Aigore Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Hi y'all, I may have started a Phantom build.... a VF96 F-4B off USS Enterprise in 1968. Well, right now can't do much but reserach since I'm hospitalized with a nasty streptococcus infection in my belly skin, while being pumped up with all kinds of antibiotics and being poked and prodded by hospital staff. Anyhew... As I said, reserach! I have found little of action pictures from the war but I have noticed that the white paint off the nose can be heavily chipped...but how often did that happen and how severe was it usually? Next I noticed in some pictures that the spine of phantoms was a bit dirtier than the rest, perhaps from crew handling? I this a correct assumption? I was wondering too about the fuselage weathering during a cruise in the south China sea, how bad was the corrosion and how patchy did it get normally? The same for the wings. Like I said it is hard to find detailed high resolution pictures that show me these details....so I'm throwing it out there for some assistance 🙂 PKEASE ARCER'S, YOU ARE MY ONLY HOPE! Cheers ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Quixote74 Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Sorry to hear you're laid up, best wishes for a safe and swift recovery! I don't have ny insight on the nose weathering, but by "spine" are you referring to the uppermost fuselage? In some cases the walkways above the intakes used a color close to the base gull gray with no outlines, so the non-skid areas could look like a slightly darker/weathered area. This wouldn't apply to the upper dorsal area though. State of weathering in general would vary greatly depending how far into the cruise the squadron is. If you can't find quality photos of the particular squadron/timeframe you want, it's safe to say the general pattern of weathering for any combat Phantom would be similar for equivalent duty. I doubt the overall "look and feel" changed much between air wings, or even from Yankee to Dixie Station. On a quick Google search I did find this shot that shows what appears to be an above-average quality image of a heavily weathered pair of VF-96 F-4Bs: VF-96 Phantoms circa 12/1966 Since you seem to have time on your hands, you may find some useful images in the Enterprise 1968 cruise book, available online here: CVAN-65 1968 Cruise Book Note the same site also includes cruise books for other cruises and carriers (link to root menus at bottom of page), if you want to browse for other VF-96 or Phantom photos. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 In that first picture, they seem to have used a yellow zinc chromate color for touch ups. I've seen other Phantoms during the war having that as well. I've always wanted to do one. They look so odd. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 That patchy corrosion control looks phabulous.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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