Marine Fleiger F-104G's

[hooter]

Sorry, I don't agree that they were aluminum lacquer. Both Luftwaffe and Marinefleiger F-104s used the same underside color, RAL 9006 "Weissaluminum". That's just a name, it doesn't mean that it is a metallic color or anything. Looking at the photos of Luftwaffe 104s in the Verlinden book, the undersides look grey (maybe with a touch of silver, but definitely more grey than metallic) paint to me, with no hint of any sort of metallic properties, unlike the gear and wheel hubs which are clearly metallic. Even considering weathering and age, I can't see how you could have a metallic paint worn down to such a uniform finish and lacking any metallic sheen at all.

I plan to make mine match the photos and what is going to work for me is using a greyish paint, maybe with a touch of silver to brighten it, instead using any kind of aluminum or metallic paint. Just my two cents.

I have some close-up photos of JaboG 32 F-104s from 1973, and they were definitely weissaluminium, which was a metallic colour, rather like the USAF's aluminium FS 17178. Xtracolor have this in their paint range, & it's certainly like aluminium.