F-16 in Vietnam Era Colors

That looks sharp! Not too different from the camo worn by the Venezuelan F-16s.

I wonder why they chose to do the radome it grey instead of black?  I don't remember seeing any white A.F. radomes back then.

No expert here,but I did read this:

"A radome with an excessive amount of filler and/or multiple coats of paint will experience loss of efficiency. Too thick of a coating can reduce the transmissivity of a 90 percent radome down to 50 to 60 percent. When refinishing is required, it is essential to remove all old paint and evaluate previous repairs."

so maybe it was to much work to put on the proper color camo from the Vietnam era

I think what Tojo quoted is pretty close to the probable reasons for the radomes still being grey.  US F-16 radomes (including the ECM radomes on the sides of the nose) are covered in a grey, rubber-like coating that is RF transparent.  There are still aircraft manufacturers out there that use a black coating on theirs, but I'm thinking that recoating the radar and ECM radomes on one F-16 might have been cost-prohibitive.

And now the question, who is going to built it?

Ben

My era in the USAF, would do one in a heartbeat if there was one in the stash.

But filing it away just in case.

I'm sure its only a matter of time before Caracal or Two Bobs comes along with decal sets for this one.

Could probably use sets from F-4 or F-105 for most of them.