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Auster AOP9 colours


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Looking for  basic information on camouflage colours applied to Auster AOP9 (c.1950s/60s). Having viewed a number of photographs on various websites it seems to me that these aircraft were painted in two colours that were not the old dark earth/dark green combination. The colour combination appears to be two tones of Green. Any help on this subject would be appreciated...a pointer towards the nearest Humbrol colours would be a good starter. I am after an approximation rather than any deep conversation on colour codes but please, be my guest here. As I said any help will be much appreciated. Thank you.

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Can you provide links to some of these pics please? Leaving aside those which are obviously in completely different schemes, e.g. mainly yellow or white, I've never seen a camouflaged AOP9 that wasn't dark earth & dark green.

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Sorry I can't take you directly to a photograph of an Auster AOP9 in camouflage (don't know how to!) but if you type in your browser WZ706, a number of colour photo's will become available.

on various websites. This ex- AAC aircraft has been much photographed since its restoration as it has attended many air shows. It may well be that my computer is not providing me with correct colour or my eyes are playing tricks...I celebrate my 80th birthday next year so age may have something to do with it.

As you can see, I am a newbie here and have already made the mistake of placing my username in the 'subject' box. ...you will have to give me a bit of slack for that boob.

I will be quite happy if you come back to me and confirm that the aircraft is, in fact, painted Dark Earth/Dark Green. It makes my finishing of the model much easier.

I take note that this website caters mostly for small scale modellers so I may even be on the wrong website. My build is a 1/6th scale, flying model. Nevertheless, thank you for your time and any help that you can give.

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You're more than welcome to make inquiries in relation to scale flying models - the answers about original colours are the same whether you;re working in 1/4 scale or 1/144, after all!  They're my main area of modelling activity too. Are you building the Airsail kit?

 

Anyway, back to WZ706 G-BURR.  I've looked at several recent photos. Here she is in the Wikipedia shot, and to me that's a standard dark green and dark earth camouflage scheme with self-adhesive dayglo patches, prominently under the wings I note from other photos, and a red spinner, slightly darker than the roundel red.

 

I've posted this pic as it's available for free use - larger sizes here -

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:G-BURR_Auster_WZ706_(28645500130).jpg

However I note that the colour balance in this particular shot is a little 'cold', i.e. shifted to blue slightly. With the balance corrected to bring the whites back, the dark earth definitely comes out as a warmer browner colour.

640px-G-BURR_Auster_WZ706_(28645500130).

Edited by Work In Progress
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Many thanks for the very quick reply and I am pleased that you confirm the colours as dark earth/dark green. The lighter colour looked more like a shamrock green to me but as I said...I'm getting old.

Yes! I am building the smaller version of the Airsail AOP9 (75" span) and in the process of covering with solartex olive drab as a base for the camouflage coating. I seem to have come full circle in my long time hobby of making aircraft models because my very first free flight scale model was built in c.1955 and it was a 36" span Auster AOP9 from a plan featured in the Aeromodeller magazine by Ron Moulton. I can only hope that my latest effort is not a call for me to prepare to meet my own 'maker'.

 

Thanks again for your help.

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Good luck with it and I'm sure you'll have many more years ahead! I have that Ron Moulton plan somewhere, along with a collection of the smaller free-flight Airsail kits including their 24" AOP9, which I'll be doing in yellow or white (need to keep the weight down for rubber power).

 

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I noticed that the Ron Moulton plan is floating around on the internet and it certainly brings back memories. I still have a photograph of my grandmother standing in front of her colliery home (Hebburn on Tyne) holding the Ron Moulton model. It was powered by an Alban Dart .5cc engine and flew in a low, wide, circle on a very low throttle.

 

I had noticed the long line of 'patches' you mentioned, running along the wing underside, just behind the leading edge but I wasn't sure what they were. I take it that these were/are in RED Dayglow?

There also appears to be another patch just above the fin flash. Is that also in dayglow red? On my computer it looks like a shade of Greeeeeeen! again. I must have my computer/eyes seen to.

 

Lastly, I was wondering just how I could place a photograph with my posting just in case anyone was interested. Can it be done from Photobucket like some other forums?

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I've just put WZ706 into Google and hit the "images" button. I can confirm the dayglo is on both the top and bottom wing surfaces. You do have to look further for an upper wing image though, It's suprisingly high when parked. Yes, you can copy and paste images from Botophucket.

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photo img157.jpg

 

This photograph is 62 years old and was taken by me using a so called Baby Browny camera (Kodak)...a very primitive gadget. Even more basic is the fact that I developed and printed the picture using exposure light from a gas mantle. My grandmother (Elizabeth Oswald Kirtley : nee Lilley) does not seem too much 'put out' at having to pose with my model Auster AOP9 at the front of her colliery house in Hebburn upon Tyne. Unfortunately, the photo does nothing for this forum because of the poor quality but I thought it would be of interest, having mentioned it in a post (above) and also as a memorial to my grandmother who died in 1973 when I was on detachment to Bahrain with the RAF. At that time I was serving with 114 Squadron (Argosy) based at RAF Benson.

 

When I have applied the final coats of camouflage (DARK EARTH/DARK GREEN) to my new build I will endeavour to place a photograph on this thread.

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Don't apologise for the quality of the photo, that is nothing against the richness of the memories it obviously holds for you. Thank you for sharing it with us, I'm a great fan of a Gran, all kids should have them , hopefully to indulge them before letting their parents have them back. I was lucky enough to have a Gran like that, my early modelling, as a pre-teen, was done on my Gran's table, suitably protected with newspapers, while she looked on indulgently & offered encouragement.

Steve.

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I agree wiv I'm, wish I'd had one that's for sure

 

Nice early AOP9 too

 

This monitor or eyes wibble, do you see dayglo normally?

 

Because if you do its a relatively easy task to let the screen settings know they've upset you

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