VF-31 Phantoms with BIG Stars and Bars

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dancho - 10 Oct 2007 17:52 GMT

I am looking at Superscale sheet 72-880, and it shows a VF-31 F-4J (I
decided to Go Navy--the Air Force colors were giving me a headache!) and
it features another variety of markings anomaly. Why are the national
insignia on this Phantom so large (the one's on the wings are about
double the usual size)??

Here's a link so you can see what I mean:

http://modelingmadness.com/scotts/decals/super/72/ss72880.htm

I just wonder if anybody knows why this particular aircraft features
this peculiarity. Was VF-31 flying over the middle-east or some other
"hot" region? Just wondering....

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Chris Hughes - 12 Oct 2007 23:27 GMT

Casting my mind waaaay back to about 1966, when Airfix first released their
Phantom in 1/72 scale, the VF-31 option was the one included with the kit.

As I recall, the wing national insignia in the kit were also the very large
ones, but as to why, I couldn't tell you.

Regards,
Chris

>I am looking at Superscale sheet 72-880, and it shows a VF-31 F-4J (I
>decided to Go Navy--the Air Force colors were giving me a headache!) and it
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> peculiarity. Was VF-31 flying over the middle-east or some other "hot"
> region? Just wondering....

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Mad-Modeller - 13 Oct 2007 05:36 GMT

> Casting my mind waaaay back to about 1966, when Airfix first released their
> Phantom in 1/72 scale, the VF-31 option was the one included with the kit.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> Regards,
> Chris

When Airfix's Phantom came out here it was wearing VF-74 insignia and
was officially an F4H-1.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

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Chris Hughes - 13 Oct 2007 12:57 GMT

Hi Bill,

Which iteration had the "Felix the cat" then?

My memory is playing tricks with me! Was it the boxing where you had the
multiple choice (sort of) of noses and decals?

Chris

>> Casting my mind waaaay back to about 1966, when Airfix first released
>> their
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

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Mad-Modeller - 14 Oct 2007 03:09 GMT

> Hi Bill,
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> >
> > Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

No, the first one available here was simply an F-4B with Sparrow-only
armament and fuel tanks. The code was AJ-101 and IIRC, off the
Forrestal.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

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Pat Flannery - 13 Oct 2007 06:37 GMT

> Casting my mind waaaay back to about 1966, when Airfix first released their
> Phantom in 1/72 scale, the VF-31 option was the one included with the kit.
>
> As I recall, the wing national insignia in the kit were also the very large
> ones, but as to why, I couldn't tell you.
>

In Vietnam they had the visual recognition combat engagement rule in
force; was this to allow US aircraft to easily identify friendlies at a
distance? It would be possible for camouflaged Air Force and
uncamouflaged Navy aircraft to be working in close proximity to each
other, so did they want to make sure everyone knew who the good guys
were in they were engaged by MiGs?

Pat

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dancho - 16 Oct 2007 13:55 GMT

> In Vietnam they had the visual recognition combat engagement rule in
> force; was this to allow US aircraft to easily identify friendlies at a
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Pat

This makes sense to me. I saw a photo of a "big insignia" F-4 on a
forum and so I'm feeling more confident about it. I just wanted to be
sure that the size wasn't a "mix up" by Superscale. Thanks to everyone
who replied!

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Model Forum / General / Models / October 2007

VF-31 Phantoms with BIG Stars and Bars