Quote:
Originally Posted by Mhead
Your plane looks great Sam! I will be painting my -7 to honor an A-6 crew that went missing in January of '69 from VMA(AW) 242. There is an A-6A painted in 242 colors at the Miramar Flying Leathernecks Museum that I visited a few years ago. Could you share specifics on the paint and colors you are using? Thanks.
Gary
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Thanks Gary! Your airplane will be a great tribute to that crew of VMA(AW) 242. Marines trained with us at the A-6 RAG on Whidbey Island VA-128. What a great bunch.
My paint is Dupont Imron single stage polyeurothane on top of Dupont Variprime 615S metal etch primer that has been sponge brushed on. I have some posts on that if you see if you search 'variprime'. I also built my own spray booth and did the painting myself so its not perfect by any means but much more affordable. It also lets you modify/improve the overall paint scheme decisions as you go rather than try to imagine and write down all the details for a painter that may or may not be quite right.
I decided against using a tactical paint scheme which would be flat grey two tone. I think it is just harder to make a tactical paint scheme look good plus the gloss paint is more durable than flat paint imho. But for you, the Marine Intruders in the late sixties may have had a gloss finish. That would take some research.
So my scheme is my impression of a standard current day non-tactical gloss paint scheme. I referenced MIL-STD-2161B Navy Markings which you can download for free "Paint Schemes and Exterior Markings for US Navy and Marine Corps Aircraft". This is the document that is currently used today. My scheme is similar to that used on our H-3 search and rescue helicopters and C-9 transports back when I was at NAS Whidbey Island. White on top, grey on the bottom, and safety orange on parts that you can take off and paint separately. Which would be what was done to an H-3 taken from the fleet and put into air stations SAR service. Or on training or test and evaluation aircraft.
So in my minds eye, I imagined that the Navy allowed an EA-18G squadron to acquire an RV-8 for use as a utility hack airplane, and this is how it might be painted.
If you are interested in the specific color codes I used on my Imron, I can get those for you also. I look forward to seeing your bird in VMA(AW) 242 colors!

Sam