll also add that on F-16s leading edge flaps were often touched up and appeared darker or were replaced for maintenance reasons and came from depot already painted their respective grays. I hope this helps you in your modeling dilemma.

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38 minutes ago, BillS said:

You might be in luck. I was a maintenance officer on the ‘16 through the mid 80s then after a stint on F-4s was on them again from 93 to 2003. I was in three F-16 organizations, the 474 TFW, the 704 TFS and 457 FS. The leading edge flaps were totally painted 36118 on top and  one of two lighter grays on the bottom  (you can look those up.) if memory serves me correctly,  some of the stabs might have had a teflon rain erosion strip on the very leading edge that would really be indescernable on a model. The Air Force and Navy tried various leading edge coatings in that period which explains that yellowish stuff on lots of Navy jets and on some USAF equipment notably the T-37.  That was an adhesive backed plastic material. I’ll also add that on F-16s leading edge flaps were often touched up and appeared darker or were replaced for maintenance reasons and came from depot already painted their respective grays. I hope this helps you in your modeling dilemma.

cool insightful info.  Didn't know that, thanks 🙂

 

though just to make sure we're on the same page, I think I originally worded my first post badly as I meant the leading edge colour on the vertical stabilizer, not on the wings.

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2 hours ago, Benner said:

while the left side seems the colour of the rest of the fin?

My eyes are interpreting the left side top as also darker than surrounding areas, just rendered less obviously than in other image.

NOTE: with a black and white image the difference could also be telling you more about the reflectance than the hue.

 

So, who's releasing the kit of this F-16 variant with full photoetch? 
http://www.militarydecoy.com/html/InflatableFighter/InflatableFighter-48.htm

Edited by southwestforests
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In 2005 IsraDecals (Elite) Decals came out with some Gulf War nose art decals. #145 was "Death Dealer" but they also missed that dark spot on the  starboard vert. stab. I sure don't know what it was and I can't find any pics of that on another F-16. :dontknow:

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