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Vietnam Huey colours


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Hi guys,

can I get your opinions please on the best colours to represent the following pics. There is a good thread on this in the archives here but none of the pics show up anymore.

 

Particularly I'm looking for best matches for the rotor mast colours and the different types of olive drab in the Vietnam era Hueys. I see different types of colours in the rotors, mast, scissors sleeves etc and different shades of olive drab/ green seem to be present in many Hueys.

 

What is that yellow type paint that has mostly been worn off on the mast also? The rest appears to be of a light grey type colour?

 

IMG-2193.jpg

49438977-10156824987034098-1317329390954

 

Also as you can see in this and the first pic, there have been replacement pilot doors added but appears to be a different colour or shade of olive drab maybe?

IMG-5782.jpg

 

IMG-3965.jpg

IMG-3967.jpg

 

Edited by UH-1Mad
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For the rotor mast, that is yellow chromate primer showing through where the light gray/silver has worn off. I am pretty sure rotorwash has posted about the mast color before. 

 

OD/Green did go though changes during the war so depending on the supply chain you could get various shades. In pic one they also replaced the overhead glass with a unpainted part.

 

Don’t know about the Bell 47 but the floats on the Huey behind it looks interesting.

 

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Late in the war, the color used by the Army evolved to a more greenish tint.  Didn’t see many Army Hueys w this but many SVN ones delivered after the US withdrawal were painted in this color.  

 

You can also see on late Hueys that they lost their black anti-glare noses.   

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Saved this for occassions such as this one:

 

Huey colors - Rotors, rotor head, scissor, push rods, links, swash plate and mast

 

Viet-nam era UH-1 pylons (B ,C, D, H, and M) were all painted roughly similar, and components were mixed and matched with out regard to color. So you could have a pair of "drive links" for example of which one was gloss light gray, and the other being, just anodized and left that metallic silver color.

 

Mast boots were varied from orange to red to black. The slicks (D&H) had one boot above the scissors and sleeve assy, while the guns (C&M) had two, one above the scissors and sleeves, and one below from the swash plate up to the scissors sleeves. The later protected the "uniball" Teflon coated bearing surface on which the swash plate rode. D&H models used a "u-joint" arrangement not unlike that found on an auto drive shaft.

 

Swashplates were generally just coated and left to the elements. Some however, were painted that light gray during overhaul or repair. Swashplate and support assemblies were generally treated alike (being one assembly.)

 

The mast is a steel alloy and is plated in a process known as Cadmium Plating giving it that silver-goldish color. The same can be said for the Yoke (center) of the main rotor hub.

 

Blade grips, that part of the hub where the main rotor blade is attached to the hub is aluminum and was almost always Gloss Light Gray. On the guns, a plastic dust deflector was attached to the leading edge of the grip assembly, this was left it's natural primer grey looking color. (Similar to the color of the floor and some sound proofing blankets on the bulkhead.)

 

Stab bar is subject to all of the above being made up both steel (outer bar and counter wights), and aluminum, the inner bow shaped pieces being aluminum.

Hardware was often replaced on the pylon at the periodic inspection (100 hr) and maybe either gold Cadmium or Steel Gray/Silver color.

Tail Rotor as above Yoke the gold Cadmium or Steel Gray/Silver color. Grips are painted the Gloss Light Gray.

 

Huey trivia...For maintenance purposes a small dot of paint was placed on each component Red on one side, White on the other denoting the left and right side of the rotor system. Typical write up might be "Red scissor arm has axial play." or "White mixing lever has radial play." (We were lucky the crane drivers had Red, White, Blue, Yellow, and Black to contend with....)

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