Correct IRIAF jet colors

[periklis_sale]

Hi guys

Can any of you advise the correct IRIAF color codes in MRP HATAKA TAMIYA or GUNZE for f-5 or f-4?

Thanks

Periklis 

[Mel]

Mr.hobby:

 

Hobby color H309 (Green) 34079

Hobby color H311 (Gray) 36622

Hobby color H27 (Tan)

 

 

MRP:

 

 

 

https://www.uschivdr.com/shopping-categories/shop-colors-paints-pigments-primer-paste/mr-paint-superfine-inks-2/

 

AK (photo reference)

 

 

Edited September 8, 2019 by Mel

[Mel]

12 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

FS 30219 is not one of the Iranian colors.  That's a USAF SEA camo color.  FS 30140 is the brown in the Asian Minor scheme.

thanks for the correction, then the FS 30140 would be correct?

[alain11]

I like this later paint scheme 

[bushande]

Someone else asked that question just a few weeks ago on another forum.

I was blessed enough to be able to take some shots of the real deal last year.

All in all three birds, six different shades of blue and grey.

Bottom line: You just go right after your own feeling of what looks about right and you will most probably have nailed it hihihi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2019 by bushande

[Out2gtcha]

Great pics! 

[Kagemusha]

1 hour ago, Out2gtcha said:

Great pics! 

 

Very much so, thanks for sharing.

[John1]

45 minutes ago, Jennings Heilig said:

Say what you will about the Iranians, you really have to hand it to them - they're keeping very highly sophisticated 40-plus-year old airplanes operational, having had zero factory support for them for 99% of that time.  Their ingenuity and resourcefulness are pretty amazing.

A lot of folks sell the Iranians short.  They’ve accomplished some pretty impressive feats, all the more so given the sanctions that have been in place for decades.    The GPS spoofing and subsequent  capture of that US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth UAV come to mind as a good example. 

[bushande]

All cool, happy if the images are of some help. The airframes I saw where 3-6029 / 160327, 3-6030 / 160328 and 3-6052 / 160350, the latter one being a "Mig-Killer" supposedly having downed an Iraqi Mig-25 with a Phoenix upon an Iraqi air raid on some Iranian villages close to the border on feb. 25, 1986. Would have loved to catch the elusive Baba'ee AM-Tomcat with the splinter camo but that one was apparently forward deployed somewhere close to the Persian gulf coast for a large scale excercise shortly after the occasion. Two of the airframes I saw were sent to that excercise directly afterwards. Supposedly 160327 and 160350 are scheduled for overhaul beginning in 2019 and 160328 came out of Mehrabat some time in mid 2017. Sadly I was not allowed to take pictures at or even around Mehrabat but I had been told that there were at least three (maybe even more) F-14s there currently for overhaul / upgrade already.

 

I hope I'm not too much of a nuissance but maybe the one or other is interested in some tidbit I gathered over there: Just for the record, I'm not Iranian or in any way affiliated. I'm German and have no particular personal political stance regarding the current US / Iran relations other than that it is always a sad thing if governments can't get along with each other even if their normal people would like to, though I am not claiming the right to judge about the reasons for whatever conflict there is!

 

I tried to follow up on the Persian Tomcats now for quite a few years and compile a rundown of the serials that are reportedly i.e. photographed or filmed flying since the resurgence of the fleet in 2004. Together with the three airframes I saw myself I counted so far 42 airframes flying; however JUST FLYING, whatever that means in regards to true operationability or even combat readiness. There are images showing the last Tomcat delivered to Iran. ie.e 3-6079 / 160377 together with 3-6001 / 160299 the very first Tomcat for Iran and by now the oldes and longest flying Tomcat ever, lighting burners for take off. There are videos promoting that ominous indigenous Fakkur-90 Phoenix derivative, showing the F-14AM Splinter 3-6049 / 160347 launching a large missile that looks a lot like a Phoenix. It definitely wasn't a HAWK as that missile would be longer, is not launched from the belly and has larger control panels. As it definitely shows the Baba'ee F-14AM which roled out in that Splinter camo in 2013, the missile launch video seems to be fairly current. Hence they either managed to maintain the thermal batteries for their Phoenix contingent through all those years or they indeed were able to derive their indigenous Fakkour-90 "Phoenix". Both would be quite impressive achievements given the circumstances.

 

I was able to talk to some IRIAF personell and also to a rep of the Baba'ee corp, so all I am writing here is just hear-say and tell-tale. However ... for them their F-14s are basically flying gold and if there were'nt operations of the IRGC revolutionary guard in Syria sucking up funds the upgrade program would have progressed much further. For them it seems to be a real big issue and a few years back they launched several projects they summerize as their "Self sufficiency jihad" thinking that if muslims call something a jihad it seems to be fairly important for them. There was also an industry exhibition nearby where you could see a lot of supposedly indigenous parts up to complete engines and cockpit equipment such a LCDs and simulators. By the early 2000s they already assessed if they could replace the Tomcat fleet by SU-30s but came to the conclusion that it would not be a sufficient replacement because the Flanker's spool up time was insufficient meeting thenecessary times for Alert-5 intercepts compared to the Tomcat's system spool up. The SU-30s they are planning to get by 2021 are actually supposed to replace mainly the F-4 C and D fleet, not even the Echos which just went through a so called "Dowr'an"-upgrade apparently aided by the Chinese. They do heavily insist that neither the Russians nor the Chinese are to lay hands on their F-14s. The gentleman from the Baba'ee program told me that they spend between one and three years on the overhaul / and (depending on funds) upgrade of each airframe not just repairing structures but basically replacing as many parts as possible which can sometimes result in something coming close to an outright newly built airframe. That's at least what he claimed.

 

I have to confess the people I talked to were very friendly and polite in every way even allowing me to get behind the bars and touch and pet the Kitty. Basically the IRIAF and most Iranians just want to be left alone. They don't seem to have a beaf with anyone including Americans and they just find it unfortunate what is happening on the level of high politics. None of the IRIAF personell I was able to talk to would speak an ideological or unkind word about the west in general or the US in particular. Actually quite the opposite. I know it's just plain talking so make of that whatever you will. The current actions we see on the news are apparently mainly executed by the IRGC and other groups excluding the regular military. It does seem that there is in fact an internal rivalry between the conventional forces such as the IRIAF and the revolutionary guards which seem to withdraw heavily from the regular forces in terms of funds and equipment. For instance the six F-14s forward deployed to the nuclear site at Busher are apparently not under the control of the IRIAF but seem to be operated by the IRGC which is not much appreciated by the IRIAF as you can imagine. One officer told me that they had to literally fight over the AM-airframe and that due to the IRGC sucking up IRIAF funds the upgrade program has slowed down but that they do plan to keep the fleet well into the 2030s. No idea how realistic that is but given that they increasingly push older aiframes to Mehrabat for overhaul / upgrade that were'nt flying at all for years - the last one I know of being 3-6039 / 160337 some time early last year and 3-6002 / 160300 i.e. the second Tomcat delivered to Iran,  just rolling out of the hangars at Mehrabat early this year, i.e. increasing the flyable fleet rather than maintaining the fleet at a certain number - actually speaks in my understanding for the version that many of these F-14s are indeed mission ready?! Why would anyone increase the number of flying jets if the current fleet wouldn't be operational already?

 

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by bushande

[John1]

Great post bushande, very informative and level headed, especially given the current climate.   

[Out2gtcha]

No nuisance here man, that was a great bit of info!  And yes quite the eye opener for those who have a particular vision in mind when they hear or see IRIAF 

[Troy Molitor]

I couldn’t agree more.  A lovely planet we share with model makers everywhere.   The only place I really want to go is that little Kiwi place.  I would love to see Wanaka at Easter time.  

 

Heading to Ko Samui tomorrow.  Nothing is better than looking up LSP on a lounge chair on a Thai beach!   

[IRIAF]

On 10/9/2019 at 5:00 PM, bushande said:

Someone else asked that question just a few weeks ago on another forum.

I was blessed enough to be able to take some shots of the real deal last year.

All in all three birds, six different shades of blue and grey.

Bottom line: You just go right after your own feeling of what looks about right and you will most probably have nailed it hihihi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have not been able to get a suitable color for This Tomcat  Iran Air Force  yet

[thierry laurent]

We will not get the full truth behind the Tomcat support before long. I will just say that in spite of the obvious technical ingenuity of the Iranians I have serious doubts about the total lack of support (remember the Irangate). And I also have similar doubts regarding the fact the Russians never had access to the Tomcat and Phoenix technologies (think MiG-31 assets). Nonetheless even if the IRIAF got some support via Israel, this was years ago. Once, I discussed with an ex-Navy guy the Tomcat after her retirement. The guy supported the plane on carriers and explained that the cost of the exceptional capabilities of the plane was an expensive logistical nightmare. According to him the too small number of D airframes and that issue were the most obvious reasons that pushed the planes out of the US carriers. Accordingly, I'm praising what the IRIAF is succeeding to do even if their fleet was technically speaking possibly more homogeneous than the US one. 

[bushande]

I'm currently in the process of prepairing a project on a 1/32 rendition of 3-6030 7 160328, the blue one I was able to lay hands on two years ago so I am pretty much in the same situation as you at the moment. I can provide a ton of close ups of that particular bird. 3-6030 came out of overhaul just about a year prior to when I saw her so the polymer color was fairly fresh in her without any major touch ups, fadings or too much weathering happening to the camo. So the blue/grey color picture was still fairly homogenous. I tried to match the various color references circling around for the blue/grey birds and quite frankly I can only second your observation. None really matched what I saw live. However, as I stated already earlier, it seams as there are different blue/grey colors used on the Persian cats or at least it appears that way depending on whether a bird is fresh out of overhaul/upgrate or has seen some service since the last facility visit. hence, I'm afraid it will be down to just trial and error finding tha halfway correct colors I'm afraid. So far I have not come to anything else.

 

Oh and just for curiosity's sake, I've been trying to keep tabs on the remaining active Tomcats now for quite a while maintaining a little excel table where I am trying to track as many serials as possible that I can document with images and clips as "active" i.e. taking off, touching down, flying, rolling, launching some load, visiting a static etc.

 

So far I can document 57 active serials with images and movies being taken between 2002 and 2020 with the last serials being 3-6050 / 160348 rolling out of the overhaul/upgrade facilities at Mehrabat in Feb. 2020 (apparently being a Mig-23 and also a Mirage killer of the first gulf war), 3-6067 currently undergoing overhaul (maybe also upgrade) as of early 2019, 3-6029 and 3-6052 being reported as being sent to overhaul (possible upgrade) as of mid 2019 and 3-6039 coming out of the mothball state in late 2016 and being delivered to Mehrabat for overhaul (maybe upgrade?) as of April 2017. The list of active Tomcats also includes 3-6079 / 160377 being the last F-14 delivered to Iran mid 1979 and believe it or not 3-6001 / 160299, i.e. the first Tomcat delivered to Iran in 1975, thus making it the longest serving F-14 by now. It would have been 59 birds if not for two losses out of three known crashs in the last few years. In 2008 3-6002 slid over the runway at Isfahan with gear up but the machine got repaired again and has been seen active as of 2012 again and my latest sight of that serial was in 2015. In Jan. 2012 serial 3-6062 was shot down by friendly fire via an IRGC Tor-M1 SAM missile being fired in error over the persian gulf with the crew apparently surviving the incident and on May 14 2019 the IRIAF lost 3-6003 due to an assyemtric engine malfunction which led to an uncontrolled deviation off the runway at Isfahan upon landing. The crew ejected savely but the bird burned out and was a total write off. These are the only losses I know of since the 2000s. Counting the few losses during the war it is quite possible that there are about 6-8 further serials somewhere either slumbering mothballed or that I just was not able to track down so far. So far 57 active units out of a former 79 is quite a number I have to admit.

 

Oh and since Russian involvement was implied in the thread. So far the IRIAF vehemently rejects all claims of Russian personell ever laying hands on their "sacred birds" however nobody over here in the west will know for sure (appart from intelligence agencies I suppose). In 2008 there was a project called "Touffan" with the goal of integrating the Russian R-27 and R-73. The proof of concept machines were apparently 3-6041 and 3-6054 with only very few images of these serials being equipped with these russian missiles. It seems that the project was laid on ice after some time due to difficulties but Baba'ee Corp., the contractor for the ominous F-14AM upgrade programm running as of 2013 / 2014 claims that the integration of these two Russian type missiles has been successful by now. However I have never seen any images or clips of Persian Tomcats with Russian missiles beyond the few images of 3-6041 and 3-6054 so far.

Edited December 11, 2020 by bushande