F-106 colors

[Viasistina]

Now that the Meng Kit is upon us, and it is a gem, we need to refresh ourselves with the paint schemes.

You can paint this bird any color you want as long as it's ADC grey. The nose cone appears to be gloss black while the anti glare panels are flat. Air intake lips appear to be natural metal.

After that I need some help. What colors are the internal bays, wheel wells and missile bay?

There's probably a choice of white, natural metal and some

kind of green. Would that be interior green or chromate?

Interior and seats dark gull grey? How about the interior of the speed brakes ?

Thanks for any help and added comments,

[Jennings]

Radomes could be anything from super glossy to very flat and dull, depending on how old the coating was. Anti-glare panels tended to be more of an eggshell, rather than dead flat black.

Intake lips and the leading edge of the variable ramp were dull natural metal (or very rarely, polished to a high shine). The ring around the aft end of the fuselage was the same. From the factory, only the lower edge of the speed brakes was natural metal. The aft end of them tended to accumulate "hangar rash", so you sometimes see a natural metal skin patch that covers the trailing edge on some a/c. Contrary to what Meng tells you, the interior of the intake trunk was glossy white. A couple of F-106 crew chiefs said they regularly cleaned and waxed it, so it was very shiny, bright white. They claim that improved engine performance.

Cockpit was FS36231, as was the seat (lots of detail color stuff - check out www.ejectionsite.com). Pretty much all of the other internal areas (wheel wells, MA1 bays, missile bays) were FS34151 Interior Green. Gear struts were painted silver, as were wheel hubs. I think some very late depot repaints may have had white struts and/or wheels.

Speed brakes were generally painted red inside. The 49th FIS at Griffiss AFB painted many, if not all of their birds with alternating green/white checkers in the waffle pattern inside the speed brakes. Good luck with that. We won't be providing a decal for it on our upcoming sheets :)/>

Edited February 7, 2016 by Jennings

[Jennings]

Here's another sneak peek at our upcoming F-106A/B stencil sheet. As you can tell, this is a major undertaking. I'm getting closer though!

[Ben Brown]

Hi Jennings,

Did I read somewhere that you'll be doing these stencils in 1/48, too?

Thanks,

Ben

[Jennings]

Most likely. The art is infinitely scalable :)

[onescale]

Most likely. The art is infinitely scalable :)/>

DO IT!

Thanks in advance and best regards,

Jens

[Finn]

Some info can be found here:

http://www.f-106deltadart.com/manuals_documents.htm

Jari

[Jennings]

That's one of my main sources of information. Sadly, none of those T.O.'s gives full details of the stencil data applied after they left the factory. It's taken literally hundreds of photos to get as far as I've gotten with it.

[Darren Roberts]

The 49th FIS at Griffiss AFB painted many, if not all of their birds with alternating green/white checkers in the waffle pattern inside the speed brakes. Good luck with that. We won't be providing a decal for it on our upcoming sheets :)/>/>

Ah, come on! Embrace the challenge! I can attest to that. When I was growing up in Syracuse, my dad (who was a high school guidance counselor) got invited up to Griffiss to help plug the Air Force as an option. It was the early 80's and the 49th was in full force. I got to tour the hangar and chat with pilots. Oh if I only I had a better camera! The inside of the speed brakes were indeed checkerboard. It might be hard to do, but it sure did look cool!

[ikar]

This is my favorite squadron for a very good reason:

Here's a variation on the anti glare panel:

I have to hand it to the maintenance people, they kept the aircraft clean and shiny.

[82Whitey51]

Looking forward to those stencils in '48 scale.

A bit of talk about checker board patterns in the speedbrake "waffling", the 102nd FIW MA ANG F-106s also has theirs painted in squadron colors of light blue and white as well as the pitot tube warning stripes:

Edited February 9, 2016 by 82Whitey51

[mhoupt]

Anyone have a good mix recipe for the ADC gray using Tamiya paints?

Mark

[Jennings]

I mixed some, but I never keep recipes. A little of this and a little of that.

[Murph]

Looking forward to those stencils in '48 scale.

A bit of talk about checker board patterns in the speedbrake "waffling", the 102nd FIW MA ANG F-106s also has theirs painted in squadron colors of light blue and white as well as the pitot tube warning stripes:

I suspect that was done for a William Tell Meet.

Regards,

Murph

[Spruemeister]

Close up from one of my slides. Probably William Tell. You can see the checkered airbrake interiors on the 49th birds, but the only visible Mass. F-106 is still interior green. Note the sometimes seen, red wingtip border on the 5th plane in the foreground.

Rick L.

[Jennings]

Thanks for posting that. I've never seen the red wing tip before. Did it continue around the trailing edge, or just the outboard edge and that little bit of the leading edge? Top and bottom??

[Spruemeister]

It's hard to find a good overhead photo. It "seems" to run along the trailing edge to the aileron. The airframe in my photo is 90093. I don't know the year.

I've only seen it on 5thFIS 106s, but not very often. This photo, 70237 with the early style 5th chevron marking, 80901 a 5th B model, and 90092 which is one of the test aircraft for the Vulcan cannon.

I'm guessing it's only on top of the wingtip. Sort of a "bash head here" warning for humans.

Rick L.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Spruemeister

[Finn]

Here is one from the 84th FIS with it's speed brake open:

Jari

[Jennings]

Very dirty red on that 84th bird.

[Finn]

Here is a red one:

http://www.f-106deltadart.com/photo_gallery/var/albums/5th-FIS/59-0025%2C%20F-106A%205%20FIS-1063979393.jpg?m=1391303241

Jari

[BillS]

Another one I gotta throw my two bits in on. When I was at Nellis in the 84-86 time frame, there was a big Red Flag and all the '106's came to town. I had but lost a jillion slides (slides were popular back in the day). I don't remember any speed brake interiors painted anything other than interior green. Obviously exceptions exist, markings get applied, somebody says something and things go back to what the book says! TAC in those days was very rigid, i mean rigid as in RIGID. virtually all markings like tail flashes were approved at TAC headquarters at Langley. I digress from the '106. Colors are straight forward. Interior green in gear wells, weapons bay, doors etc is always a safe bet as was DGG on the entire cockpit save the glare shield, that splitter shield thingy and consoles. The exception was Montana. Oh, somewhere awhile back someone suggested RLM 76 as a sub for ADC gray. Hmmmm, maybe close. That might be an answer for the guy wanting to mix Tam colors. I gotta say I've gotten the best results with MM. It's right, goes on smooth. Wet sand and mist on a thin wet coat and you'll have a finish like no other. Xtracolor is really nice too if you can get it.

[Aigore]

Lifecolor ADC grey was fantastic tho... :)

[Slartibartfast]

Here is a red one:

http://www.f-106deltadart.com/photo_gallery/var/albums/5th-FIS/59-0025%2C%20F-106A%205%20FIS-1063979393.jpg?m=1391303241

Jari

What are those catch cans catching? Hydraulic fluid? Engine oil? Only a problem while parked?

[Spruemeister]

Coolness. The Six just oozes coolness.

[Ben Brown]

What are those catch cans catching? Hydraulic fluid? Engine oil? Only a problem while parked?

Fuel. When the jets are fueled and the fuel expands in the heat of the ramp, it dribbles out the vents. The catch cans keep the ramp clean. You'll see that sometimes on F-4s, too. The fuel runs out of the vents on the wing trailing edge, right at the break where the outer wing panel turns up.

Ben