"Official" F-4E Livery Discussion

[Kalasnkova74]

54 minutes ago, JOYFUL_CLOVR said:

The same person who came up with the "Mig-28"

“MiG-28” does at least make sense. In 1986 the only people flying Migs in the US were the Tonopah folks, and they weren’t leasing em for film shoots. You weren’t buying a MiG-21 on eBay back then either, so they had to use a substitute for a “MiG”.
Using the F-5 as a stand in not only made sense but using “MiG-28” clearly established a fictional name, as NATO always assigned odd numbers to Soviet aircraft. 
 

Whereas calling an F-4E a “MiG-29” when the MiG-29 is an actual aircraft, an F-4 looks nothing like a MiG  PLUS the Kfir F-21 used in the film would make a great fictional “MiG-32”…yeah. Forty lashes for the Iron Eagle II writer(s). 

[Salty Buckets]

Sorry if this question has already been asked, but I assume we'll be getting Hill Grey schemes for the F-4E as well? At least for the DMAS I assume.

Hope to see some Turkish F-4s in the two tone grey as well in the base game!

[LanceCriminal86]

31 minutes ago, Salty Buckets said:

Sorry if this question has already been asked, but I assume we'll be getting Hill Grey schemes for the F-4E as well? At least for the DMAS I assume.

Hope to see some Turkish F-4s in the two tone grey as well in the base game!

Because you asked, all Hill One schemes have been deleted. The only Phantoms provided will be covered in Anime characters of ambiguous gender.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I kid*

But in all seriousness the 110th TFS F-4Es from the late 80s through the retirement in 1991 were my main muse working on Hill One jets, and you should see the scheme in a few different interpretations around the area behind the cockpit. The more standard scheme the anti-glare gray along the canopy continued straight to the rear of the canopy hump, and then in an acute angle came back forwards and down across the intakes in a curve. Some of the 110th jets instead had a simpler iteration where it just curved down along or behind the canopy. Some jets with Hill One had a more sharp/crisp scheme while others had a more "feathered" edge and overspray look, and you should see variations over some of the different squadrons and countries that used the scheme.

Hill one will appear on both by the way, the 110th being an ANG squadron had the early block jets that fit right into the initial module's serial range both with and without the APS-107 antennas, and of course other squadrons that had TISEO jets will be added when it's time.

 

 

 

Turkey in particular seemed to eventually go with a darker, almost Gunship Gray coloration eventually so I need to hunt around and see if they actually shifted the color or if that's just folks using HDR or post processing, or just digital photography better capturing the tones. But to me it looks like a much darker gray than what the Air Force used, even on freshly painted jets. 

 

Again the intent here is to at least have a general representation of the schemes and the export nations, with more focus on the standard schemes pending any dynamic number implementation or other method to support multiple jet numbers in a simpler format for online folks and I suppose mission/campaign makers. Eventually, and maybe with release at a limited scale, some more specific jets should be included either with significant history, special anniversary paint jobs, or just because they looked cool or had something unique about them in the weathering or scheme. And of course whenever a community paint kit comes out, there will be tons of more specific jets people are going to make for their Dad/Uncle/Grandad etc's old squadron, or countries that flew Cs or Ds but not Es, probably going to see F-4G skins.

And of course the inevitable blasphemy when people start doing Navy or Marine skins, which I *personally* think should result in revocation of your module license but I'm not important so I have no say.

[Kalasnkova74]

6 hours ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

And of course the inevitable blasphemy when people start doing Navy or Marine skins, which I *personally* think should result in revocation of your module license but I'm not important so I have no say.

Hopefully VSNs new standalone bullet nosed F-4B/F-4C mod will solve that problem. 

[NotBonk]

Here to help with more docs. Here are the USAF regulations on markings for F-4's. Hopefully it helps with repaint creation. 

Part1.pdf (f4phantom.com)
Part2.pdf (f4phantom.com)
Part3.pdf (f4phantom.com)

[Trooper117]

Lots to choose from here, great thread!...

[exhausted]

nullVMFA-323null and VFMA-542 in Vietnam

Some awesome footage of -542 doing its job

[LanceCriminal86]

On 2/22/2023 at 4:56 PM, exhausted said:

nullVMFA-323null and VFMA-542 in Vietnam

Some awesome footage of -542 doing its job

Interesting, those don't look at all like F-4Es

[Bremspropeller]

5 hours ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

Interesting, those don't look at all like F-4Es

That's true, they're looking much better

Love the -542 scheme. Especially with the stylized flash.

 

/OT

 

Lance, I think there was a boatload of ANG squadrons flying non-TIESO Echos. The Blacksnakes from FW should be among them. The ANG squadrons generally are pretty interesting with their variety of aircraft and paintschemes. Making squadron-skinpacks that feature SEA, Euro One and Hill One should be really cool endeavours for dedicated skinners.

[WinterH]

34 minutes ago, Bremspropeller said:

That's true, they're looking much better

Will you EVER be not horribly and completely wrong? 

[Jojothebox]

7 minutes ago, WinterH said:

Will you EVER be not horribly and completely wrong? 

my personal favorites, euro one SEA and the two tone grey. in that order 

[WinterH]

Finally, a person of good taste! :))

[Jojothebox]

Just now, WinterH said:

Finally, a person of good taste! :))

honestly i think anything american looks pretty in euro one but there’s just something about the F-4 in it. it’s just Phantastic 

[Bremspropeller]

2 hours ago, WinterH said:

Will you EVER be not horribly and completely wrong? 

I'm your evil twin, which naturally gave me all the taste

1 hour ago, Jojothebox said:

my personal favorites, euro one SEA and the two tone grey. in that order 

I think the wraparound SEA in the back also looks kinda nice - certainly better than the grey bellied jet in front.

Is the fancy black noseflash on the Euro One jet a hommage to MN ANG?

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Bremspropeller

[Zad Fnark]

Nice, I used to go up and watch the MN ANG F-4s all the time.

Night takeoffs were always cool.

They did have one Mig killer in the group.

[Trooper117]

Always liked the SEA camo... it seems to suit the F-4E.

[Bananabrai]

On 2/24/2023 at 1:08 PM, Bremspropeller said:

I'm your evil twin, which naturally gave me all the taste

I think the wraparound SEA in the back also looks kinda nice - certainly better than the grey bellied jet in front.

Is the fancy black noseflash on the Euro One jet a hommage to MN ANG?

 

 

The Keflavik F-4Es look nice.

But apart from that, I have to admit, the short nosed Phantoms simply look so much better.

[G.J.S]

4 hours ago, Bananabrai said:

The Keflavik F-4Es look nice.

But apart from that, I have to admit, the short nosed Phantoms simply look so much better.

Keflavik birds were always smartly presented. Don’t think I ever saw one with anywhere near the staining that ours had! Even when they flew shorties (C model?).

[Bananabrai]

22 minutes ago, G.J.S said:

C model?

Must have been Cs or Ds I guess?
Absolutely not sure though.

[G.J.S]

4 hours ago, Bananabrai said:

Must have been Cs or Ds I guess?
Absolutely not sure though.

Yeah, prior to the ‘E’

[exhausted]

On 2/24/2023 at 3:27 AM, Bremspropeller said:

That's true, they're looking much better

Love the -542 scheme. Especially with the stylized flash.

 

/OT

 

Lance, I think there was a boatload of ANG squadrons flying non-TIESO Echos. The Blacksnakes from FW should be among them. The ANG squadrons generally are pretty interesting with their variety of aircraft and paintschemes. Making squadron-skinpacks that feature SEA, Euro One and Hill One should be really cool endeavours for dedicated skinners.

Exactly  and I think the radome is unpainted in this one. Also, note the chin sensor does not seem to have the extra bump found in many jets around 1968-1969. 

Edited March 25, 2023 by exhausted

[Aussie_Mantis]

On 3/3/2023 at 10:56 PM, G.J.S said:

Keflavik birds were always smartly presented. Don’t think I ever saw one with anywhere near the staining that ours had! Even when they flew shorties (C model?).

Yep, F-4Cs. Real old birds. They got them in 1973, if you'd believe it, and didn't get them replaced until '78! I still can't believe that they had their old F-102s finally replaced with F-4Cs when the Navy was about to get F-14s and the USAF was tinkering about with the F-15 and F-16.

20 hours ago, exhausted said:

Exactly  and I think the radome is unpainted in this one. Also, note the chin sensor does not seem to have the extra bump found in many jets around 1968-1969. 

 

A lot of the time, USN F-4s removed the IRST bump. They didn't even need it anyway- the USAF put RWR sensors in their bumps back then, the USN didn't actually do much of anything with it from what I remember.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Aussie_Mantis

[Biggus]

It's important to differentiate between models when discussing the IRST chin pod.  The J left the factory without it.  There is one image I am aware of where an F-4J has a radome from a B/N with the chin pod, and that's the VX-4 jet wearing the bicentennial livery.

The B left the factory with the chin pod.  The N retained it until retirement.  From around 1967, it housed antennas related to the Shoehorn mod.  At no point did they use the smooth J radome in any widespread fashion.  I've never seen any evidence of a B nor an N with the smooth radome.  It's possible that a test bird somewhere had one at some time like the VX-4 J, but as a rule it seems to have not happened.

The C and the D are interesting in that they have a greater variety of radomes in actual service.  The C initially retained the B's radome.  My understanding is that the USAF desired smooth radomes and these became available very late in production (likely in preparation for production of the J to commence).  Early Ds continued to leave the factory without the chin pod until the USAF realised that they would need to install RHAW gear, at which point a chin pod was reintroduced.  The USAF chin pods would change a bit over the subsequent years.  My understanding is that in the late 1980s, some USAF squadrons were able to procure J radomes from AMARC, so there's a real mix of possible radomes for late Cs and Ds.

 

On a slightly different topic, perhaps we should have some other threads for Phantoms that aren't F-4Es?  It would be nice for this one to be cleaned up a bit so that skinners don't need to wade through pages of irrelevant images for the long nose birds.

[greyseal494]

why are people posting navy liveries here?

[Vampyre]

4 hours ago, greyseal494 said:

why are people posting navy liveries here?

Probably, they are not good with either directions, English or they are just lazy. They could be trolling or it could be a combination of all of the aforementioned causes. It would be nice to be able to clean out all of the irrelevant posts and maybe move them off to a random Phantom livery thread.