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Color query: F-15E small dorsal fuselage panel


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I'm wondering about the small square(ish) panel forward of the windscreen. It appears to be a much lighter gray than the overall 36118. Should I go with Light Ghost, Dark Ghost, or something else? Anybody know what the panel is for? FWIW, I'm doing the plane circa 1991, DS.

Thanks, Pip

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11 hours ago, Quixote74 said:

In the Desert Storm era these were FS 36320 Dark Ghost Gray.  I suspect they were "off the shelf" components made for the C/D fleet, which at that time still wore the Compass Ghost scheme.

That's more or less what I was thinking. Thanks for the confirmation. Do you happen to know if any of the other fuselage panels, like the two on the sides directly below the one in question, as well as the circular one aft of the cockpit, were also painted Dark Ghost during that period?

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The top and side panels just aft of the nose were all 36320 (when not 36118),  to the best of my knowledge.  In the standard Compass Ghost scheme the darker gray covers all three locations.

 

As you may have already seen in photos, sometimes it was only the top, sometimes all three (I've never seen one with only sides in the lighter gray, but it's at least theoretically possible). In any case the lighter panels were only on a limited number of airframes very early in the Strike Eagle's service.

 

From photos I've seen, it appears that when the top panel was light gray, the rectangular "blade" antennae under the nose and aft of the cockpit were also light gray (unable to verify 36375 vs 36320, if it were my model I'd go with LGG below and DGG above).  The light gray includes a small "base plate," which may or may not be depicted on your model depending on scale.

 

Two other panels also seem to have been light gray on these airframes: the circular panel just aft of the AC exhaust grille (dorsal behind cockpit), and a flush rectangular panel under the nose, aft of the pair of "long" blade antennae, forward of the "short" blade in front of the nose gear well. (Note that most kits based on A-D airframes include several antennae under the nose that were deleted or made flush panels on the E).

 

In answer to your question about their purpose, the panel above the nose is an ADF antenna cover. I'm not certain what system(s), if any, the side panels are for, as none of my references show any transmitters or receivers in those locations on the A/C or E models.  Like the top panel, they seem to be a radio-transparent material so functionally they were designed as antenna covers even if not used as such.

 

Edited by Quixote74
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Thanks so much for the information. Although there don't seem to be a lot of photos around of DS Strike Eagles, I'd agree that the lighter colored side panels don't show up very much. I think I'll leave them in Gunship Gray.

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18 minutes ago, seawinder said:

Thanks so much for the information. Although there don't seem to be a lot of photos around of DS Strike Eagles, I'd agree that the lighter colored side panels don't show up very much. I think I'll leave them in Gunship Gray.

 

It's definitely a small minority that had this feature, but if you ever plan to build another "Mudhen" it makes for an interesting detail (and breaks up the monochromatic scheme a bit).

 

Going back to my library to answer your questions, I noted that the "gray panels" were primarily on a small number of 4th TFW Desert Storm birds, but also appeared on several Alaska-based F-15Es with the 3rd Wing (which didn't exist as such until well after Desert Storm).  My suspicion is that the veteran airframes with this feature were transferred from Seymour Johnson to the new unit, but I'll have to chase some serials to confirm.

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4 hours ago, Quixote74 said:

 

It's definitely a small minority that had this feature, but if you ever plan to build another "Mudhen" it makes for an interesting detail (and breaks up the monochromatic scheme a bit).

 

Going back to my library to answer your questions, I noted that the "gray panels" were primarily on a small number of 4th TFW Desert Storm birds, but also appeared on several Alaska-based F-15Es with the 3rd Wing (which didn't exist as such until well after Desert Storm).  My suspicion is that the veteran airframes with this feature were transferred from Seymour Johnson to the new unit, but I'll have to chase some serials to confirm.

I just found a photo of a large group of 4th TFW Strike Eagles in "Southwest Asia," 1992. The lighter gray dorsal blade antennas show clearly; no planes that I can see have the lighter gray side panels. I also found a photo of 87-0174 of the 333rd TFS that doesn't appear to have side panel(s) at all:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Fighter_Wing#/media/File:McDonnell_Douglas_F-15E-43-MC_Strike_Eagle_87-0174.jpg

 

OTOH, in a set of photos that Bert Kinsey took of the 4th TFW just after returning from DS, SN 87-0209 has the side panel slightly darker than Gunship Gray, SN 98-0498 has it darker still, and 89-1668 has it in light gray. Link:

http://www.detailandscale.com/f-15e_strike_eagle_4th_wing_immediately_after_desert_storm.html

Edited by seawinder
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58 minutes ago, seawinder said:

I just found a photo of a large group of 4th TFW Strike Eagles in "Southwest Asia," 1992. The lighter gray dorsal blade antennas show clearly; no planes that I can see have the lighter gray side panels. I also found a photo of 87-0174 of the 333rd TFS that doesn't appear to have side panel(s) at all:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Fighter_Wing#/media/File:McDonnell_Douglas_F-15E-43-MC_Strike_Eagle_87-0174.jpg

 

OTOH, in a set of photos that Bert Kinsey took of the 4th TFW just after returning from DS, SN 87-0209 has the side panel slightly darker than Gunship Gray, SN 98-0498 has it darker still, and 89-1668 has it in light gray. Link:

http://www.detailandscale.com/f-15e_strike_eagle_4th_wing_immediately_after_desert_storm.html

I'm pretty much 100% sure the panels aft of the nose radome are present in all Eagles from the A/B through current production.  When they aren't readily apparent (as in the 333 TFS photo) its because the color/finish happens to be close to the surrounding airframe.

 

The darker panels you mentioned in the D&S photos are, I believe, due to a slightly more matte finish, plus the panel material accumulating dirt differently than the adjacent skin panels.  Coincidentally, the fourth picture in the "click to enlarge" section of the D&S page shows the side panel clearly with a "Do Not Paint" stencil. This confirms that these are antenna covers, though I'm still puzzled as to what system they serve.

 

From going back over my references it appears the "top only" variant of light gray panels/antennae was much more common than the "top and sides" variation.  I still can't find any discernible pattern to which airframes have this feature, though.  The 4th TFW airframes in Desert Storm were early production (mostly FY 87-89), but the Alaska birds I mentioned above (shown in World Airpower Journal vol. 21) are all FY 1990 airframes. 

 

The above examples still fall under a general concept of the light gray antennae being exclusive to early(ish) production, but coincidentally I happened to spot this photo on Instagram today:

 

48th Wing F-15E

 

Note the three! light gray panels, on a FY 1997!! aircraft 😨 

 

So until some Eagle Expert with far more knowledge can enlighten me, any method to this mudhen madness will remain a mystery.

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