Revell Hunter colour schemes

I'd go with Day-Glo - mostly because I like patchy faded Day-Glo schemes, and Day-Glo was in fashion at that time. I'd also go with the wing bands, a la Gnat T1. The Humbrol Dayglo is excellent when applied over a good white base coat. Also - be sure to use the correct Humbrol cellulose (lacquer) thinner. I made the mistake of using auto store paint grade, and it thickened into sludge. After a call to their tech dept. and getting the Humbrol correct grade cellulose, it sprays and applies perfectly.

To weather, I apply a few patches of their Day-Glo Yellow (Saturn Yellow?) over the white, then wet sand the orange to smooth it and reveal some underlying yellow. But you have to use the Day-Glo Yellow for it to work. Even the brightest ordinary yellow looks like mud against Day-Glo orange. Mostly the thinned orange showing through a trace of white undercoat makes it look faded enough I've also tried the Revell Germany paint (which I think is made by Humbrol anyway), and can't remember being disappointed with that either.

Chek Change' boos' to 'bos' in address to email directly

I think there is enough evidence just in Dick Ward's book to justify dayglo plumage.

Thanks for confirming my assumption that I'd need a base coat. I seem to remember Humbrol did a specific base coat for their fluorescents, 206 Base White. Is that what you use?

I've just opened the tin of Humbrol 192 Matt Blaze and sniffed, and I'm pretty sure it's an enamel, not a lacquer. Are we talking about different paints here? The equivalent yellow is shown on my Humbrol colour card as 194 Saturn Yellow Gloss, if that helps. I'd normally expect to thin Humbrol enamels with white spirit (mineral spirits in americanese, I think). Should it be necessary, I do have a can of Humbrol Enamel Thinners in the supplies drawer...

over the white, then

white undercoat

Cunning. My patchy memory tells me that the dayglo did fade noticeably.

You made me go and check Urban Fredrikssons colour cross-referece charts again

The Revell Germany paint is quite unlike the Humbrol enamel that I am used to. I tried thinning it with white spirit and ended up with Olive Drab that took three weeks to dry. I had to dig quite hard, but it appears that the Revell paint is a synthetic enamel, and must be thinned with the correct thinner (Revell sell this, of course). I find it dries quicker than Humbrol, and thickens up in the tin pretty quickly too.

alan, i'll have to check my copy of the ancient 1976 issue of the airfix magazine guide on modelling jet fighters. one of the models in the chapter on the hunter is of a DFLS a/c but it will be a F1 variant which did have bright yellow wing bands.

i have to say that they choice of decals revell went for is surprisng as there are plenty of unusual F6 markings that they could've chosen, but if they had dick ward on the case for them, its unlikely that they will be wrong.

t.

There is a photo of an unidentified F6 in Wings of Fame 20 in the Revell scheme (though coded 'G'')

Hard to tell in a B+W photo, but the colours look lighter than I would expect dayglo orange.

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Thanks for the reference. The fluorescent Dayglo is/was an absolute bastard to photograph as it was *meant* to be bright. In monochrome photos it always used to come out white for me. On colour slides it ended up a pale orange. Without seeing a monchrome photo of a yellow-marked plane alongside a dayglo one it is pretty much impossible to tell them apart, I guess, without a set of colour notes taken at the same time :-~ A lot like trying to tell the aluminium-painted undersides from the Light Aircraft Grey ones...

Dick Ward has one of F.1 WT683, DA Fighter Leader School, 1954 with a yellow spine and fin leading edge. No mention of wing bands. 1954 is too early for dayglo in any case, which seems to have come in about 1961.

"There is a photo of an unidentified F6 in Wings of Fame 20 in the Revell scheme (though coded 'G'')

Hard to tell in a B+W photo, but the colours look lighter than I would expect dayglo orange."

So I checked out my copy of the WOF article. Yep, the photo's there on page

"The Day Fighter leader's School (DFLS) received Hunters in 1955. "A" Flight painted the spines of its Hunters red, with matching chord-wise bands across the wings and tailplanes. "B" Flight used yellow. By the end of

So, unless the author, Jon Lake, got it wrong, there's your answer!

Many thanks, Chris, for some excellent work. And what an answer! Revell's colour scheme gets some supporting evidence, and indicating that it is a "B" Flight aircraft, giving the new possibility of dayglo green.

Humbrol seems to have discontinued their fluorescents, so Signal Green may be the nearest. I can't remember ever seeing dayglo green, though, and have no idea what is a good match for it. Dayglo orange is possible, too ("*may* have used the short-lived fluorescent green Dayglo." implying it isn't certain).

Virtual beers all round. :-)

Summarising what we have so far...

/1) Did XG204 have yellow markings at any stage? The CFE seems to have gone in for lots of different schemes, so it is quite possible, but a positive reference would take away any doubt./

- - Pretty much a guaranteed "yes", assuming it was a "B" Flight aircraft.

/2) Did XG204 wear dayglo markings like XF382 at any time? Somehow I like the dayglo idea better than trainer yellow, and the rest of the markings are confirmed in Dick Ward's book./

- - Possibly, not confirmed, could have been dayglo green. Must see if the local model shop has some obselete tins of Humbrol. More references still sought.

/3) Have Revell gone for trainer yellow (with or without photographic evidence) because they can't make a recipe for dayglo orange out of their paint line?/

- - No, there is an equivalent in their paint range, 25, Luminous Orange.

Handy rule of thumb for that one was:

Three colour roundels, matt or non-glossy undersides - aluminium Three colour roundels - glossy underside - light aircraft grey Two colour roundels - light aircraft grey

There are always exceptions, but it is reasonably accurate

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They used to have one called, I think, Saturn green or Saturn Yellow, that was a good match for the fluro lime green painted on the underside of some Meteor TT20s.

Biggest sales of it were apparently to fishermen for flies!

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