Royal Netherlands AF paint set vol. 2

Dutch aircraft from the Starfighter to the fifth generation

Unlike the first, volume two is not about rotary-wing machines but about fixed-wing aircraft, and it covers some sixty years of their coloring.

The oldest layer consists of two shades on the RAL scale. Silver Grey (RAL7001) was the overall color of the early F-104G Starfighter and later, in the 1970s and 1980s, covered the lower surfaces of the late Starfighters, the light NF-5 and the Fokker F-27 transports. The upper surfaces of the same aircraft took Basalt Grey (RAL7012) together with Yellow Olive (RAL6014).

The middle layer is American and belongs to the F-16 fighters. Gunship Grey (FS36118) goes on the upper and side surfaces, Grey (FS36270) fills in alongside it and from the mid-1980s formed the base of the last scheme on the NF-5, and Light Ghost Grey (FS36375) covers the undersides. The same three appear on the transport types of the Fokker range and on the C-130.

The newest is Have Glass Grey (FS36170), the overall color of the whole F-35 Lightning II fleet in every version including the Dutch one. The last bottle stands outside the sequence: Dutch Demo Orange in the light finish is the base orange of the dedicated F-16 display aircraft, which flew in it in the 2009 to 2013 seasons.

The make-up of the contents thus covers three separate periods at once. The older RAL pair is noticeably darker and flatter than the later American grays, so models of the same air force standing side by side look as if they belonged to different countries.