Modern Royal Air Force Paint Set Vol.3

Seven decades of British training in eight bottles

The training machines of the Royal Air Force went through a transformation that few categories of aircraft show so clearly. Until 1966 they flew all-silver, complemented by garish areas of fluorescent orange. Then came the light aircraft gray tone to the British standard 627 and with it a new layout of the warning areas.

The three-color outfit and a black full stop to the history

From the beginning of the seventies a three-color solution took hold: a white spine and vertical tail, signal red 537 on the underside of the fuselage and on the wingtips, and from 1990 roundel blue 110 on the spine and the rudder as well. The white stripe on the fuselage lasted until 1998, when the training machines switched to an all-black guise in a shade matching standard 642; the BAe Hawk and the turboprop Short Tucano fly in it. The eighth color is golden yellow 356, formerly applied as training bands and later as the engine cover on helicopters.

The set is therefore not tied to one type but to one role. Anyone building a display case of British training gets all the color milestones together and does not have to hunt for a different bottle for each machine. It is also useful that a year is given with each item, so it can be traced back when the shade in question disappeared from the training squadrons.

• Eight shades of British training aircraft
• A silver and a fluorescent orange for the period up to 1966
• The complete three-color outfit including the roundel blue
• The black tone introduced in 1998
• References to the British standard of shades