arnobiz Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Hello, I am about to start painting the top area of this aircraft and it is very unclear to me whether the entire zone is insignia blue, or is just the canopy insignia blue and the front and back zones black? Source: Airliners.net Source: Airfighters.com Any help much appreciated, Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sig Saur & Son Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 AJ-201 is at the end of the line in this shot. Not certain the image holds the information you desire. http://www.airfighters.com/photo/34576/M/U...-Tomcat/161166/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fasteagle12 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 (edited) Here is a decal sheet that has the scheme on it. It has the colors identified, if it's accurate (I assume it is). http://www.modelingmadness.com/scotts/decals/yh/yh48031.htm Edited March 6, 2011 by fasteagle12 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PlasticWeapons Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 (edited) Appears to be insignia blue overall. Wearing a replacement canopy. http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/pho...N-5832A-003.jpg Hard to tell here, LOL. http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/pho...F-5480T-007.jpg Edited March 6, 2011 by PlasticWeapons Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Thanks, yeah I had seen these pictures and they don't really help with the confusion do they? I would agree with your interpretation though and I think I will go with insignia blue overall :lol: Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neeko Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 It's Insignia Blue. The fin caps and the lion were also painted the same color. Unfortunately I am on the road away from my external drive that has pictures I took from that cruise, but I can post some when I get home next weekend. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neeko Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Here is a decal sheet that has the scheme on it. It has the colors identified, if it's accurate (I assume it is).http://www.modelingmadness.com/scotts/decals/yh/yh48031.htm 200 and 201 were completely different as far as color was concerned. 200's trim and markings were black, whereas 201's were dark blue. 213's blue color for the fins and skunk stripe were a lot lighter than the blue we used on 201. On that last cruise, almost every jet we had in the squadron was painted or marked up a little different, so it can be confusing figuring out what a particular jet looked like. VF-31's line jets were a lot more standardized in their markings, but if you want to do a Blacklion jet from that same cruise, you almost always need to have a picture of that particular jet handy if you are striving for accuracy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Thank you Nick for the precisions, I had indeed noticed that 200 and 201 were quite different. Would you then please confirm that 201's trims were insignia blue? Would you happen to have good pictures of this particular aircraft? The ones I posted above are the best I have at the moment. Many thanks everybody for your help, Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian P: Fightertown Decals Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Too bad you're not doing 213, 200, 204, 205, or 212. We got you fully covered on those :) The skunk stripe is clearly darker than the data on the fuselage and NAVY, buno. I've got Nick's pictures and it's pretty clear in the closeups. 200 used the lighter(dark blue) on all it's markings and has the center of the skunk stripe in the much darker color like 201s -brian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 this is good i have been wondering the same thing Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Too bad you're not doing 213, 200, 204, 205, or 212. We got you fully covered on those The skunk stripe is clearly darker than the data on the fuselage and NAVY, buno. I've got Nick's pictures and it's pretty clear in the closeups. 200 used the lighter(dark blue) on all it's markings and has the center of the skunk stripe in the much darker color like 201s -brian Thanks Brian, I had found your picture somewhere else on the forum but I could not find any evidence that 201 had the same pattern (i.e. two different colours in the skunk). The skunk stripe is clearly darker than the data on the fuselage and NAVY, buno. Now you got me confused: are you talking for 200 or 201? In my (few) reference pictures markings and skunk seem to be exactly the same colour, which I assume is insignia blue. Thanks a lot, Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bushande Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) I got some of Nick's great shots for my own purposes and I'd say that AJ-201's whole skunk stripe was all the way dark blue unlike AJ-200's. During the cruise AJ-201's canopy was replaced (BTW: AJ-201 is no other Cat than BuNo 164341!!! you know??!! "I've lost my RIO 2002, Last Launches etc.? ) I think when they repainted the grey replacement canopy for the homecoming in march '06 they just used whatever blue color that was left and that was the lighter blue. Hence: Do a dark blue skunk stripe and a slightly lighter blue for the replacement canopy. BTW: what decals do you use for this ship? Except the ones from the Hasegawa box I know of no others covering that specific bird in Lion-201 colors. I had to conceive my decals for this jet myself. Edited March 7, 2011 by bushande Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bushande Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 One more question to the experts: About a year before "she" became AJ-201 she flew as AJ-101 during 2004 in roughly the same dark blue colors except for one thing I just can't make out. While the Lion on her fins as AJ-201 is clearly dark blue the Lion on her fins as AJ-101 a year before seems to be black. Is this just an optical illusion or was the Lion indeed black on her as 101 during 2004??? Just asking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 I got some of Nick's great shots for my own purposes and I'd say that AJ-201's whole skunk stripe was all the way dark blue unlike AJ-200's. During the cruise AJ-201's canopy was replaced (BTW: AJ-201 is no other Cat than BuNo 164341!!! you know??!! "I've lost my RIO 2002, Last Launches etc.? )I think when they repainted the grey replacement canopy for the homecoming in march '06 they just used whatever blue color that was left and that was the lighter blue. Hence: Do a dark blue skunk stripe and a slightly lighter blue for the replacement canopy. BTW: what decals do you use for this ship? Except the ones from the Hasegawa box I know of no others covering that specific bird in Lion-201 colors. I had to conceive my decals for this jet myself. Wow that helps a LOT, thanks so much! I am actually hesitating between leaving the grey replacement canopy or putting the newly painted one. It looks quite cool with the grey canopy and the insignia blue skunk :) Yes I am using the Hasegawa decals, printed by Cartograf they should work great. What is the RIO 2002/Last Launches story? Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bushande Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 What is the RIO 2002/Last Launches story?Arnaud 164341 was a real truck. I really love that special bird. Here you go regarding the RIO-issue: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2514400/posts or http://www.vfp62.com/F14_RIO.html Don't mix it up with your canopy-thingy!!! This incident happened in 2002. So that is not the reason why 164341 had differently colored blue canopy during the last cruise 2005/06!!! That was another thing. It made the last launch of the last ever Tomcat combat cruise as Lion-201 on March 11 i.e. in the very colors you want to depict it. It later went to the sister squadron VF-31 becoming Felix-112 (don't mix it up with the other Felix-112 during the cruise that was 163417). In these colors it was also the last Tomcat to ever launch from a carrier when 2006's SINKEX exercise ended on July 28. It was the last Tomcat to be delivered to the AMARG-boneyard as well. Someone had posted some pics of 164341's last landing in Arizona but unfortunately the pics vanished again. it is said she had some nice final wishes applied to her nose and apparently Fightertown Decals also included these wishes on their decal sheet but I know of no photo actually showing that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted March 12, 2011 Author Share Posted March 12, 2011 The RIO thing is quite a story, thanks for the links! It is indeed an airframe with quite a lot of history so I now decided and I will build it, regardless of the poll results I will build the VF-31 later :lol: Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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