Well my 18 month old nephew is absolutely obsessed with aircraft. At the family reunion chinese auction there was an old Airfix T-38 he kept pointing at it all day so his mom kept putting tickets in the cup. You’d think he’d be dissapointed when he found out it wasnt a toy. But for the last few weeks hes been carrying around the box with the parts in it just pointing at the picture. I figured i would build it for him and i wanted to do it up in the bicentenial Thunderbirds scheme. I’ve found a bunch of pictures of them but i cant seem to find any of the underneath of the fuselage. I was wondering if anybody had any picturs of the bottom of the aircraft or even better a painting and decaling chart of one of the thunderbird T-38s and also color numbers for their Blue and red.
hes absolutely fascinated by airplanes. Runs to the window when they fly by. Cant even talk yet but as early as a year old he would point up at the sky when ever he saw one. His first audible noise that made any sense was trying to imitate the jet engine sound of the airliners that frequently fly over our house.
Insignia White Federal Standard paint color number 17875, Insignia Blue FS # 15044, Insignia Red FS # 11136. These are gloss colors. Testors Model Masters paints have all three colors in gloss and matt. The matt numbers would be red 31136, blue 35044, and white 37875. If you use a matt paint you would have to gloss coat the model after the T-bird scheme is applied.
Google the USAF Thunderbirds T-38 and scads of pictures will become available.
Thanks for the help guys. Unfortonately I’ve only been able to find one grainy picture of the bottom of the aircraft. There are tons of the upper surfaces. I’m a long way off from paint anyway.
This first one is a bit small, but you can definately make out the paint demarcation lines. I believe that this is actually a civilian-owned T-38 that is painted in the Thunderbirds’ scheme.
The next picture may do you more good than the first one. I posted the website that I got the pic from below, as it has multiple angle shots of the Thunderbird T-38’s that may come in handy…
**** You know what? I just noticed that there is a difference between the paint scheme in the first photo and the paint scheme in the bottom photo(s). Now I am wondering which one is correct! ****
Yeah i noticed that too from the one picture i could find. I would say the ones on the monument are probobally incorrect. As far as being a civilian aircraft, I know Ross Perot’s son has a T-38 painted up in T-bird colors that shows up every so often on the airshow tours.
I wouldn’t put too much effort into it because it won’t last long. Even if you put it up he will eventually get his hands on it. I speak from experience.
