I bought 3 different colors for a Su-27 camo scheme from Testors and they are doing beautifully on my Flanker model. The colors are Flanker Pale Blue, Flanker Medium Blue, and Flanker Blue Gray. These colors can be bought at the Testors website.
One of my next aircraft models will be an F-5E Tiger II in Navy Adversary scheme. The colors used by Air Force and Navy Adversary squadrons seem so close to the actual Warsaw Pact/Russian colors, that I’m wondering if I should use the remaining Flanker paint for the F-5E, or whether I should use what is listed in the instructions? IE Intermediate Blue, Light Ghost Gray etc?
Flanker is in the process of being painted. It’s the Airfix 1/72 Flanker B. Very pleased with the paint so far. Should be finished sometime next week. I’ll try and post photos when finished.
The Airfix kit has some fit problems but on the other hand it is one of the most accurate models of a Flanker out there.
I’ve heard that Airfix decals are often not that great so I bought some aftermarket sheets just in case.
This kit is 1/72 but I feel like I’m working with a 1/48 scale aircraft because the plane is so big!
Hmmm, Dave, i think I’ll have to see about getting that Flanker. She is a big bird and I am working on a Hasegawa 1/72 Super Hornet and I am thinking about using those colors for an agressor version of it. The idea just hit me after reading you and mikeym’s replies. cant wait to see the flanker…
I just thumbed through a picture book I have on US Adversary aircraft, and I’m not sure that using the Russian colors would be the best thing on an American adversary.
I have a picture book on the Su-27 and the shades of the colors seem different between the Russian and adversaries.
The book on US adversaries even has an F-14 done up to look like a Flanker (believe it or not) and the colors on the F-14 were not like any of the Russian Su-27’s they show in the Flanker book.
So perhaps it is better to go with the kit instructions or decal instructions. But then again if you want a not-wholly-accurate adversary that looks really cool then perhaps the Russian color paints are the way to go.
I looked at the Testors website again and they also have MiG-29 colors!
I’ve got the majority of the Su-27 painted in Testors Russian Flanker colors.
My reference book is a Concord publication from the early '90s, and the colors on those Flankers seem quite a bit different from the colors on my model.
In the reference book, one of the shades is kind of a deep blue. On my model the deep blue looks deep blue/gray, but not blue enough. The Testors Flanker Medium Blue seems to match well with that shade of blue in the photographs. The Flanker Pale Blue on my model seems to have a hint of green in it (maybe it’s just my lighting?), while the photographs show perhaps a very light blue gray for the lightest color in the camo.
I’m wondering if the Testors Flanker colors are based on the most recent paint scheme used by Russian Flankers. It doesn’t look quite like the Flankers in my book, but I have to admit the color shades look really cool.
hey djrost_2000;
you might have take in the lighting effect of the camera, photo film & printing of the pix of the Flanker, the paint might be on target but the pix are not, I’d go with the colors from Testors because they taken in the time to research the subject and the color mixing to get the correct color shade (also the planes paint may have faded for sometime before the pix was taken), but the US Air Force & Navy have taken the FS paint chips to the planes in question and have gotten the closest FS # to the paint used and worked it from there for their aggressors paint schemes, so it’s half dozen of one & 6 of the other on the F-5 or F/A-18’s colors, I’d just get them close and call it good
Great pic of a modern Flanker KJ!
It looks like with the Testors Russian Flanker paints, the Blue Gray seems to match up with the darkest shade in that pic. The light blue in the pic seems to match up with the Testors Flanker Medium Blue.
Based on the fact that my Blue Gray matches the darkest shade on a modern Flanker and that the model doesn’t look much like the pics in my ref book, I’d say that the Testors Flanker colors are probably for more recent aircraft.
So much for an accurate model. At least it looks cool[8D]
If I can add my two cents to this Dave, I wouldn’t use the colors of the Ukrainian Flanker as a basis for matching as they use a darker set of blues, at least for the darkest shades. For the Russian Flanker the colors closely match FS35550,35526 and 35450. To my eye, the Testors colors are a very good match except for the Blue-Gray which I feel is much too dark. So you will have a pretty accurate model. Hope this helps.[:)]
BTW, when I built my Flankers, I used the Aerofax book on the Flanker to compare colors. Also, try this link www.jpsmodell.de for colors and schemes for your adversary F-5.