Supertom Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Hey guys, when did the natural metal leading edges stop showing up on Tomcats? I'm doing what I thought was an early Tomcat but then again from the looks of this picture the leading edges were gull gray: However, this picture here shows the leading edges in NMF, and from the looks of it I believe this picture was taken later than the first one: Both pictures are from MATS, by the way. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jotter Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 I don't think they ever stopped either. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Supertom Posted January 27, 2005 Author Share Posted January 27, 2005 Wait, are the NMF leading edges just on the wings? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jotter Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Wait, are the NMF leading edges just on the wings? I think they also form part of the leading edge of the horizontal stabs. BUT this was for early production aircraft. I got my F-14 walkaround and the Lock-On books in front of me. some planes have it others (more recently) do not I'm just gonna say check your references and leave it at that Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Randy Wise Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Yup, Jotter is right. Select your 'Cat and find the references for it. Don't trust heresay. Case in point, I'm building my Tom as an "A" variant in VF-41 colors , circa 1981. At that time all of VF-41's aircraft were painted overall Light Gray and that included the leading edges of all flying surfaces. That's pretty straight forward. A check of squadron aircraft photos confirmed that. However, I've chosen to model Cmdr. Kleemann's 'Cat and photos of his aircraft taken immediately after the Gulf Of Sidra show weathering such that the Light Gray leading edges had worn away exposing the metal surfaces to a certain degree. Not completely, but it's the reason why I'm doing his F-14 and not "107". I get to show a bit more of the weathering effects. Every modeler should have this motto tatooed on his/her brain, "Always check those references". Peace, Randy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
doctorpepper Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 how about the rear horizontal stabilisers? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skull Leader Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 how about the rear horizontal stabilisers? Only the very early (read: 1970s) tomcats using the gull-grey/over white scheme had NMF on the h-stabs (and the rest of the H-stab would've been white) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
doctorpepper Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 how about the rear horizontal stabilisers? Only the very early (read: 1970s) tomcats using the gull-grey/over white scheme had NMF on the h-stabs (and the rest of the H-stab would've been white) my aeromaster sheet shows a NMF on the leading edge of the rear horiz stabs... it's for anytime babe pt 8, vf-32 swordsmen... is this accurate? it's a 16440 overall scheme Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skull Leader Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 I'm sorry, I should've clarified! At any point BEYOND that, it's hit and miss... it's only in the mid-late 70s that the NMF on the h-stabs was standard. With the Gull Grey all over, it could be either, or. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TexasBlues Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 all i know is that when i worked on them from 1986-1991 all leading edges of intanke (bottom lips) and wins (not horiz stabs) were NMF... PCs had to oil them daily... the horiz stabs were (IIRC) some sort of carbon fiber or fiberglass composite, painted same color as rest of a/c, but texture was more like sharkskin than slick body panels Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bullet101 Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 From what i've seen all cats, including current, have metal leading edges on the wings and intake lips, as for the stabs thats more time specific as skull said. Also don't get confused sometimes the stabs have a lighter grey on the leading edge and not metal, which is what the bird in your second pic seems to have. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fury Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 From what I've seen of the NMF leading edges I can see that sometimes they weather the the point of dulling down to a shade close to the TPS scheme and are very hard to discern. I usually add the NMF leading edges and flat coat them with the rest of the plane to get a desired weathering effect. Take Care, Thomas Quote Link to post Share on other sites
doctorpepper Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 From what i've seen all cats, including current, have metal leading edges on the wings and intake lips, as for the stabs thats more time specific as skull said. Also don't get confused sometimes the stabs have a lighter grey on the leading edge and not metal, which is what the bird in your second pic seems to have. there's a colour difference? oh.. i'm colour blind.. excuse me! :o Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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