A-4 Skyhawk colour scheme differences

More then likely just weathering/ fading. Standard scheme was gull gray over white

Hi John

thanks very much for your reply

When you go to look it up, us Light Gull Gray as your search term. (36440)

Believe me, if you painted your model in Gull Gray, it would "funny" to your eye (36473) (also, 36473 was not one of the US colors during the Vietnam war)

After 1971, the color on the aircraft changed just slightly, and so did the name, the USN changed the name to Light Gray and the aircraft started being painted in Gloss (16440).

You don't need to look up the arguments about color, just get Testors Flat Light Gull Gray, and Gloss Light Gull Gray, paint both on something next to each other, and you will see the difference.  This is because Testors designed their paint colors for the Model Master line *before* the GSA mistake of 1984, correctly getting colors different when they were in real life.

In real life, the colors were allowed to vary 5% lighter and 5% darker than the standard, when received new,,,,,,and faded more than that once applied.

This means that you have a very wide range of colors to have on your model, and still be "correct",,,,,,,,,,heck, you can paint a pre-1971 aircraft with the post-1971 paint, and since about 1/2 of all modelers "don't believe" in the differences,,,they will see it as *perfect*.

I hope this helps,,,,,,and I hope this serves as good reasoning as to why you should just "pick your favorite color" and run with it.

Rex

Hello!

This is really good info Rex! Thanks for sharing - and have a nice day

Paweł

36473 may not have been a US color in Vietnam, but Aircraft Gray 16473 was. It was used on USAF aircraft such as the O-1, O-2, OV-10, F-101, F-102, F-104, F-106...

yes, 16473 was a USN color also,,,,,,from during the Yellow Wings era on up, with the name Aircraft Gray

but, just like with a bunch of the other colors,,,,,16473 and 36473 were actual different colors, too, when 36473 was introduced to the palette

Rex

Ha- I've got an Argentine Skyhawk project going now. Talk about a variety of schemes. The a/c were operated by both the navy and the Air Force.

TarnShip

yes, 16473 was a USN color also,,,,,,from during the Yellow Wings era on up, with the name Aircraft Gray

but, just like with a bunch of the other colors,,,,,16473 and 36473 were actual different colors, too, when 36473 was introduced to the palette

Rex

Are they now? I was unaware of that. I think 16473 is just such a beautiful shade of gray for aircraft- just the right amount of blue in there.

Rex

thanks very much for your proper and expert explanation

particolary the 5% difference in the GREY colours

this means that a variety of this gull grey can be found on the Skyhawk so more or less lighter/darker shades make a reasonable representation of this aircraft

Is this possibly true for the pre-1971 aircrafts ?

yes, the Non Specular Light Gull Gray over White era had the same possible variations

I didn't use the British spelling of Grey, because it is easier to find color info online if you use the same spelling as the country of origin, rest assured, that if you were building a British aircraft in Dark Sea Grey, I would recommend the "Grey" spelling for that color

Stik, I like that 16473 color a lot myself, a Phantom in that scheme, with the White missiles with Yellow and Red-Brown stripes, really stands out on a shelf

(and just for grins,,,,,there was one Phantom in Vietnam SEA camo, that had 16473 on it in place of the 30219 Tan color, with a patch of Lt Gull Gray on the tail, giving it a 2 greens, and 3 grays camo scheme,,,it is in an old Koku-fan, in a color photo)

thanks very much for all your excellent reply