German Airforce F-4F '37+79' repaint released!

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Hi, guys!

Phew - this has been a pig of a repaint, but I think it was worth it:

German Air Force F-4F '37+79' of JG 71, current scheme
Repaint for Alphasim's F-4F Phantom II, now released as freeware, depicting '37+79' of Jagdgeschwader (fighter wing) 71 "Richthofen" in its current "Norm 90J" scheme. In 1973, the Luftwaffe purchased a total of 175 of the lightened and simplified F-4F which was upgraded under the "ICE" (Improved Combat Efficiency) program. The 110 ICE-upgraded F-4Fs entered service in 1992, and are expected to remain in service until 2012. All the remaining Luftwaffe's Phantoms are now based at Wittmund with JG 71.

Here's the real one:
http://www.airfighters.com/photo/58579/L/Germany-Air-Force/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4F-Phantom-II/37-79/



This repaint has gone a long way:
The basic paint kit was provided by Alphasim / Virtavia.
It was massively improved by Steve "Duckie" Bryant who for his part wants to thank Gus Robatto for his permission to use his repaint textures as reference and guides to help create the ones finished.
I'd like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation towards Steve for giving me exclusive permission to use his painstaking textures to build my repaint on.

Thanks a ton, Duckie! :salute:


Uploads done.


Now that this grey Rhino has left the paint hut, it's time to fish this one here:

Coming up next...

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Markus.

 

[Quax d. Bruchpilot]

okay, the next one I'll download ... Looks very good !

 

[Duckie]

Absolute stunning, Markus! Can't wait to see the next one.

Steve

 

[TARPSBird]

Markus, that's an excellent repaint. I really like how you took the time to do the outlines of the various panels where they've been touch-up painted for corrosion control. Makes it look well-used but well-maintained, just like the actual aircraft.

 

[delta_lima]

Markus, another 10/10.

Looking forward to your next Phantom.

Phantastic, as always.

DL

 

[stuartcox]

Great paint job Markus!
That's how I remember these planes back in my time in Germany.

 

[Wing_Z]

Whew Markus that is a drop-dead beautiful repaint!
I am tempted to bin my Cloud9 Phantom and load up the ALPHA plane.
Almost...

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Thank you all for your kind comments, guys!
This feedback makes it all worth.


@ TARPSBird:
I'm glad I've found the reference photo mentioned above to depict this special feature of 37+79. The fellows at vgaf.net assumed that a quite lazy mechanic (or a casual employee?) has grabbed a can of unspecified grey paint to pour it all over the panel screws and seams instead of just dabbing the screw heads with the appropriate shade after the access panels were re-mounted.

By the way:
To get an impression how many access panels there are on our beloved Rhino, take a look here (but beware: It takes some strong nerves to stand this pic):
http://www.airfighters.com/photo/72426/L/Germany-Air-Force/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4F-Phantom-II/38-69


@ Charl:
It's not a question of either/or!
I think your C9 F-4 won't mind too much you taking her ALPHA sister when filling the northern European skies with sound and smoke...

Cheers,
Markus.

 

[stuartcox]

To get an impression how many access panels there are on our beloved Rhino, take a look here (but beware: It takes some strong nerves to stand this pic)

Ouch! How sad is that?
Even Tornados in the background are being scrapped. Is the Luftwaffe downsizing just like the RAF?

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Is the Luftwaffe downsizing just like the RAF?

Well the compulsory military service of the Bundeswehr was suspended this year, so downsizing is of course an issue of all armed service branches. Furthermore, the last Phantoms of JG 71 will get replaced by Eurofighters in 2012.

http://www.luftwaffe.de/portal/a/lu...5EyrpHK9nHK98sS0NL2s1JJivYKMxDz9gmxHRQDo8z_e/

Cheers,
Markus.

 

[Motormouse]

To get an impression how many access panels there are on our beloved Rhino, take a look here (but beware: It takes some strong nerves to stand this pic):
http://www.airfighters.com/photo/72426/L/Germany-Air-Force/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4F-Phantom-II/38-69


Markus.

Numbered from front to back;with left and right side corresponding numbers..
door 1 was radome; then 2L/2R; 3L/3R and so on; panels down the spine 47,48,49; with ones on the fin being 50-something. Highest number IIRC was door 112 (wing upper surface); at least on the UK Phantoms (F-4K and F-4M) I worked on. We used to joke that half the maintenance manual was stencilled on the exterior of the aeroplane....

Oh yes; lots of screws!!


Think you'll find the German Phantoms have to suffer the scrapman same as the UK ones' did due to the S.A.L.T treaties.

ttfn

Pete

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Downsizing? No way!

Thanks to Dr. Emmet Brown and his famous flux compensator, this 37+79 did a step back in time (back to 1982, to be precise...):

The real deal:
http://www.airfighters.com/photo/27037/L/Germany-Air-Force/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4F-Phantom-II/37-79/

And the comparison shot (taken at Ian's great Wittmund of course):

Out now!
Enjoy!

Cheers,
Markus.

 

[Quax d. Bruchpilot]

yieppie !!! My advice don't forget to install the Norm 72 AI wIttmund ;-)

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

"A whiter shade of pale"?

Nope. Just another shade of grey:

JG 71 "Richthofen" 37+35
1976 experimental scheme

When the German RF-4E and F-4F were delivered to their fighter, fighter-bomber and reconnaissance wings, they wore a geometrical camouflage pattern called "Norm 72", consisting of dark grey and green chunks on the upper surfaces and light grey on the aircraft's bottom. Although this pattern seemed to work well when observed from above, it soon became obvious that the disguising effect got lost in air-to-air combat. Besides the colours used, it were also the big iron crosses and colourful markings making this scheme quite ineffective. Especially the fighter wings 71 and 74 complained about this pattern, making "hiding in the clouds" almost impossible.
From the mid-1970ies on, several experimental schemes (eleven in total) were tested.
The depicted scheme, made of an overall grey shade called Achatgrau ("agate grey"), German colour standard RAL 7038, was applied to JG 71's F-4F 37+35 in 1976. Markings and stencils were similar to the earlier Norm 72 standard.
By the end of 1980, these trials led to a new scheme called "Norm 81" with two sub-versions (Norm 81A and 81B), consisting of a variety of six shades of green and grey, basing on German ("RAL") and US color standards ("FS.595a").
In the early 1990ies, the Norm 81 scheme got replaced by a wraparound grey scheme called "Norm 90J". The remaining German Phantoms serving with JG 71 still wear this scheme today.
Resemblance between the current "Norm 90J" scheme and the 1976 experimental scheme depicted is quite obvious...

Will get uploaded this Friday!

And just in case any Procol Harum fan got disappointed by my opening wordplay...:

[YOUTUBE]Mb3iPP-tHdA[/YOUTUBE]

Cheers,
Markus.

 

[delta_lima]

Hello Markus!

37+35 looks awesome. Bravo. Stencils, shades - stellar.



dl

 

[Quax d. Bruchpilot]

Okay, one more reason for Virtavias F-4 THX !!!

Here one more experimental from JG71. Maybe interessting ? I think I have posted this a few month ago ???

View attachment 46272

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Stencils, shades - stellar.

Put the blame on Duckie!
I've just added some specific german lettering and some very decent tear & wear - the basic maintenance stencils (where applicable) and the jaw-dropping shades and highlights (besides the huge amount of screws, rivets and panel lines) are his work.
So I owe him a bunch! :ernae:


@ Quax:
Nice scheme. Loks like one of the "aggressor schemes".
But since I do have the AirDoc magazine with tons of experimental schemes on the "Luftverteidigungsdiesel", I for sure won't run out of variants to roll into the paint hut...

Cheers,
Markus.


Cheers,
Markus.

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Everybody fed up with German Rhinos yet?

If not, here's the next one:

It's 37+35 in its 1984 habit. After the 1976's experimental grey, this ship received a Norm 72 camo again, whereas the fin already shows the Norm 81A scheme. Maintenance marks equate Norm 72 (big and colourful), walkway borders are even more colourful (matching Norm 81A).

A pretty much confused scheme:

http://www.airfighters.com/photo/72864/L/Germany-Air-Force/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4F-Phantom-II/37-35/

Had some issues with the flag showing up on the intake:
It's obviously from Norway - but why?
A nice fellow at flugzeugforum.de replied that JG 71 had a squadron exchange with RNoAF's 338 Skv. at Orland AB in 1984, so this seem to make perfect sense!

Just packing!

Cheers,
Markus.

 

[AndyG43]

Had some issues with the flag showing up on the intake:
It's obviously from Norway - but why?
A nice fellow at flugzeugforum.de replied that JG 71 had a squadron exchange with RNoAF's 338 Skv. at Orland AB in 1984, so this seem to make perfect sense!

Can never have too many Rhino's Markus!

The flag thing seems sensible - 'zapping' was (and probably still is) common practices on exercises and exchanges. Some classic examples involving RAF aircraft the Vulcan doctored by the RNZAF and, probably the most famous example, the pink Harrier - the best account of that, with some 'lovely' photos can be found here, about halfway down the page:
http://www.mirage4fs.com/m_gerard_new.html

 

[stuartcox]

Another outstanding example of your work Markus...
I wouldn't like to have to chose a favourite out of the German repaints.

Just one little thing: The texture folder needs renaming to 'texture.GAF37+35_1984' for it to show.

Cheers, Stuart