A USN Aircraft Question (one for Rex?)

[Stuart]

Ok I'm confused... (not hard). I'm currently building a 1/72 A-7E, and have a few other USN aircraft builds to follow - namely two A-4's.

On the old High-Vis Gull Grey/White aircraft - I thought all the opening panels (e.g. Airbrakes and U/C doors) had the edges of them painted red - however I've seen some photos (of other peoples builds granted) in which ALL of the internal surface of the U/C doors and airbrakes were painted red.

Any thoughts as to what maybe right? All the Vietnam era pictures I've seen are B&W!

Cheers

Stuart

[Stuart]

Yeah, Rex will know this one for sure...but others might too. I know in the Phantoms case the airbrake door interior is entirely red...the well in the underside of the airplane for it is white. (At least to my knowledge)...and the gear doors are trimmed in red...I can tell you I've never seen entirely red gear door interiors....but I'm not 100%...so maybe don't listen to me? Lol

Hi Jim - thanks for that, that was my understanding of it too.

[RexCag]

Jim's got it right for the Phantom. But, for the Skyhawk, the speed brakes are treated just like they are landing gear doors. White insides with Red edges. Another Red area on Skyhawks are the two leading edge slat well areas,,,,,,on most of the Skyhawks, but not on all. In the early days those wells could be Light Gull Gray, or the unit's trim color,,,,,,,,by the A-4E's time, they were Insignia Red.

One tidbit is that the Skyhawk's Speed Brake doors are very rarely open on the ground, so "detect leaks White" made more sense than "pinchpoint warning Red"

If your model doesn't have open slats, there is a slat retaining pin (and strap) that goes on there to hold the slats up while the aircraft is parked. If you need it, I will dig up a photo I post for people after Anne and I get back from her Doctor's Office. Unless someone else finds one and posts it sooner. (it looked like a remove before flight streamer that was folded over the leading edge and had half remaining to hang down)

[Stuart]

Jim's got it right for the Phantom. But, for the Skyhawk, the speed brakes are treated just like they are landing gear doors. White insides with Red edges. Another Red area on Skyhawks are the two leading edge slat well areas,,,,,,on most of the Skyhawks, but not on all. In the early days those wells could be Light Gull Gray, or the unit's trim color,,,,,,,,by the A-4E's time, they were Insignia Red.

One tidbit is that the Skyhawk's Speed Brake doors are very rarely open on the ground, so "detect leaks White" made more sense than "pinchpoint warning Red"

If your model doesn't have open slats, there is a slat retaining pin (and strap) that goes on there to hold the slats up while the aircraft is parked. If you need it, I will dig up a photo I post for people after Anne and I get back from her Doctor's Office. Unless someone else finds one and posts it sooner. (it looked like a remove before flight streamer that was folded over the leading edge and had half remaining to hang down)

Thanks Rex!

I'd be very interested in seeing the pin, while my Airfix kit has open slats the hasa one doesn't - it's be nice to have a try to replicate it.

So for the A-7 then, best to do white insides with red edges on the U/C doors.

Thanks Guys!

[RexCag]

Let me get a better pic, this one is not as good as I remembered.

But, you can see the flag on the TER's pin, and the flag on the MER's pin, with the Slat flag hanging down in between them.

[Stuart]

Cool, thanks Rex.

I've never thought of doing RBF tags but I may have to have a go.

Cheers

Stuart

[AIRFIXER]

Taken from an A-4 technical manual:


Haven't built a Scooter for a couple of years, maybe it's time to build another one in the near future.
I'm going to keep the airbrakes closed next time...

[RexCag]

That is the drawing I was going to photograph and post.

In the interest of covering the bases, yes, on the A-7 it is all White inside wells and doors, with Red edges.

And on the Phantom, there are two more doors that were all Red on the inside surface, those were the Auxiliary Air Doors on each side of the centerline weapons attachment. The Phantom Aux doors and Air Brake doors were all Red because the rule was that anything that can capture a body part was painted Red, and in both of those cases, they could take an arm off, let alone "pinch" it. (hmm, add in the Chaff/Flare doors on the F-4B and F-4J being all Red on the inside, also,,,,,,on all the B's that got them added)

[Stuart]

Thank you gents, that's been really helpful!