CF-104 RDAF R-345

[MAT]

I will build the danish F-104G i the grey paint, the planes carried before the SM67 green.

[Kerick]

Very nice!

[apophenia]

Excellent! Book-end twins 

This is going to be cool 
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Hans Ø/île Hans: The true Cold War (but, you know, with flag-exchanges, Akvavit, Skreech, or Crown Royal) 

[MAT]

At last some progress. Real-world can be very disturbing

[apophenia]

Looking good 

At last some progress. Real-world can be very disturbing

Agreed ... both disruptive and very disturbing 

[MAT]

I forgot to write, that the kit is FineMold's F-104J

[MAT]

Time for painting

[apophenia]

Time for painting

Looking appropriately slick 

[MAT]

Now putting some paint on the Starfighter

[MAT]

The CF-104 is now painted, the Martin-Baker seats installed and its time for putting on the decals

[Kerick]

Very nice!

[apophenia]

Very nice!

Indeed. And a very dramatic scheme 

Looking forward to the decals!

[Kerick]

IIRC the reason the Starfighter used to have the wings painted white was because the testing was done in the southern California desert. The intense sunlight was causing components in the wings, hydraulics I believe, to overheat so the solution was to paint the wings white. This got written into the regs and Starfighters were painted that way no matter where they were based. This seems to have gotten changed in European service. It’s a good story anyway.

[apophenia]

Interesting ... I'd never heard that story about the origin of white-winged Starfighters before.

At any rate the RCAF originally followed suit on bare-metal airframes - gloss white uppers with grey undersides. Then they all got resprayed in dark camouflage uppers ... go figure!

[Kerick]

I read up on it a little and it was hydraulic o rings and seals that would leak from getting too hot. But that was really only a problem in southern areas. So places like Canada and Europe were naturally cool enough for it to not be a problem. It just took some time to change the T. O.s to allow different colors. Perhaps someone thought of getting seals from another supplier that could stand the heat!

[MAT]

Another thing about the colours of the danish F-104s. According to a mechanic, who worked on the planes, the light grey was the same colour, that was used on CAF CF-101 Voodoos.

[apophenia]

I read up on it a little and it was hydraulic o rings and seals that would leak from getting too hot. But that was really only a problem in southern areas. So places like Canada and Europe were naturally cool enough for it to not be a problem. It just took some time to change the T. O.s to allow different colors. Perhaps someone thought of getting seals from another supplier that could stand the heat!

That makes sense, Ken. CFTOs have also been a bit on the conservative side (and followed USAF TOs quite carefully).

Another thing about the colours of the danish F-104s. According to a mechanic, who worked on the planes, the light grey was the same colour, that was used on CAF CF-101 Voodoos.

Interesting, MAT. That is an odd one. As Carl (The Big Gimper) has noted elsewhere:

"When [Voodoos] went through Depot Level Inspection and Repair (DLIR) at Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg, they were repainted with Alumigrip AA 92-A-312 gloss light grey."

So ... a minor mystery as to why those RDAF Starfighters ever ended up in 'Voodoo Grey' 

[MAT]

I read up on it a little and it was hydraulic o rings and seals that would leak from getting too hot. But that was really only a problem in southern areas. So places like Canada and Europe were naturally cool enough for it to not be a problem. It just took some time to change the T. O.s to allow different colors. Perhaps someone thought of getting seals from another supplier that could stand the heat!

That makes sense, Ken. CFTOs have also been a bit on the conservative side (and followed USAF TOs quite carefully).

Another thing about the colours of the danish F-104s. According to a mechanic, who worked on the planes, the light grey was the same colour, that was used on CAF CF-101 Voodoos.

Interesting, MAT. That is an odd one. As Carl (The Big Gimper) has noted elsewhere:

"When [Voodoos] went through Depot Level Inspection and Repair (DLIR) at Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg, they were repainted with Alumigrip AA 92-A-312 gloss light grey."

So ... a minor mystery as to why those RDAF Starfighters ever ended up in 'Voodoo Grey' 

The mechanic gave the colour as FS26515. Could that be Alumigrip AA 92-A-312 gloss light grey?

[The Big Gimper]

I read up on it a little and it was hydraulic o rings and seals that would leak from getting too hot. But that was really only a problem in southern areas. So places like Canada and Europe were naturally cool enough for it to not be a problem. It just took some time to change the T. O.s to allow different colors. Perhaps someone thought of getting seals from another supplier that could stand the heat!

That makes sense, Ken. CFTOs have also been a bit on the conservative side (and followed USAF TOs quite carefully).

Another thing about the colours of the danish F-104s. According to a mechanic, who worked on the planes, the light grey was the same colour, that was used on CAF CF-101 Voodoos.

Interesting, MAT. That is an odd one. As Carl (The Big Gimper) has noted elsewhere:

"When [Voodoos] went through Depot Level Inspection and Repair (DLIR) at Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg, they were repainted with Alumigrip AA 92-A-312 gloss light grey."

So ... a minor mystery as to why those RDAF Starfighters ever ended up in 'Voodoo Grey' 

The mechanic gave the colour as FS26515. Could that be Alumigrip AA 92-A-312 gloss light grey?

I was that mechanic. 

One light gloss grey paint aka Alumigrip AA 92-A-312 to rule them all!

[The Big Gimper]

IIRC the reason the Starfighter used to have the wings painted white was because the testing was done in the southern California desert. The intense sunlight was causing components in the wings, hydraulics I believe, to overheat so the solution was to paint the wings white. This got written into the regs and Starfighters were painted that way no matter where they were based. This seems to have gotten changed in European service. It’s a good story anyway.

I did not know this! 

[MAT]

I was that mechanic. 

One light gloss grey paint aka Alumigrip AA 92-A-312 to rule them all!

My source was a mechanic in RDAF