Saab Gripen colors

[Craig Maternowski]

Hello Everyone,

I'm getting ready to start Italeri's 1/48 Saab Gripen two-seater. I'm curious about the colors. The instructions call for Dark Ghost Grey over Medium Grey. However, this doesn't seem right based on pictures I've seen. I'm considering either South African Air Force or Hungarian Air Force and I believe the colors are the same for both air forces (at least that's what the instructions say). Any thoughts? Thanks.

Craig

[Andre]

Any thoughts?

Can't be of specific help as I'm at the office wihout my references, but as Italeri / Testors have their own paint range to plug, be advised to take any color reference in their instructions with caution.

Unless you believe that the undersides of both late Spitfires and Bf.109G's were painted Light Ghost Gray in WWII, that is. ;-)

Cheers,

Andre

[Lansen]

Hi Craig!

Hungarian and Czech Gripens use the same colours as the Swedish ones, namely FS.36173 for the top and FS.36373 for the lower surfaces. Markings and stencils are FS.36118 or 36173 depending on the background colour. Note that Hungarian aircraft have a "fake canopy" painted on the fuselage below cockpit (FS.36118).

The South African aircraft have a completely different different paint scheme, the colours of which I'm not sure about. The base is a medium grey shade used for the entire airframe with a darker square topside camouflage. It also hase those fake canopy contours as the Hungarians. These colours appear very different and I was once told by a SAAB official that they have a slight yellowish tint to better blend in with the enviroment of South Africa. If I can come up with anything more specific, I promise to post here ASAP.

Hope that's of any help.

Per

[Spongebob]

I'm building a Best Choice "C" in Swedish markings now and have gone through the same dilemma over three paint jobs now...In totally unscientific fashion (aka "looks good to me!"):

The bottom is definitely 36375, which is called out in the Best Choice instructions but not 2Bob's which calls for 36373. The only 36373 I could find is PollyScale and it's way too dark.

For the top, 36173 came out waaaay too blue (again, PollyScale was the only source I could find). Best Choice's instructions call for 36320 which I know isn't going to be enough change from 36375

Here's where I see differences on the upper surfaces:

For the Czech/Hungarian aircraft, it looks like the PollyScale 36373 is actually a pretty close match.

For Swedish aircraft, their top color appears to have a bluish hue in ALL of my reference photos...I settled on 36327 over a base of 36118.

To me, the SAAF aircraft is definitely 36118.

Now, I know the FS #'s are correct but they didn't look right from the bottles I got.

FWIW, I'm not real impressed with the Best Choice "C", but it looks like in my "D" they fixed most of the issues (too small resin and the crappy kit gear are the main ones).

HTH

Spongebob

Edited November 19, 2008 by Spongebob

[AFammo]

What are the colors for the E Splinter camo? Thanks and have a good day.