I'm about to start work on the Revell boxing of the Italeri Jaguar GR1A in 1/72. I intend to do the aircraft of 2 Sdn RAF in the wrap- around camouflage scheme. Before I start, I need to check a few colours given in the instruction sheet.
For the fuselage interior, the sheet specifies the same grey as used in the exterior camouflage. Is Dark Sea Grey an accurate colour for the interior? A colour identified as Matt Sand is suggested for the wheel wells. Does anyone know what this should be? Finally, what would be a suitable colour for the red brown indicated for the gun ports?
The cockpit interior is Dark Admiralty Grey. I believe that White Ensign Models produces this colour. However, RAF cockpits always got very worn very quickly, so pretty much any medium to dark grey would suffice. I paint RAF cockpits in Gunship Grey and then use a heavy drybrush of Dark Gull Grey over the top. This slightly darkens the Dark Gull Grey and leaves shadows in the depths. I then lightly drybrush over the edges with zinc chromate and again with a light grey or silver to represent where paint has flaked away.
The wheel wells should be zinc chromate primer. Bear in mind that by the time the GR1A conversions started, many Jaguars had been in service for a long time and so the zinc chromate should be toned down quite a bit. Various components within the bays, including the gear itself and the inside of the undercarriage doors, should be Light Aircraft Grey, but again fairly grubby and worn.
The gun ports were actually natural metal with a protective coating of Suncorite. The blast suppresors on Harriers were coated with the same stuff, but you never got to see those because they were always hidden within the gun pods.
In the case of the Jaguar, mask off the natural metal bits and paint them. Then mix up a wash of dark red. Make it nice and thin and apply it in thin coats. Don't worry if it doesn't cover uniformly - Suncorite never did. Also be aware that Suncorite wore off in service, so if you are portraying an aircraft that has been in service for some time, you need to be very sparing with the application. If ever you build another Jaguar, make sure the application is different because no two aircraft were the same.
You've answered all my questions and another, the undercarriage doors, that I didn't think to ask. I have very little reference material on the Jaguar so your help is especially welcome. Did you work on these aircraft during your RAF service?
Thanks. I remember your masterly coverage of the Sidewinder.
After looking at the kit instructions, my questions are these:
The instructions show the 2(AC) Sdn aircraft carrying two fuel tanks on the inboard pylons, a recce pod under the fuselage and two items on the outer pylons that I'm not familiar with. There is a PHIMAT under the starboard wing and an AN/ALQ-101 under the port wing. Both of these are shown as Dark Green. As far as you know, are they in the right places and are they the right colour? In addition, what do they do?
If you can remember, do the air brakes hang down when the aircraft is parked on the ground? If so, what colour is the inner surface? Is the well that they retract into Zinc Chromate or another colour?
Finally, was anything else normally open when the Jaguar was parked for any length of time?
As you will have gathered, as far as modern aircraft are concerned, I'm rather out of my depth.
They are Deep Bronze Green, as are most stores. This colour is matched by Xtacolor X814 / Xtracrylix XA1814. Once Jaguars started to carry self-defence stores, the munitions were always carried on the centreline pylon, so the Phimat and ECM locations are correct.
The Phimat pod is a chaff dispenser. The AN/ALQ-101 is an ECM pod. There should also be ALE-40 flare dispensers on the engine bay doors.
The air brakes don't actually droop when power is off. If the aircraft shuts down with the brakes retracted, then they stay retracted. However, the linies will open the brakes for access to various gauges during the turnround. The pilots know this and so they rarely bother to retract the brakes as they taxi in. In service the brakes will be mostly open when the jet is parked, although I have seen them closed at airshows.
The inner surface of the brakes is zinc chromate. As for the bays, the forward portion is also zinc chrmate. The rear portion is very shallow and follows the line of the fuselage. This section is painted in the adjacent camouflage colour.
Flaps and slats are usually deployed on the deck. The nose gear main door closes after the gear has cycled down but is also opened by the linies again for access.
Enzo, are you certain? I remember looking at the cockpit of a Jaguar GR.1 in the hangar at Decimommannu back in 1984 or 85 and being surprised that it was pretty much all flat black; floors, seat, sidewalls and all. The Jags were all in the wrap-around grey and green scheme back then. Maybe my memory is faulty, just how dark is Dark Admiralty Grey? The hangar was well-lit by the way. I wish I could have taken photos. Didn't one of the Lock-On series feature the Jag? Scott Wilson
Dark Admiralty Grey is the standard colour for cockpits of UK built military aircraft. Newly applied Dark Admiralty Grey is very dark, but it fades very quickly. The paint wasn't very hard wearing at all and would flake off to reveal bare metal on the floors, which also tended to lighten the appearance of the cockpit area. It is possible that the jet that you saw was one of the later production aircraft and so was relatively new. On my squadron we had the first production Harrier, XV738, which was built in 1968. We also had a couple of the Falklands attrition replacement jets which were built in
1985 (ZD667-670). Their cockpits were darker than the rest on delivery but within a matter of six months or so you couldn't tell the difference between them and the jets that were twenty years old.
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