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Airfix Yellowjacks Gnat - Decal options?


Rabbit Leader

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Just wondering if anyone has seen the decal sheet for the new Airfix Yellowjacks Gnat.

Do they provide serial options for all 5 a/c or just the one. If only one - which one?

As side from that, I would also be interested in what Humbrol paint option has been called out - 24 Trainer Yellow or 99 Lemon Yellow.. By my tiring eyes it looks more like a Lemon shade to me..

Cheers.. Dave.

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Just wondering if anyone has seen the decal sheet for the new Airfix Yellowjacks Gnat.

Do they provide serial options for all 5 a/c or just the one. If only one - which one?

As side from that, I would also be interested in what Humbrol paint option has been called out - 24 Trainer Yellow or 99 Lemon Yellow.. By my tiring eyes it looks more like a Lemon shade to me..

Cheers.. Dave.

Dave,

Don't know about the decal options but regarding the paint colour for the aircraft, if you think about it it's likely to be a standard RAF aircraft paint - lemon isn't one of those colours, what you refer to as trainer yellow more likely is the correct shade as it's a standard colour.

Wez

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I personally think that Airfix would use gloss yellow 69, what the RAf equivelant is I do not know. It's the same yellow that Airfix use in the tiger moth and the RAF rescue sea king. Trainer yellow is a matt finish so I don't think it would be that.

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But was it a regulation RAF paint colour? Might the team gone to thier local paint shop and picked up a yellw? After all other national teams went to use automotive paints. For example, the Italian tem who flew Sabres in Cavalino Rampante use a Lancia car paint.

My model of the Yellowjacks Gnat posted here the other day is a sort of lemony colour, I went for this as the standard RAF trainer yellow was much much too orange for my liking!

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There were a few discussions regarding the yellow used last year when the kit came out.....I was lucky enough to be in possession of a small paint chip from a Red Arrows Gnat, some while ago (thanks to Dennis 'Sloegin57' who kindly lent it to me.).

Dennis posted pic's of that chip on here (they're not on line now). Under the red was a patch of yellow - from an earlier existence - and I seem to recall that it was indeed an excellent match for good old '69 - which surprised me, as I had heard references to the aircraft bring finished in Lemon yellow......

I may have some pic's of that chip somewhere - If I can find it I'll post it up here...

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Trainer yellow is a matt finish so I don't think it would be that.

It certainly wasn't matt in its post-war applications, e.g.. the yellow trainer bands over aluminium / High Speed Silver on just about everything that taught people in the early post-war era.

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But was it a regulation RAF paint colour? Might the team gone to thier local paint shop and picked up a yellw? After all other national teams went to use automotive paints. For example, the Italian tem who flew Sabres in Cavalino Rampante use a Lancia car paint.

My model of the Yellowjacks Gnat posted here the other day is a sort of lemony colour, I went for this as the standard RAF trainer yellow was much much too orange for my liking!

Because it's the RAF and that's the way they do things - 22years of RAF service in aircraft engineering taught me this,,,

Yellowjacks Gnats were painted in BS381c hue 355 Lemon.

"Training" yellow is actually Golden Yellow BS 381c hue 356.

Selwyn

Based on what evidence - sorry to sound so negative but it's not a standard issue RAF aircraft finish colour - golden yellow is, we even had some in our Sqn POL store and we were an SH sqn, I'd never seen anything painted lemon yellow in my time in the mob or since.

There would have been some form of engineering instruction that permitted the team aircraft to be painted in anything other than the standard scheme. That would detail the paint to be used. Unfortunately and contrary to common belief, not all of these things end up at the national records office or archives.

.Wez

Edited by Wez
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IIRC we used 99 to touch up the odd mark here and there on the yellow gnat at Delta Jets. It was an almost perfect match

All,

Thanks for the feedback regarding my query.. As I use Matt paints, then apply a Gloss varnish (if required) I truly forgot about Humbrol's Yellow #69..

.... however I do find Andy Woods comments above quite interesting...

There were a few discussions regarding the yellow used last year when the kit came out.....I was lucky enough to be in possession of a small paint chip from a Red Arrows Gnat, some while ago (thanks to Dennis 'Sloegin57' who kindly lent it to me.).

Dennis posted pic's of that chip on here (they're not on line now). Under the red was a patch of yellow - from an earlier existence - and I seem to recall that it was indeed an excellent match for good old '69 - which surprised me, as I had heard references to the aircraft bring finished in Lemon yellow......

I may have some pic's of that chip somewhere - If I can find it I'll post it up here...

Bill Clark's comments above are also interesting.. would love to see that paint samples if you can dig them up..

Cheers and many thanks.. Dave.

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Because it's the RAF and that's the way they do things - 22years of RAF service in aircraft engineering taught me this,,,

Based on what evidence - sorry to sound so negative but it's not a standard issue RAF aircraft finish colour - golden yellow is, we even had some in our Sqn POL store and we were an SH sqn, I'd never seen anything painted lemon yellow in my time in the mob or since.

There would have been some form of engineering instruction that permitted the team aircraft to be painted in anything other than the standard scheme. That would detail the paint to be used. Unfortunately and contrary to common belief, not all of these things end up at the national records office or archives.

.Wez

I agree it is not a standard "aircraft finish" colour, but neither was the Blue used on the Hunters in the Blue diamonds team, or the black arrows Black for that matter. (The RAF use Night BS 642 for "Black" markings). The lemon colour met government specification i.e it was (is!) a British standard colour, and was available through the RAF supply system, I know as I personally had occasion to use Lemon yellow paint on RAF equipment when I was serving!

I have on my desk as I write a copy of BS381C(1988) and in Appendix B, "Major organisations using colours from BS 381C" lists both BS 355 Lemon yellow and BS 356 Golden yellow under Ministry of Defence (identification). Incedentally not under " Ministry of Defence (Camoflage)!"

I agree Golden Yellow is a commonly used colour in the services, not least as it is used on weapons as the HE markings (The yellow warning bands used on bombs and missiles) but Lemon yellow was MoD approved, readily available for use by the RAF and I can see no reason why the Gnats should not be painted this colour.

Selwyn.

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Make your mind up time....not an exact science matching colour pic's (especially those that are nearly 50 years old) BUT for my money I'd say that 69 is STILL a good match!!

http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1056120/

Now, this is the Aeroclub 1/48th Gnat , in, as far as I can recall in Humbrol 69 (next to an Airfix Hawk back in 2004.........The Gnat's since be re-painted in Red BTW...)


100_0031.jpg

Edited by Bill Clark
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Bill Clark's comments above are also interesting.. would love to see that paint samples if you can dig them up..

Cheers and many thanks.. Dave.

Bill et al,

good job I check BM once in a while. Currently scanning alums of mono negs. Almost finished the first - up to 1969.

I have rescanned the chips using a white background applied to a sample plate that I had prepared for QA purposes whilst I was out in Saudi years ago. Using that and the details of the white someone should be able to figure out what colour etc.

Red Arrows (Gnat) Red:-

RedArrowsGnatRed-WEB_zps7e5b2489.jpg

Yellow Jacks Yellow ? :-

YellowJacksGnatYellowWEB_zps76b83cfd.jpg

Background paint details:-

WhitePaintdetailsWEB_zps440ba6a8.jpg

HTH

Dennis

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  • 11 months later...

Selwyn is quite correct - the correct colour for the Yellowjacks Gnats is LEMON Yellow = Humbrol 99 matt with a gloss varnish afterwards and not Humbrol 69 Trainer Yellow. I wish I had a pound for all the models I have seen incorrectly painted in Humbrol 69 'Golden Yellow'.

Having walked around the Yellowjacks Gnats at Little Rissington in 1964, I was struck by the distinctive and unique bright yellow colour they were in.

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Adrian - This is an old (but good) thread.

Thanks for your endorsement for Humbrol Lemon #99. Although this question will probably never be resolved, I'm with you and think its the best option out there.

It would be great to see a comparison between the two paint choices on two new Airfix kits parked side by side. Perhaps one day?

Cheers .. Dave.

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