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Russian jet colors


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Why are there so many different color callouts for various contemporary Russian jets?  It seems every different Soviet/Russian squadron has a different set of colors for the same plane, aside from schemes that might be specific to a locale or clime.  Just check online instructions for various models; if all those different colors are accurate, that could/would be a real life maintenance stores bad dream, no?  Can anyone shed some light on all those colors?

 

Thanks!

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There are far too many colors to address each one. You’ll find quite a few options from Akan and Vallejo, which offer “out of the bottle” solutions. But you’re right, that there is a lot of variation in real life. As I plan future builds, I’ll probably modify these these colors or mix my own from scratch. My advice is to not obsess over finding the "right" color. Trust your eye and use the real-world variation to your advantage.

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just a thought here, but the whole idea of camo is to make an airplane less visible + general protection from ageing. But camo works in certain environment. i.e. desert one may not be the best of SEA and vise versa. And Russia is big. So you have patterns for European areas (like mig-23/27 in Germany), desert o alike for Afganistan type of climate, Naval, like on su-33 etc... 

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Hello! There are really a lot of flowers.

1. Many options for camouflage schemes for one type of equipment.

2.There is different paint fading in different weather conditions.

3.The period of production and repair of equipment matters (sometimes they painted with what they had at hand due to the lack of the necessary colors.the shades were obtained by mixing colors by eye).

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On 8/16/2021 at 9:37 PM, scimitar said:

Why are there so many different color callouts for various contemporary Russian jets?  It seems every different Soviet/Russian squadron has a different set of colors for the same plane, aside from schemes that might be specific to a locale or clime.  Just check online instructions for various models; if all those different colors are accurate, that could/would be a real life maintenance stores bad dream, no?  Can anyone shed some light on all those colors?

 

Thanks!

 

Germans have RAL, the Brits British Standard and the USA Federal Standard when it comes to painting military aircraft. I believe the Russians have a similar system, but the problems begin when modeling companies or modelers use a western paint standard to try and match a Russian colour. 

 

As an example, Humbrol XX might be a perfect match for a certain Russian paint, but if that aircraft has been outside in the elements for a year or so, Model Master XX might be a better match. And maybe a certain Russian colour is matched by paint from different model paint manufacturers, so it is a matter of choice.

 

The Russians appear to keep their jets outside a lot, simply because a lot of their hardened aircraft shelters were constructed in the MiG-21/23 era and the newer larger jets don't fit inside. This will lead to a lot of variation in paint schemes due to different weathering, also depending on local weather. 

 

As you mention; they do appear to have paint schemes for certain regions, which all adds to the charm of building models of Russian AF aircraft IMHO 😉 

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