AV-8B - which colours ?
Jakub Cikhart
Monogram 1:48 kit, but I think colours in manual are wrong. I saw photo
of Harrier from Desert Storm and I think upper surface was grey/dark
grey, but in manual is grey/dark green.
Can anybody help me ??
Thanks Jakub, Prague, CZ
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Jonathan Mock
According to Superscale sheet 72.625 (which was available in 1/48), there
are three variations on the usual RAF-style camouflage patterns:
1 - FS35237 Blue Gray over FS36375 Light Gray
2 - FS34079 Dark Green over FS36099 Dark Gray
3 - FS36320 Light Gray over FS36099 Dark Gray
Of the F-16 style camouflage applied to the AV-8B (ie three shades top to
bottom) there were another three variations:
1 - FS36231 Medium Gray/BSC381C-627 Medium Grey(?)/FS36320 Light Gray
2 - FS36118 Dark Gray/BSC381C-627 Medium Sea Grey/FS36320 Light Gray
3 - FS36118 Dark Gray/FS36231 Medium Gray/FS36320 Light Gray
Of course, I'm going on the assumption that Superscale got all their info right.
However... I read a qoute once in Air Forces Monthly from some USMC guy
who said that during Desert Storm they took a can of gull grey, added a
styrofoam cup of black to it and voila, new AV-8Bcolour!
FSwhat?
:-)
--
Jonathan Mock
³Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice, and fear, walk hand in hand...²
Drewe Manton
Jonathan Mock <jonathan.m...@ukonline.co.uk> wrote in
> Of course, I'm going on the assumption that Superscale got all their info
right.
Baaaaaaad assumption!!!!!
>
> However... I read a qoute once in Air Forces Monthly from some USMC guy
> who said that during Desert Storm they took a can of gull grey, added a
> styrofoam cup of black to it and voila, new AV-8Bcolour!
>
My brother returned from the Gulf with some paint samples from some US
Marine guys busy re-painting a CH-53. . .. . they were happy to give him the
samples. When he asked what the FS numbers were the reply was along the
lines of "dunno. . we made it up. . we call it "pumpkin pie and brownie""
As you said. . . FS what?
--
Regards
Drewe
Dave Williams
color scheme. The schemes have changed over the years. At first they had a
light grey belly and then they went to a grey/green wraparound scheme.
During Desert Storm, some had one or both original colors overpainted. The
most recent scheme is three shades of grey in an F-16 style scheme.
Dave
"Jakub Cikhart" <cik...@secar.cz> wrote in message
news:8bskqi$d7f$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
David Fleming
>Hi, I would like to know which colours are used on Harrier. I have a
>Monogram 1:48 kit, but I think colours in manual are wrong. I saw photo
>of Harrier from Desert Storm and I think upper surface was grey/dark
>grey, but in manual is grey/dark green.
>
> Can anybody help me ??
>
> Thanks Jakub, Prague, CZ
>
>
>Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
>Before you buy.
Can't get at my references at present, but there were two distinct 'two
gray' AV-8B schemes - one used a dark/medium scheme and the other a
medium/light. FSM ran an article on these. (Any help, Paul ?)
One point is that I have seen several 'interpretations' of what these
colours were. What is not in doubt is that at least one of them involved
'hand mixed' paints.
There were also a couple of overall grey machines.
David
Remove 'nospam' to reply
ngraser
Not really a baaaaaad assumption at all.
I did the research for most of that decal and the info for the colors
was based on several visits to MCAS YUma and resulting photo's from
those visits and a few other bases where I had found other Harriers.
Most times the officially specified colors ( if they are known) are used
on an instruction sheet. A few on this particular decal were, but most
on this sheet were matched by colorchip and photo's for several reasons.
These were exceptions.
For this Harrier sheet, I had the FS numbers from the corrosion control
shop and also talked to several of the guys who painted some aircraft a
few months earlier during Desert Shield & Desert Storm.
Because the decal dealt with regulation paint jobs and no reg or perhaps
experimental schemes, I could not use FS numbers for all.
It is true that some "striped" gray aircraft were painted using FS36320
mixed with a coffee cup of black. I found this out as my trip to Yuma
happened just after the Harrier guys got back from the war & I talked to
them about the scheme. I talked to men who had actually mixed the paint
for their squadron jets.(VMA 311, 531..their jets not on the decal
sheet, though.) The easiest way to replicate that color was to advise FS
36237, a blue gray. It was the closest FS match ( and all were made by
holding the FS color against the painted aircraft and also by using the
photos I made) to the paint mix used on the a/c. BTW the only color
replaced was the green. The mixed paint was applied over the green
color.
I photographed a few VMAT 203 machines at Yuma as well and the Striped
a/c they had were in different shades. This may have been due to the
weathering, a different mix of the paint or what ever..... That is why
the instructions list other greys. It's been a very long time ( 1991)but
the VMAT striped a/c may also have had a different camo pattern
indicating a total repaint.
There were also variations to the F-16 type scheme which also new at
that time. VMA 214 aircraft were painted to spec using 118 on top and
231 dark Gull Gray on the sides. However, the colors differed from some
other Harriers painted elsewhere. I believe the 214 machine were painted
using Deft paints, other squadrons using other brands ( Dupont for one)
depeneding on where the aircraft were painted. The 214 Harriers were
N/A versions.
The problem with the 214 Harriers was that the Dark Gull Gray didn't
match any FS color chip or any Dark G Gray painted aircraft I had ever
seen . The color was much "warmer" then DGG. So I decided to give the
closest color I could find which turned out to be a British match. (I
also fiddled around with model colors & I found that the Gunze color
was damned near a perfect match.) Compunded further by the fact that
there was at least two other VMA 214 aircraft on the ramp in the same
scheme but not in the colors called out on the paint schematic in the
corrosion control shop. I was told " they just came that way." So one
of those aircraft was placed on the decal as well & again I had to match
the colors to a color chip & later to the photo's. These had to be
experimental color schemes.
I found it interesting that a year later, almost to the day, I found
that the aircraft I photographed & researched the previous year had
weathered and the Dark Gull gray, which when new had a slight sheen to
it, was now flat & lightened and it did in fact match dark Gull Gray.
Not on the decal but of note were Harriers of VMA 531. They all had the
F-16 type camo and were painted in Okinawa. The dark Gull Gray sides
appeared more like 36320 and the Dark Gray color on top of the wings
supposed to be 36118, was so dark it almost looked to be black.
Hope the above helps some.
Best,
Norris graser
David Fleming
different finishes at first !