Westland Wessex HAR/HAS.1 SAR Dayglo Orange

[NavyWessex]

Afternoon all,

 

This is a topic which I'm sure has been covered to death, but I am still unsure!

 

Is it my understanding that the early Wessex in RN Search and Rescue guise appears to have worn a dayglo orange, instead of the signal red that became the predominant colour for RN SAR there after?

 

Looking at the below images, (both are not my own and copyright remains with the original photographer), the colour appears to be consistent with Revell Aqua Colour 361/30 Orange, which is the only pot I have that resembles anything close to it.

 

Any information is much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

[wellsprop]

The early Wessex (and late Whirlwind) SAR cabs wore RAF Blue Grey with Dayglo Red (Docker Blaze Red). 

 

 

https://www.hataka-hobby.com/HTK-AS98-British-SAR-Service-paint-set-vol1

 

Hataka have you covered if you need some paints! 

 

Ben

[AMB]

Those profiles do not solve the issue, as the later RN SAR Sea Kings and Wessexes wore a 'cherry red' paint and not dayglo as can be seen by the Sea King behind that Wessex. Those Wessex pics show the very faded orange that when freshly applied would equate to Revell SM332 Dayglo red-orange in oil or Revell 332 Aqua Luminous Red Silk in acrylic

[Wez]

I'd be careful with those profiles too.

 

Modeldecal 18 has markings for HAS.1(SAR) XS880/057R of Ark Royal's SAR Flt in 1970, it describes the colours as being Dayglo Orange whilst in Modeldecal 99, there's some options for later cabs (HAS.1(SAR) XS881/046CU in 1979 and XM841/510PO in 1973 both of 771NAS as well as HAS.1(SAR) XM868/517PO of 772NAS in 1982), on this sheet they state:

 

"Wessex HAS.1s used for SAR duties typically carried large dayglo orange-red areas fore and aft; in their later period of service, gloss signal red (BS381C:537) or roundel red (538) was used in some cases in place of the flourescent dayglo colour, which in itself varied from deeper red shades to brighter orange red shades."

 

Modeldecal were meticulous in their research and I'm inclined to go with their assessments of the colours.

 

FWIW, this picture shows a HAS1.(SAR) with the dayglo to the red end of the spectrum whilst this one shows it looking more orangey (especially compared to the cab parked behind it).

[Wafu]

The Royal Navy Wessex Search and Rescue fleet did have Dayglo Orange (the name used by the engineers on the SAR squadrons) applied to the SAR fleet. Oh and as an aside, the SAR Whirlwind and the Whirlwind on the Antarctic ships HMS Endurance, had the same high visibility Dayglow paint.

 

771 Sqdn at RNAS Culdrose changed to the more red based colour when they lost their Wessex 1's and started getting the twin engined Wessex 5's. I remember and have modelled the Wessex 5's at Lee-on-Solent had the last of the more orange Dayglow cabs, I remember this because when the Falklands war started I was part of the team who stripped the paint from these aircraft so they could be painted green, three Wessex 5's were stripped by teams of engineers around the clock. If I remember correctly only two Wessex were left for SAR duties in the solent. These can be seen in some photos of the Fleet sailing south in April 1982.

 

Anyway, the colour. I used MRP Luminous Red, code MRP 193, colour for the Dayglo, this must be undercoated with white to get the correct depth of colour. Build it up with light coats over a period of time. 

 

You do have to be alert to your references with this colour, it did fade drastically with age and museum aircraft can be misleading, unless you want to model the aircraft at this time of its life. It is/was a very intense colour, often causing eye strain when stood outside of the rotor disc during a rotor start especially on sunny days.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

 

[Lee Howard]

On 04/05/2022 at 16:17, AMB said:

Those profiles do not solve the issue, as the later RN SAR Sea Kings and Wessexes wore a 'cherry red' paint and not dayglo as can be seen by the Sea King behind that Wessex. Those Wessex pics show the very faded orange that when freshly applied would equate to Revell SM332 Dayglo red-orange in oil or Revell 332 Aqua Luminous Red Silk in acrylic

 Sea Kings and Wessex had Signal Red, not Cherry Red (which was only applied to the roundels). The dayglo that preceded Signal Red on the Wessex wasn't 'orange' it was Dockerblaze Red-Orange, as stated at the top of this thread.

[junglierating]

Would it be wrong to throw in junglie green 772 NAS Wessex and sea king with no dyglo or red 🤔 😄

Blah blah 771 yawn yawn second rate squadron if you ask me 😅

[NavyWessex]

Hi folks,

 

Many thanks for all the responses.

 

I ended up mixing a custom match using Revell and Vallejo. I'll stick a completed build thread up in a week or so when she's done...

[AMB]

15 hours ago, Lee Howard said:

 Sea Kings and Wessex had Signal Red, not Cherry Red (which was only applied to the roundels). The dayglo that preceded Signal Red on the Wessex wasn't 'orange' it was Dockerblaze Red-Orange, as stated at the top of this thread.

'Signal Red' is a bright red shade used on the Red Arrows Hawks and was used on the Queens Flight Whirlwinds and Wessexes. The 'Cherry Red' colour is correct for the 'post dayglo' scheme as shown in the profiles above by 'Wellsprop'.   

[wellsprop]

On 06/05/2022 at 08:50, Lee Howard said:

 Sea Kings and Wessex had Signal Red, not Cherry Red (which was only applied to the roundels). The dayglo that preceded Signal Red on the Wessex wasn't 'orange' it was Dockerblaze Red-Orange, as stated at the top of this thread.

 

Cherry red is also used on the tips of tail blades on the Merlin (and other aircraft?) but I'm not sure which others. 

 

Thanks for confirming it is Dockerblaze though, that's been confusing me for some time. Unfortunately, despite being able to find the engineering drawings for the Sea King HAS5 colour scheme, I can't find any for the Wessex, I don't think they were digitised and I assume they are all in the archive on A0! 

[Lee Howard]

On 07/05/2022 at 00:31, AMB said:

'Signal Red' is a bright red shade used on the Red Arrows Hawks and was used on the Queens Flight Whirlwinds and Wessexes. The 'Cherry Red' colour is correct for the 'post dayglo' scheme as shown in the profiles above by 'Wellsprop'.   

I'd suggest you go look at XT761 (still in her original finish) and you'll see the clear difference between the nose/tail (BS381C-537) red and the roundel (BS381C-538) red. The Wessex SAR markings were introduced by Naval Service Modification (NSM) 3241. The Sea King SAR markings were introduced under NSM/SK/3472 - also Gloss Signal Red.