AV-8A low viz camo colors

[ILuvMigs]

Hey all,

Working on an Airfix 1/72 AV-8A and have come up with contradictory info on cockpit, landing gear and wheel well colors and camo colors for low viz AV-8A's in the early 80's. It appears that the cockpit and landing gear is FS36270, but airfix calls out Sea Grey and light aircraft grey respectively. Also it appears that when the AV-8A switched to low viz markings the camo changed from green FS34079 and Grey FS36173 to the camo used on early AV-8B's of Green FS34064 and Grey 36099.

Original camo:

Low Viz:

Is it just a trick of light or was the camo changed? Can anyone confirm or help? Thanks in advance.

Edited June 3, 2015 by ILuvMigs

[achterkirch]

Im not expert but it does look like a color change.

[Andre]

AFAIK the AV-8A's, being built in the UK, were delivered in British colors - Dark Sea Grey / Dark Green over Light Aircrat Grey.

HTH,

Andre

[LanceB]

AFAIK the AV-8A's, being built in the UK, were delivered in British colors - Dark Sea Grey / Dark Green over Light Aircrat Grey.

HTH,

Andre

That is correct - and the landing gear were Aircraft Gray, never FS36270. The exterior FS colors of 34064/36099 were US approximations of Dark Sea Grey and Dark Green.

[ILuvMigs]

O.K. so there was a color change as the original harrier was in FS34079 and 36173? FS34064 and 36009 are colors I pulled from the Official Monogram USN and USMC aircraft colors 1960-93 and they where for the AV-8B

Edited June 3, 2015 by ILuvMigs

[ILuvMigs]

Here are a couple AV-8B pics to compare:

[LanceB]

O.K. so there was a color change as the original harrier was in FS34079 and 36173? FS34064 and 36009 are colors I pulled from the Official Monogram USN and USMC aircraft colors 1960-93 and they where for the AV-8B

RAF Dark Green apparently changed in mixture around 1975 (according to sources like IPMS Stockholm's color guide), but went from a rough FS 34064 (pre-1975) to 34079 (post-1975). But IPMS Stockholm also lists Dark Sea Grey as 26173, which would be too light. 36118 is noticeably lighter than the gray of the Harriers, and 26173 would be lighter still.

I worked on AV-8Bs in the mid- to late- 80s, when there were still a couple of squadrons of AV-8A/C around, the gray and green were the same. We shared a hangar with an RAF Jaguar squadron on deployment, and their Jags were painted in almost the exact same colors as our Harriers, which makes me wonder about that supposed 1975 change in Dark Green.

In any event, all AV-8A were manufactured in the UK and delivered in BS colors, FS 34064/36099 were US equivalents matched to the original BS colors. Yes, the "light" Harriers in the first pics you posted a clearly different from the "dark" Harriers, but there are plenty of pics of early, hi-vis marking AV-8A in dark schemes, like this one from 1976, or this one. The paints did have a habit of chalking badly, our planes looked very different if you compared one that had just been repainted to one that had last been painted even a month previously.

Your pics of -513 AV-8A in flight seem to be in the 34064/36099/Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green paints, compare to the pics you posted of AV-8B where there is no doubt as to the FS colors. They match up very well. 159374 does seem to have some odd paints used, why I do not know, but that photograph is from the 1976 Farnborough show when it was a demonstrator prior to delivery to the US, and in other pics from the same show the green looks a lot more like standard Dark Green.

[ILuvMigs]

LanceB, thank you sir for the explanation! This help immensely.