Israeli Air Force paint set (modern rotors)

The helicopters of the Israeli Air Force and their brown coats

Israeli helicopters differ from the aircraft in never having been given gray finishes. Their color is brown, and in several forms at that, as the regulation changed over fifty years. Until the Lebanon War of 1982 the machines wore an earth brown; after it a different brown tone came, which holds to this day.

The package covers the American original finish as well. Attack and transport machines came from the United States in a muted olive color and a number of them flew in it for some time in Israeli service too, before they were given the local camouflage.

• The earth brown used until 1982
• The newer brown tone brought in after the Lebanon War
• The muted olive color of the American deliveries
• The stone yellow, dark brown and light gray of the tiger scheme
• The ocher yellow of the identification markings
• The bright blue of the naval machines

The tiger scheme is the visually most attractive part of the set. Three shades, two earth colors on top and a light gray below, belong to the attack and transport helicopters of the newer generation, and its irregular fields look very striking on a model.

The ocher yellow has a role of its own. From 1982 an identification marking in the shape of the letter V is painted with it on every machine, a small thing that cannot be missed in photographs and without which a model does not look right. The last bottle, the bright blue, belongs to the machines of the Israeli Navy operated by the Israeli Air Force.

The range is a lacquer one and is thinned with the maker's thinner. With helicopters that comes in useful, because their extensive glazing calls for thorough masking and a hard film takes tape without rubbing off.