My SuperScale Decal sheet for the VMFA-115 F-4J Phantom calls for “natural metal” on portions of the rear tail fins and along the leading edges of the wings and tail fins. The primary color scheme is white on the bottom and upper surfaces of the ailerons, the vertical stabilizer and outer half of the tail fins. The main upper color is FS 36440 which is a flat gull gray. The bottom along the engine exhaust is steel. All this to ask does anybody know what “natural metal” is? Is it aluminum?
The “natural metal” along the leading edges is Corrogard, a erosion resistant coating, in this case “aluminized”. Somebody else should have a recommendation for the metal color on the upper and lower surfaces of the horizontal stabilizer.
Thanks Tailspinturtle - the research pictures I’ve seen suggests that this color is actually darker than bare aluminum. Any suggestions on what colors best match. How about tinting aluminum paint to darken it?
Yeah, it is a silver-ish color with a hint of brown (or at least looks it in my pictures.)
Try model masters metalzer paints thats what i use.
gen53 - Alclad2 dark aluminum probably would work well for the leading edges. it is slightly darker than their aluminum but definitely a warm tint to it. not a brown but it is deeper and give a sense of depth to whatever I use it on.
Sorry - can’t help you with the other colors… but I know there is at LEAST one Phantom mechanic or crewman here… I remember seeing them around in the past…
I’ve hesitated to add more to the leading edge responses since Corrogard is an elusive and ill-defined “color” like zinc chromate but I can’t help myself. Corrogard (you can look it up) is a tough epoxy coating that is basically clear but can be and often is colored like the “aluminized” version called out for the leading edges of gray/white US Navy aircraft. Of course, “aluminized” is yet another color that doesn’t have a specification, like sky, sea, fire or flesh.
What’s worse (or interesting, depending on your point of view), since Corrogard is fairly thick, paint-wise, the perceived color and degree of shininess depends on the lighting not to mention the camera and film used. I’ve used different paints/colors including matte silver trying for a “semi-gloss medium metallic gray” look for the leading edges of US Navy gray/white aircraft.
I’ve also read descriptions of various complicated paint layer combinations to achieve the Corrogard look, particularly by modelers of Boeing airliners, many of which have Corrogard coatings on the wing walkways. One of the simplest and least specific is “using a medium gray base coat, then dusting over the top with White Aluminum Alclad, or another similar shade”. I’m going to try that next and but Tom’s Alclad2 dark aluminum suggestion sounds OK too.
OK - Nobody else has suggested anything on the aft fuselage so I’ll give it a try. The attached pictures are of an F-4K so the engine nozzles and the area immediately above them aren’t the same as the F-4J. Neither is the color on the outboard half of the upper side of the stabilator. That said, they are useful from a color assessment standpoint.
The area immediately aft of the engine nozzles is a very dark metal. Strictly speaking, it is not colored by the exhaust but Alclad “Exhaust” might be a good color. Another option is a very dark gray like a tire color only semi-gloss. (The light color dots are like metal washers under the head of fasteners.) The rest of the aft fuselage and stabilator metal parts are kind of aluminum, but there is a section of darker metal in the middle of the stabilator and at its inboard forward corner. The tail hook is yet another color, darker than Alclad “Pale Burnt Metal”.
It appears that the early F-4B unslatted stabilator might have a different structure.