RAF Typhoon Colours

[Phantome]

On 24/12/2016 at 10:13 PM, SovereignHobbies said:

Hi Stu,

 

Do you recall where the cockpit info came from? I ask because with various British Standards and RAL being widely available here, it seems surprising that an all-European consortium wouls resort to American colours for what are very unremarkable shades that could easily have been picked from something local such as Dark Admiralty Grey etc.

 

The Luftwaffe use some FS colours on their modern camouflage so it's not impossible I suppose, but still very unusual for a British aircraft. On a US built F35 I wouldn't question it but on a Typhoon it seems unintuitive. 😕

 

I have a pal who's a Typhoon pilot. I could probably arrange for a colour match but there must be something official out there.

 

To be fair 36231 and Dark Camouflage/Admiralty Grey are practically indistinguishable in the sense that the difference is no worse than that of the same color done by different manufacturers.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

2 minutes ago, Phantome said:

 

To be fair 36231 and Dark Camouflage/Admiralty Grey are practically indistinguishable in the sense that the difference is no worse than that of the same color done by different manufacturers.

 

Which is fine, although there's a subtle but important difference between what is actually named in the specifications and what other colour systems just happen to coincide with the same shade.

 

For example FS34079 is a reasonable substitute for MAP Dark Green, but it would be misleading to state that the official colours for Temperate Land Scheme were FS34079 and Dark Earth.

 

All I'm saying here is that I'd like to know what a formal MOD document specifying colours for Typhoon actually calls for. It would be usual, as I said, for British military procurement to prescribe the use of American colours when the British Standards Institute exists.

 

FS36231 being very close to BS381C colours makes it even more questionable to my mind. That would involve someone making a conscious decision to prescribe an American equivalent for a standard we already have which would seem rather daft.

 

Use of FS36170 on our F35 Lightning IIs would at least have some logic to it if that were the case as there isn't an obvious equivalent in BS381 but I can't think why RAF Typhoons would officially painted in Federal Standard colours.

[Phantome]

6 minutes ago, SovereignHobbies said:

 

Which is fine, although there's a subtle but important difference between what is actually named in the specifications and what other colour systems just happen to coincide with the same shade.

 

For example FS34079 is a reasonable substitute for MAP Dark Green, but it would be misleading to state that the official colours for Temperate Land Scheme were FS34079 and Dark Earth.

 

All I'm saying here is that I'd like to know what a formal MOD document specifying colours for Typhoon actually calls for. It would be usual, as I said, for British military procurement to prescribe the use of American colours when the British Standards Institute exists.

 

FS36231 being very close to BS381C colours makes it even more questionable to my mind. That would involve someone making a conscious decision to prescribe an American equivalent for a standard we already have which would seem rather daft.

 

Use of FS36170 on our F35 Lightning IIs would at least have some logic to it if that were the case as there isn't an obvious equivalent in BS381 but I can't think why RAF Typhoons would officially painted in Federal Standard colours.

 

Because the Typhoon is not a British plane. Simple as that.

 

It's a 4 nation collaboration which includes 3 nations which extensively used US equipment in the past. In fact, when you think of it, all four nations used US fighters immediately preceding the Typhoon (Phantoms for UK, Germany, and Spain; F-104 for Italy).

 

It makes perfect sense to use Federal Standard being one all familiar with by now.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

It might be the case, but I'd still be surprised if FS colours were specified for aircraft built for the RAF. It's not like they're built on an Audi production line where you just get to choose what inserts go into the black plastic dashboard. The RAF ones have BS381C colours specified for outside and unique avionics fit as each nation in the consortium has their own fit. The cockpit will be built for a specific aircraft.

 

The other European countries involved in Typhoon heavily use RAL. It's only the latest scheme in the Luftwaffe that uses American grays.

[Bobski]

On ‎24‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 9:13 PM, SovereignHobbies said:

Hi Stu,

 

Do you recall where the cockpit info came from? I ask because with various British Standards and RAL being widely available here, it seems surprising that an all-European consortium wouls resort to American colours for what are very unremarkable shades that could easily have been picked from something local such as Dark Admiralty Grey etc.

 

If it came from this forum then it came from me. All the cockpits for all nations are painted the same colour, which is 36231. This is from the painting instructions for the actual aircraft. The overall greys for the Italian, German and Spanish aircraft are all FS colours as well.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

11 minutes ago, Bobski said:

 

If it came from this forum then it came from me. All the cockpits for all nations are painted the same colour, which is 36231. This is from the painting instructions for the actual aircraft. The overall greys for the Italian, German and Spanish aircraft are all FS colours as well.

 

Thanks for that Bobski

[DeepSea]

Apologies for the threadomancy but wondering if anyone has suggestions for the aggressor typhoon colour?

 

Picture

 

Thanks in advance

 

[wellsprop]

On 27/12/2016 at 22:26, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

It might be the case, but I'd still be surprised if FS colours were specified for aircraft built for the RAF.

 

I wouldn't not be at all surprised if many of the sub assemblies (landing gear etc) are in fact Fed Std.

 

The nature of modern manufacturing means components are subcontracted, designed and made all over Europe (and the world for that matter), quite often. The aircraft I work on have a lot of sub assemblies painted to FS colours (which are deliberately close to BS). As it is, the main exterior paint is BS (accept for when its not due to acceptable alternatives). 

 

So all of that makes it unhelpfully clear as mud.