WWII RAF SEAC AIRCRAFT COLORS

The colors of British squadrons over Burma

South East Asia Command had camouflage rules of its own, because neither European gray nor desert sand worked over the jungle. Aircraft operating over Burma, India and Ceylon wore Dark Green with Dark Earth on the upper surfaces, and with them either Medium Sea Grey or Azure Blue underneath, depending on when and where the machine had last been repainted.

It is exactly this foursome that the package holds. It comes into its own on types such as the Hurricane Mk.IIc and the Spitfire Mk.VIII, on the heavy Beaufighters and on American machines in British service, which arrived in the theater in their own finish and were repainted only on the spot, often imperfectly and with the original coat showing through.

A note on the real subject: the white bands on the wings and tail surfaces, introduced in 1943 as a quick aid against confusion with Japanese aircraft, are sprayed at the very end and call for a properly opaque white. That is not in the package, so count on it separately, as with the black for the anti-glare panel in front of the cockpit.

Each bottle carries 17 ml of paint with a solvent binder. The resulting surface is tough and matte; anyone who works with strong lightening of individual panels will appreciate that the shade can be lightened by adding white from the same range without losing the matte finish and starting to shine.

Tropical conditions did the paints no good either. Damp, mold and intense sun degraded the finishes quickly, so on a model from this theater pronounced patchiness, a worn leading edge and unevenly faded upper surfaces are factually correct rather than overdone.