British SAR Service paint set vol. 1

The yellow that meant hope

The helicopters of the British search and rescue service were among the most recognizable machines over the British Isles. The eight shades of this set cover their finishes from the 1950s to the modern day and, besides the air force machines, take in the naval ones as well.

The basis is the deep yellow to the BS381C:356 standard, which was carried by the Westland Whirlwind in the HAR.2, HAR.4 and HAR.10 versions, as well as by the Wessex HAR.2 and the Sea Kings HAR.3 and HAR.3A. The machines serving alternately in the Falklands and in Britain were given overall Dark Sea Grey 638, while the Cyprus Wessexes from 1993 and the Griffin HAR.2 helicopters flew in Medium Sea Grey 637. For them the set also holds the blue matching Federal Standard 35250, which No. 84 Squadron from Akrotiri applied to the tail stripes because of its service under the flag of the United Nations. The naval Wessexes HAS.1 and HU.5 had a base in blue-gray 633 or in olive brown 298, completed by a striking nose and tail: at first in fluorescent orange-red, from the start of the 1980s in cherry red 538.

What to watch out for

The deep yellow and both reds are demanding in pigment and cover badly on dark plastic. It pays to lay a white or light gray base under them and to build the shade up in thin coats. The fluorescent red moreover looks more credible on a model when it stays a little less saturated than on the real machine, because in a small scale a color gains visually. The change between the yellow and the gray version of the same type is a rewarding subject for a modeler building two machines side by side as well.