Question: Rotor Blade Colors

rodc

Member since
April 2003
From: Newfoundland, Canada

Question: Rotor Blade Colors

Posted by rodc on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 7:06 AM

I am building the Revell Huey Hog which is a bit of an old kit but still not a bad one eventhough it doesn't really build up into a Hog but more of a hybrid. One question I have regards the color of the main and tail rotor blades! I have seen every color under the sun from black, dark gray, light gray, silver, white, off-white, etc. Personally, I am thinking a non-shiny metallic such as MM's jet exhaust. Any advice? Also, with respect to the yellow caution stripes on the rotors, does anyone know how wide they should be as well as exactly where the placement of the stripes are with respect to the end of the rotor blade. Is it right to the end edge or is there a space before the stripe starts?

I look forward to your advice and comments!

RODC

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Avus

Member since
June 2003
From: Caput Mundi

Posted by Avus on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 8:06 AM

As far as I know the rotors are black. The tail rotor might also be olive drab.

Huey's rotor blades are made of an alluminium alloy, primed (zinc chromate) and painted. So if you want a weathered effect you coud have some bare metal and zinc chromate showing in selected spots (salt technique?).
The black would also be faded by sunlight to a dark gray, more than actual black.

This thread might help, too.

Klaus

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HeavyArty

Member since
December 2002
From: Valrico, FL

Posted by HeavyArty on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 8:24 AM

Army helos usually have black or OD blades. It was also common for blade tops to be painted OD green and the underside black. Some had one blade top painted black and white as well for high-vis during formation flying so aircraft above could see them.

The yellow tips are 6 inches in from the tip, both top and bottom. In 1/48 scale, that equals about 1/8 inch.

The tail rotor could be olive or black as well.

Usually Navy helos have gray blades. I have not seen steel or other color blades.

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supercobra

Member since
June 2003

Posted by supercobra on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 4:44 PM

You have to be a little more specific on what you want your end product to be. Colors will vary by service depending on the era. Only thing I can think of that would be silver/metallic/lt gray would be the rotor head itself (between the individual blades) and again that would depend on the era, service, etc.

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Aaronw

Member since
September 2015
From: The Redwood Empire

Posted by Aaronw on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 2:47 PM

I don't know about all Navy helos, but the SH-34s were painted grey on top, black underneath. This was supposedly to help prevent putting the blades on wrong side up.

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Melgyver

Member since
March 2003
From: Lafayette, LA

Posted by Melgyver on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 3:59 PM

Most the Huey Main Rotor and Tail Rotor blades I've seen in early 70's to early 80's were Olive Drab. They may have been black on the Charlie models but I didn't work a whole lot on them. We had a couple that had white painted on top of one blade, Surfer and Ace of Spades. I had seen a few sets of blades that were about the shade of the old Pactra Flat Green similar to interior green in the late 70's. I don't know anything about H-34 blades but you couldn't put a Huey M/R blade on upside down, the mounts won't line up if you tried! T/R blades were a different matter. I've seen a couple mechanic's put the T/R Hub and blades assy on the shaft fliped so the "pre-cone" was towards the fin and not away. By the time I walked over they had realized their mistake, the blades had contacted the fin.

Clear Left!

Mel