Glossy or flat Phantom?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Hi guys!

I was at the EAA Airventure air show this weekend. What a blast!!! If you haven’t gone, you need to.

While there, I saw that they had two F-4 Phantoms. The -E variant had a matt finish while the -D variant had a glossy finish. What I’m wondering is, which one is technically correct? Sometimes when I see warbirds at an air show, I become a little suspect as how much is “actual” versus how much is “polished up for the air show”.

Are there any Phantom phixers or phliers out there who can shed some light on what your typical finish was like during their operational service? I just don’t know if I should glosscote or dullcote the Phantom I’ll be working on.

Thanks!

Eric

2

What were the aircraft paint jobs? If they were F-4 C/D/E and RF-4C and camoflaged for use in places like Vietnam, the aircraft would be flat.

After Vietnam camoflage colors changed and grays were used

Still flat colors. In europe they switched to a flat wrap-a-round pattern.

If the aircraft was assigned to an interceptor squadron they were usually a overall gloss gray like the F-106:

Hope this helps.

3

Hi Eric…I am a Marine Corp Phantom Fixer of the Viet Nam era. All the Marine phantoms were painted with flat colors. I saw Navy phantoms that were flat and some were glossy. All the Air Farce versions I saw were flat Viet Nam camo. Hope this helps.

4

Sometimes a/c restorers may use glossy paint simply because it is easier to keep clean than flat paints. I’ve seen it done often enough.

5

Do you have any shots of the aircraft you were talking about or what paint scheme you had in mind?

6

Hi guys! Thank you for all the great and very informative responses! I was at the airshow with my brother-in-law who was a Phantom Phixer during the early to mid 1980s. Even he was perplexed by the two Phantoms with their different sheens. He said when he was working on them (specifically their J79s), he remembers them being flat.

I should have mentioned in my first post that the two Phantoms at the EAA air show were both camoflaged in the SE Asia scheme. One was a D version (flat) and the other was an E (glossy). The D was a plane from the Collings Foundation. I was kind of thinking the flat might have been the more accurate representation and that the glossy one was meant for ease of maintenance and give it that shiny “show room” look. I wanted to get the opinions of those who are far more knowledgable than me.

Thanks to all!!!

Eric

7

Anything in SEA camo originally, would be flat.

Dean

8

Just about everything that flew in Viet Nam was camouflaged, (USAF), and had a flat finish. Exceptions would be the early silver birds such as F-105 & B-66. Other exceptions would be the gloss black on the undersides of B-52Ds, overall gloss black B-57s and other night fliers. Most Navy birds were flat light gray on top and gloss white on the bottom.

The Air Defense Command interceptors were usually gloss ADC gray. The QF-4s used as target drones at Tyndall AFB and Holloman AFB are sometimes gloss and sometimes flat.

Darwin

9

The SEA, SEA wraparound, Asia Minor, Euro l and Euro ll were all flat finish. In the mid 80’s the Hill Gray scheme came out which was flat. It was found it didn’t weather very good and was hard to keep clean so the Hill Gray ll was introduced. It has a semi gloss finish and that was the final camouflage seen on the Phantom.

The F-4 Phantom heritage flight at Tyndall AFB have their aircraft painted in a gloss finish so it will be easy to keep clean.

10

To all you Phantom Phanatix,

You guys are great! The whole question of glossy vs flat SE Asia camoflage has been one that I’ve pondered for a long time. Now you guys have put that question to rest.

Thank you!!!

Eric [:D[