USMC helo's

yeah, that is a big beanie. About 5 feet or so in diameter. They are a pain in the but to remove or replace, especially in high winds.

Now this is totally off topic, but ridleusmc, that piccie with the guy lying accross the beanie... Man that's a big beanie...

(I fly Bell 206's daily.

hehe...that made me chuckle.

QUOTE: Originally posted by urich Can any one tell me the current paint sceam on the Cobra and the CH-46 looks two tone blue gray

Sure... The current paint sceam on the Cobra and the CH-46 looks two tone blue gray.

Phrogs due tend to keep more of their two tone color but after seeing them in CENTCOM AOR, they too eventually fade out. Looks more like a light gray with darker patches of gray here and there where corrosion control repainted the access panels.

I can second that. I'll add that due to wear, tear, oil and exhaust the paint will slightly darken over time. It seems that areas forward of the engines tend to be lighter than areas aft of them. Touch up paint and is often much lighter than the rest of the aircraft. 6 months working Corrosion Control taught me that. Let me see what pics I can find to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.







These pics should give you a good idea about weathering. Unfortunately I don't have a good 46 pic at the moment, but they're cleaner birds than 53's and Skids because their exhaust are at the rear of the aircraft. They usually have a band of soot around that starts at the exhaust and goes back and down at about 45 degrees to the ramp door area.

The lighter gray is light ghost gray, FS36375 (testors 1728) and the darker gray is medium gray, FS35237 (testors 1721). That info is from the Twobobs decal sheet and another source I found.
Generally, the aircraft are painted with an overall light gray, and the darker color is applied to the upper surfaces only.