And my original explanation follows:

When I decided to cover the 8^th TFW in a decal sheet back in 2000 I let my artist pick the subjects he wanted because back in the day he had been in Vietnam with the USAF and had taken hundreds of photos, plus had hundreds more from friends he knew back then.  When he delivered the artwork with gray tail codes I asked him what was up with that.  He sent me dozens and dozens of scans of high quality slides that he and others took while there in Vietnam that backed up what he had done in the artwork.

Since then I have occasionally received e-mails asking me what is up with some of the tail codes being gray.  Most were willing to accept the gray tail codes after hearing my explanation.  There are a couple people who I do not understand why they bothered asking in the first place since they were already convinced I was wrong and nothing I could say would change their mind.  Unfortunately these people have recently taken to denouncing the set on internet discussion groups insisting I made a major error, that I should confess my error and immediately issue a correction.  Their proof consists of 35 year old memories and slide shows seen years ago.

As I said before the majority of the materials for this set came from my artist, who did two tours in Vietnam and took many of these photos.  He also was friends with a guy named Frank MacSorley who has a crew chief with the 8^th TFW and a prolific photographer.  My artist and Mr. MacSorley shared many of their slides with each other.  I was told not to post these photos on the internet or to pass them around.  I have always respected that wish, much to the frustration of my critics who demand to see my proof.  It is often very hard to get veterans to agree to loan me their photos from those days and I will keep my word to them even if it means I am unable to use them to defend myself.  Recently a book has come out from Osprey which includes a small fraction of the photos used in producing this decal set.  This is because I worked with the author, my friend Peter Davies, to put him in touch with my artist and those I had been in contact so that some of this could be available to modelers.  The book is Osprey Combat Aircraft # 45, USAF F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1965-68.  If you have this book please look at the following pictures with an open mind:

Pg 33, B&W photo of 63-7668.  First you need to reference a marking known to be white, such as the star of the national insignia.  Now compare it to the tail codes.  Look at how the P is as bright as the star and that the F and the 668 are not.

Pg 34, B&W photo of 63-7680.  Again, look at the star compared to the tail codes.  Also check out the Phantom tail off the wing and again note the P is brighter then the F and the last 3.

Pg 39, B&W photo of 63-7623.  Nice bright F, not so bright P and 623

Pg 60, color photo of 64-0849.  Neither the tail codes or the last 3 are bright like the star.

Pg 61, color photos of 63-7647 and 63-7710.  Notice how the bottom of the 4 and the 7 are brighter than all the rest. Neither the tail codes or the last 3 of 710 are as bright as the star or even better the white ordnance hanging on the outboard pylon.

Pg 62, color photo of 64-0699.  Not the best angle but you can still see it.  Also, take a look at the tail codes of the F-4 to the left and then one in the background on the right side.

Did you notice how some letters were as bright as the star and some were not?  If so then not all tail codes could be white.  There are three things I can come up with to explain that.

Option 1:  It’s darker because it’s dirty.  This is certainly possible, I’m sure the white did get dirty, but look at the photo on the bottom of page 32 of the 366^th F-4s.  That is dirty white, it obviously has smudges and streaks, but it’s not a totally uniform different color like what appears in the 8^th TFW photos.  And how come those stars and bars aren’t getting dirty too?

Option 2:  It was a thin white and the underlying camo colors show through toning it down.  This is plausible too, and I think it probably is the cause of SOME of the codes not looking bright white because if you’ll take another look at the photo of 647 on page 61 you’ll notice that the bottom of the 4 and 7 are brighter in just those areas where they are painted over the tan.  But it doesn’t work for all because many of those codes and numbers appear the same uniform color even when they are painted crossing over areas of both green and tan, like in the picture of 710.

Option 3:  They were at least sometimes painted some other color than white.  Because in most of the photos the codes look uniform in color I think that in most cases they were painted a very light shade of gray.

No matter which of the three you prescribe to if you see the difference then you know that it would be just as incorrect to make those codes bright white.  What color should be used to give it that look?

In my instructions it states 36622 camouflage gray, which is the same color as the undersides of the Southeast Asia paint scheme.  If you’ve ever painted a SEA paint scheme then you know that 36622 is really more of a creamy off-white then it is a gray.  We chose this color to represent these darker codes.  And now we know from the regulation documents that we were correct.  If you look at the center photo on pg 63 of the F-4 banking away from the camera you will notice that when you compare the white of the missiles, pods, and star and bar, that the undersides are really not that much darker, and it seems to be about the same amount of difference as what is seen in the photos of the differing tail code colors.

Now for some reason an artist could probably explain to you but I cannot, the 36622 codes and numbers on my decal sheet look darker and grayer against the light blue paper backing then they do when placed on the dark colors of the model.  I was freaked when I first saw how dark they looked so I painted up an F-4 tail and put them on it just to make sure before I ever sent a single one out.  They match the FS 595 chip and they do look “right” when on the model.

Whenever I do a decal I stare long and hard at every marking on every airplane that I’m doing.  I am human and I do make mistakes.  I have no problem admitting to making mistakes as is proven by the corrections area of my website.  But in the case of this set I believe the way the codes are depicted IS correct  and I WILL NOT say I made an error nor will I print any sort of “correction” for it.  I  DO NOT base artwork off of 35 year old memories or slideshows seen years ago or "common knowledge."  I also DO NOT have my artwork based upon what people have preconceived notions of what something SHOULD look like.  My decals are based on photos either I or my artist has.  Decide for yourself after looking at those photos and if you still think my decals are wrong then do not use them.

Ben Backes

Fox One Decals