Soviet/Russian colors Combat Helicopters post WWII to present

Soviet and Russian attack helicopters

Attack helicopters of Eastern design have gone through a wide range of finishes over the last fifty years. The machines over Afghanistan carried olive with brown and sand fields, elsewhere single-color green fuselages appeared, and newer equipment has gone over to cool grays that work better over built-up areas. The eight shades in this box follow the whole development from the postwar years to the present and let you set machines from completely different decades side by side.

In the box are Hemp, Sea Grey, Medium Olive, Sand Beige, Light Olive, M495 Light Gray, a faded blue for the undersides and Russian AF Grey Blue. The last of these is essential for credibility: the undersides of Soviet and Russian machines were never simply light blue, they had a distinct gray cast that is lost in period photographs, so modelers often hit it too rich.

Applying the shades to particular types

The pair of olive tones with the sand suits the Afghan machines, and the darker olive on its own suits the older overall green fuselages. The gray shades belong to newer equipment. The large areas of a helicopter fuselage are rewarding to spray, because even a fine transition shows on them, and conversely they show every under-sprayed patch mercilessly, so it pays to work in thin coats.

Helicopters also hold their finish differently from aircraft: exhaust gases, dust from the rotor downwash and oil from the gearboxes change the tone of the upper surfaces far faster. The set gives enough shades for the difference between a fresh and a faded field to be suggested without buying anything further.