I’m working on my air to air weapons for my Hasegawa F4-J Phantom build. The weapons consist of 4 AIM-7E Sparrows and 4 AIM-9B Sidewinders (as far as I can tell). I would like to get accurate markings for these. The instructions actually call for decal stripping that is not provided in the kit so I’m not sure of the colors. Also was wondering if anybody knows what the stripping colors mean. As far as the weapons overall color the instructions call for white bodies although some research suggest that a variety of color schemes have been and are used. Any help would be appreciated.
Realized that I can’t spell “missile”
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I am no expert, but I think I can tell you how to find your answer, hopefully. If it were me, I would go to my LHS and pick up the F-4 Phantom walk around. They are published by squadron, and have loads of detail about the aircraft, its weapons, and its uses and many other things you Don’t really need to know to build it, but its still pretty cool! I hope this helps. Good luck.
Do a “google search” for AIM-9 Sidewinder on the net and you will get several sites with loads of information on the missile including colors and descriptions. Many of the pictures are of later models that are basically gray instead of the white of earlier versions.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
a few years back FSM had an issue that covered the types & markings for all of the AIM-9’s in both AF & Navy, I’ll need to dig through my back Issues to give you the correct INFO
I am not an expert but I saw a lot of AIM-7’s and AIM-9’s loaded on the F-4 in my 20 years around them.
The AIM-9B came in two flavors. The early AIM-9B had two yellow bands forward and aft of the warhead. The fuse contact was black. The rolleron forward plate was vertical. The AIM-9B-2 markings were the same. The rolleron forward plate was alligned with the shape of the wings ( slanted forward ).
The early AIM-9B, the shooter had to be at the 6 o’clock position 1 1/2 miles from the target. The AIM-9B-2 the range was increased from 2-3 miles at the 5-7 o’clock position. The missile was gloss white all over.
The AIM-7E was introduced during the Vietnam war. It replaced the AIM-7D which was not very effective against fast moving targets. The AIM-7E scored almost all of the Sparrow kills in the war. Markings were yellow band forward of the warhead, brown band forward of the rocket motor, black band forward and aft of the fuse. The missile body was gloss white and the radome was flat white or off white ( two parts flat white, one part radome tan ).
During Operation Linebacker the USAF introduced the AIM-9J and AIM-7F. Our unit from Eglin AFB flew with the AIM-9J on almost all missions. We introduced the AIM-9J into combat. We also flew with the AIM-7F but none were actually fired. We scored all of our Sparrow kills with the AIM-7E. The AIM-7F could be identified from the AIM-7E by a black stripe on the wings. The most used AIM-9 in Vietnam was the AIM-9E and most Sidewinder kills were made with this version.
The Navy used the AIM-7E and AIM-9D during most of the war. The AIM-9G replaced the D and was used late in the Linebacker operations. No kills were made with the AIM-9G. The AIM-9H entered service too late to be used in Vietnam.
Colors: Yellow band- Live warhead. Black band- Live fuse. Brown band- Live rocket motor. Blue band- Inert warhead. Missile body was overall gloss white ( live ). Training rounds were flat blue with the GCG gloss white or overall gloss white with one blue band forward of the dummy warhead.
FSM had a issue, November 2001, which went into detail on the markings of the AIM-9. Check and see if it is still available.
Thanks Berny you saved me a trip from going down memory lane and getting the wife mad at me from making a mess in the bed room looking for that back issue
Thanks for the info. For not being an expert that’s a lot of good stuff.
No problem 72cuda. I have that pullout in a specail binder I use for quick reference. I also would have went searching if I didn’t have it in that binder.
It would be nice if FSM did more articals like that one. I would like to see radar guided missiles or even the Warsaw Pact missiles. Are you listening Mr Lawrence.
Take a look at these decals, just follow the link:
Once you get there look up 48-086…It should have what you’re looking for. Good luck.
I don’t know if you will help but there is some interesting information on US Missiles at this site
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/index.html
For Sidewinder:
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-9.html
For Sparrow