Hi All
Earlier pictures of Hawker Hunter FGA.9 XE601 show it wearing an attractive (to my eyes anyway!) light aircraft grey and red colour scheme before it appeared in the more familiar 'raspberry ripple' scheme. I know that there was also a Hunter T.7 in the same scheme as well.
My question is whether this was a standard scheme for A&AEE (Boscombe Down) aircraft before the raspberry ripple scheme came along. I have an idea for a whiff from the early '60's and if this was the 'offical' paint scheme it would made the whiff more 'realistic' (not that it has to be of course! :lol:)
Did the Empire Test Pilots School use the same scheme(s) ?
ta
Kevin
Even the Raspberry Ripple scheme wasn't standard, it varied from type to type.
That red/grey scheme you mention did pre-date the RP scheme at the RAE but once again it wasn't a 'standard' as such. As there was such a varied fleet of types at Farnborough/Boscombe, many of them being singletons owned by different departments, there were no hard and fast rules and people just painted them so they looked distinctive.
There's quite a good book about all those schemes, which I have but naturally can't find at the moment to give you an ISBN number, sorry.
Thanks Kit
So basically I could add any 'new' additional aircraft from the early 60's to the A&AEE/RAE/ETPS/School of Aviation Medicine in the grey and red scheme and it could be justafiable (especially in Whiff-World)
KK
Your answer is in the last two words of your reply to my reply........... ;D :lol:
This IS Whiff World, after all, and YOU make the rules. ;)
All I can say is ..........Watch this space! ;)
PS... What was the 'umbrella' organisation for all those aircraft, the RAE?
I suppose you could say it was the MoD really, but the RAE was the main stock-holder at Farnborough, and Boscombe was an off-shoot to start with. The ETPS were 'mere' lodgers at both airfields AFAIK.
Whatever you do DON'T think about bringing it up to date, as the advent of privatisation and Qinetic etc. makes all possible logical structures impossible!
Thanks for that info Kit, it doesn't directly affect the Whiff to come, but it fills gaps in my knowledge.
I mentioned the School of Aviation Medicine (which flew green and white Hunter T.7s ?) were there any more lodgers / offshoots ?
Quote from: Knightflyer on June 29, 2012, 02:08:06 PM
I mentioned the School of Aviation Medicine (which flew green and white Hunter T.7s ?) were there any more lodgers / offshoots ?
This is Whiffworld, so:-
Might I respectfully suggest any non-UK aircraft you like either as a demonstrator supplied by a hopeful manufacturer, or something in "Prise de Guerre" markings
There's RW examples of that too, like the ex-Argentinian stuff that came back from the (first....) Falkands War and the Alpha Jets that fly with Qinetic now.
Well I do like the present black / white colour on the Alpha Jets :smiley:
My whiff (I've started so hopefully I'll finish!) will be a British aircraft of the late 1950's that will continued to be used into the '60s and possible beyond (possible Elton John connection! :o ) The plan is for it to be in the grey and read scheme, although I've used used the wrong red on the tailplane! :angry:
Quote from: Knightflyer on July 01, 2012, 05:48:33 AM
The plan is for it to be in the grey and read scheme, although I've used used the wrong red on the tailplane! :angry:
It weathered very badly at times, not a problem............ ;D
Mmmmmm yes!
Would weathering explain Humbrol 174 Signal Red looking like Humbrol 60 Scarlet ?!? :o
Corrected now, tailplane and fin painted, second coat of grey to wings, then I need to mask for the fuselage stripes
Quote from: PR19_Kit on July 01, 2012, 09:00:09 AM
Quote from: Knightflyer on July 01, 2012, 05:48:33 AM
The plan is for it to be in the grey and read scheme, although I've used used the wrong red on the tailplane! :angry:
It weathered very badly at times, not a problem............ ;D
Badly weathered is the most likely answer,but don't discount the stupid erk who simply used the wrong paint pot. ........and what the detachment engineering officer called him is totally unsuitable for repitition here!
That's precisely what this 'stupid' erk did Rheged.....used the wrong paint pot. Corrected now and walked away from. Any further mistakes I'll add tomorrow! ;D
Quote from: Rheged on July 01, 2012, 09:12:16 AM
Quote from: PR19_Kit on July 01, 2012, 09:00:09 AM
Quote from: Knightflyer on July 01, 2012, 05:48:33 AM
The plan is for it to be in the grey and read scheme, although I've used used the wrong red on the tailplane! :angry:
It weathered very badly at times, not a problem............ ;D
Badly weathered is the most likely answer,but don't discount the stupid erk who simply used the wrong paint pot. ........and what the detachment engineering officer called him is totally unsuitable for repitition here!
Used that very reason for "wobbly" moments on a couple of my builds :rolleyes:
Well the model is approaching completion
The stupid erk hasn't done too much damage, but he's just noticed that parts of the red banding needs to be removed / covered so it doesn't show through the roundel decals :banghead:
The model is the basic 60's (50's ?!) one and I've done nothing to upgrade it as there is a new version on the streets and this project was to just 'use up' the old model airframe.
Whilst browsing the internet I've found that some-one has already done this aircraft in ETPS colours, fortunately in the later 'raspberry ripple' colour, but isn't it amazingly annoying how many of your 'original' ideas have already been done before though, maybe I should have gone for the red and yellow drone idea!
The book you want to read on the raspberry ripple schemes is Testing Colours, I forget the author's name.
Quote from: Nick on July 06, 2012, 08:21:10 AM
The book you want to read on the raspberry ripple schemes is Testing Colours, I forget the author's name.
THAT'S the one! Why couldn't I remember soemthing as simple as that? :banghead:
Quote from: Nick on July 06, 2012, 08:21:10 AM
The book you want to read on the raspberry ripple schemes is Testing Colours, I forget the author's name.
it's by Adrian M.Balch, just found it on Amazon, thanks Nick (and Kit!)
Quote from: Knightflyer on July 06, 2012, 04:03:52 AM
isn't it amazingly annoying how many of your 'original' ideas have already been done before though, maybe I should have gone for the red and yellow drone idea!
Yup but then the world is always big enough for mutiple examples, and anyway every one is in some way still an individual :thumbsup:
It's the same with techniques. Some of us older ones remember things that we did seemingly eon's ago (like the banana oil and plastecine trick or the sprue in old glue bottles trick) that have lain dormant for years. Then you'll read in a magazine that some young whippersnapper has invented this brand new method of doing things :rolleyes: ;D
I found a nice photo of a ETPS helicopter in mid blue and sky colours while at the Army Air Corps Museum a couple of years ago, one for next years build. ;) :thumbsup:
I'm a tad late to this, but I'll add a little to what Kit mentioned. Prior to the late sixties, paint schemes in the Establishments were very individual. They tended to be civil-ish schemes with A&AEE using some schemes with demarcations that were suited to calibration or weapons testing. Basically anything goes for this period and you could easily invent your own scheme. Sometime around the late sixties, a standard scheme was introduced that pre-dated Raspberry Ripple. It comprised of white uppers and grey lowers, with blue cheatline for the RAE, red for A&AEE. This doesn't seem to have been universally adopted and could mostly be seen on larger aircraft, although some smaller aircraft such as the RAE's Meteor T.'s recieved it. RR was introduced in 1975 but it was well into the eighties before the whole fleet got it. Like kit says it wasn't 100% standardised, at least early on, there were many minor variations on the theme. By the late eigthies RR was starting to be standardised, even then the odd variation still crept in. The book mnetioned earlier is well worth getting if you're doing any more, I got mine from Amazon for a reasonable price.
Looking forward to seeing whatever you've got planned! :thumbsup:
Well my model is now complete, and finished in the (maybe not so standard) grey and red scheme worn by the Hunters that I started this thread with.
Not all I've got to do is remember how to get photo(s) from my computer and on to here! :blink:
I think I've definitely got to get my hands on a copy of testing colours though, if only for some variation to standard RAF camo and markings
Quote from: Knightflyer on July 09, 2012, 10:41:58 AM
Not all I've got to do is remember how to get photo(s) from my computer and on to here! :blink:
There's s guide on the General Modelling subjects board.
At long last I've found my copy of 'Testing Colours', or to be 100% correct Mrs. PR19 found it without knowing what it was. Her comment when it appeared from underneath a large pile of boxes was something like 'Oooh, that's a pretty colour scheme, have you done any models like that?' ;D
After spending half an hour going through it this evening I come to the conclusion that there never was a 'standard' Raspberry Ripple scheme. Sure, there was a scheme which involved a white top, a dark blue underside and a red stripe, but the proportions of the various parts varied hugely, the red stripe varying in width from 6" or so to about 4' on some aircraft!
I guess the world's your Raspberry oyster, you can paint the scheme any way you like and if it's on a Whiff model who's going to be able to argue with you?
Quote from: PR19_Kit on August 28, 2012, 02:57:03 PM
I guess the world's your Raspberry oyster, you can paint the scheme any way you like and if it's on a Whiff model who's going to be able to argue with you?
That was pretty much my conclusion when I was researching something many years back.... I recall driving to a library in the rough part of Basildon :rolleyes: just to get it out.