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F-84G Thunderjet - Korean War


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Hello guys!

 

Hope everyone is doing well and safe!

 

Does anyone know if the F-84 during the Korean War had the "USAF" in black or blue color? I'm doing some research but the information is conflictive and in photos is difficult to determine the color (at least for me). 

 

I'm building the Tamiya kit with an old Cutting Edge decals and while the tamiya has a black "USAF" lettering, Cutting Edge says it should be blue. I know that during the early 50's the color was blue, I even build an F-84E stationed in Europe with the blue "USAF" lettering, but I want to know if that changed during the Korean War or not.

 

Thank you all!

 

Regards :cheers:

Tato

 

PS: This is my F-84E (Revell kit)

 

F-84-E-Thunderjet-4.jpg

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On 2/27/2021 at 9:16 AM, airmechaja said:

I have the Osprey book "F-84 Units Over Korea". Of the 6 to 10 pics of the top or bottom wings, the USAF is for sure black. Some may be heavily weathered but it looks black to me.  :thumbsup:

 

 

Thanks airmechaja for the help! I'm still not 100% convinced but maybe I just should go black or otherwise I'm never going to finish the kit!

 

I also forgot about that book! Time to do some shoping I guess!

 

Thanks again.

 

19 hours ago, Lost_Erik said:

Looks good; more pics please. 🙂

 

Hi Lost_Erik, thanks! Here are somo more pics.

 

F-84-E-Thunderjet-5.jpg

 

F-84-E-Thunderjet-6.jpg

 

F-84-E-Thunderjet-10.jpg

 

Sorry for the pics, they were taken the same day I finished the kit.

 

Thanks all!

 

Regards,

Tato

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I've got a Cutting Edge sheet that does indeed state the USAF should be in Insignia Blue, but they're on a different sheet, which I don't have. All the decal sheets I have (Revell, Superscale and Aeromaster) do them in black, if they have them at all. I have a feeling blue is correct, and it would be hard to tell from black in photos; but with Cutting Edge long out of production, I don't know how one would source them.

 

I'm also intrigued by the lack of a buzz number on Scott's plane. Whose decals did you use for your very nice model? Cutting Edge identifies this plane as stationed in Germany, so not Korean War?

 

 

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1 hour ago, airmechaja said:

From the Osprey book I mentioned, the buzz numbers and tail numbers are black and they match the USAF.  

I don't think there's any doubt about buzz and tail numbers being black. Are any of the photos in the book in color? The few over-wing shots I've found online are b/w, and they don't incontrovertibly show the USAF markings as the same as the buzz numbers. In fact, a couple look just marginally lighter, which could be an indication of Insignia Blue.

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19 hours ago, seawinder said:

I've got a Cutting Edge sheet that does indeed state the USAF should be in Insignia Blue, but they're on a different sheet, which I don't have. All the decal sheets I have (Revell, Superscale and Aeromaster) do them in black, if they have them at all. I have a feeling blue is correct, and it would be hard to tell from black in photos; but with Cutting Edge long out of production, I don't know how one would source them.

 

I'm also intrigued by the lack of a buzz number on Scott's plane. Whose decals did you use for your very nice model? Cutting Edge identifies this plane as stationed in Germany, so not Korean War?

 

 

 

Hi seawinder,

 

Thanks for your reply. I also think that blue is the correct color. Yesterday I was looking photos from the first USAF F-4 phantoms delivered during the early 60's and the color is blue. It would make a strange move to start in blue, then move to black and return to blue.

 

I managed to buy that Cutting Edge sheet, hard to find. I'm still waiting for it to arrive, but I think that Cutting Edge is correct. Also Fundekals and Caracals are doing some generic sheets for USAF in blue for 50's era jets, so I tend to believe that Korean war aircraft were also in blue.

 

With respect to Scott's plane, I used lots of different decal sheets. Cutting Edge for the main decals for Scott's plane, Expert Choice decals for the Stars and Bars and the blue USAF and an old Aeromasters sheet for F-84 Stencils. Here are some ebay links:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/F-84J-THUNDERJET-FULL-DATA-STENCILS-AEROMASTER-DECALS-1-48/303692747323?hash=item46b57f923b:g:xKAAAOSwbC9fYUP9

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cutting-Edge-F-84E-Thunderjet-Col-Robert-L-Scott-Jr-Decals-1-48-108/153897946595?epid=2293259012&hash=item23d5084de3:g:oSkAAOSwv~ddmA44

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Experts-Choice-Decals-1-48-F-84-E-G-Air-National-Thunderjets-Korea-1951-52-48-51/124596579642?hash=item1d0288ed3a:g:F~oAAOSw7YRgOH7S

 

My kit represent the early F-84E Scott flew during 1951 (witht the early canopy) while stationed in Germany, and the one I'm building now is from the 1952-1953 period in Korea. 

 

All I know right now is that this is making an interesting conversation! Thanks all!

 

14 hours ago, Lost_Erik said:

Thanks for sharing the pictures.👍

 

My pleasure.

 

Regards,

Tato 

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