USAF Paint Set (European Camouflage)

The European camouflage of the American squadrons

When the center of gravity of the US Air Force moved from Southeast Asia back over Europe, the brown and green camouflage stopped serving. Over the Central European landscape and over airfields full of concrete a different combination proved itself: two to three greens complemented by a gray, in variants according to whether a machine flew low over the terrain or high. The pattern got its name from the continent and most of the machines stationed on the old continent carried it.

The six tones

• Dark Green — the saturated green of the Phantom machines and of the National Guard aircraft
• European I Green — the main green of the ground-attack aircraft, the transports and the helicopters
• Medium Green — the middle green tone of the same pattern
• European I Grey — the gray component on the tactical and strategic types
• Gunship Grey — the darker gray of the transport machines and of the early versions of the pattern
• Green Drab — the drab green of the bombers of Strategic Air Command

The types covered

The shades fit the A-10 ground-attack aircraft, the OV-10 reconnaissance machine, the F-16 and F-4 fighters, the C-130, C-141 and C-5 transports and the helicopters of the US Air Force. The last two tones aim at the heavy machines of Strategic Air Command, that is at the B-1B and at the FB-111A version, whose pattern was more subdued than that of the tactical aircraft.

The brand's Orange Line is of the lacquer type and is thinned with the lacquer thinner of the same brand, not with water. It dries quickly, holds well on smooth plastic and on photo-etched parts and once dry will take masking tape, which comes in useful with a multicolor pattern with sharp edges.