F-14 Tactical Paint Schemes

Have you seen this?

Thanks, Al.

That's the sheet that I have, albeit in 1/72. It had those A-6 photos included but, for some reason, not the F-14 photo.

I know it is notoriously difficult to judge colours from photos, but the fuselage sides of that aircraft certainly don't look like 36495.

I agree.

From my own research - there is a spec for the TPS on the F-14; the combination is: FS 36375 undersides, FS 36320 sides, and FS 35237 on top (if I had a scanner I'd post the ref I have on ABMS...) but it is rarely followed in the field.

Most aircraft turn out "whatever-grey-we-have" overall, or some "reasonably tactical" combination of "whatever-two-greys-we-have"...plus the patchwork of greys that results from corrosion control. You really have to look at pictures and sort of guess, unless you have ready access to a wittness from the squadrons paint shop.

That's what's so interesting to me about doing tactical grey schemes...creativity applied in the field. The CAG jobs are all pretty boring to me in comparison.

Add to this the fact that those matt finish grays seem to weather all over the place. I don't care what paint spec you quote to me, you gotta remember that Mother Nature makes hers up as she goes along!! :-)

Bill Shuey

Rufus wrote:

That's a fact-fact. Our local Marine Aviation Det put a restored AV8A on a stick a few summers ago in memoriam to a former CO. It was high-gloss when it was installed...it's flatter than flat (I wish I could get my models that flat), and faded out nice and tactical looking now.

That's one of the reasons I want to do this scheme. I've settled on 36375 undersides. However the topsides, while nominally 35237, will also be using RAF Ocean Grey as a mottle.

I've also found an interesting household cleaning product. It's an abrasive foam block that is used for polishing red wine stains out of wineglasses or tea stains out of teacups. I've found that if used wet and sparingly, it nicely fades the edges of two sprayed colours and makes the whole area look faded. I'm going to try that out on my model.

Yes - that should work. I can do something similar with dry Scotchbrite

- you just have to pick the right "grit" and develop the touch for it.

We need more info...

In the UK it is available as "Flash Mark and Stain Eraser"

It appears to be a melamine foam. No doubt something similar is available elsewhere. Used very lightly indeed, it can be used to polish scratches out of canopies and to blend a brushed paint touch-up into a sprayed finish.

Use it slightly more heavily and it will produce a worn look on a paint finish. More heavily still and it will wear through the top layer of paint, revealing a layer underneath. If you use a slightly lighter shade underneath it should produce a nice faded pattern.

The eraser doesn't seem to affect Alclad quite as much as paint. I tried spraying Alclad onto a paint dummy and then spraying Xtracrylix over the top. Light work with the eraser gave a finish that looked like worn paint allowing the underlying metal to show through.

Hmmmm......P&G apparently doesn't sell it in the US market. :(

Bill B reckons that it could be the same as Mr Clean mark remover. It's worth a try. And if it doesn't work, at least you can clean marks off your walls and stuff! ;-)

Might be similar to the Mr Clean mark remover. Those really work on marks on the walls. Never thought of trying it on a model.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Yep, it sure seems to be - I had some that I had bought for household use & just tried it on some scrap. Thanks for the tip!

You're most welcome. It's about time I gave something back after all the help I've received from this group!