#Done# Indian Navy F8F-5 Super Bearcat, 1951

[perttime]

Have any images of the Gloss Sea Blue FAA Super Bearcats survived? ... 

[AndrewF]

Have any images of the Gloss Sea Blue FAA Super Bearcats survived? ... 

That's a possibility!

[AndrewF]

[perttime]

That works too!

[NARSES2]

That works too!

It does indeed 

[AndrewF]

Thanks chaps! I might as well do the Royal Ceylon Air Force version as well - when I've done it I'll post it in the Profile & CGI board as it's not strictly "Naval".

[Glenn Gilbertson]

A mighty beast - and a good backstory.

[AndrewF]

Thanks! And here's the Ceylonese version (air force, not navy so posted in the Profiles thread):
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=47664.0

[Weaver]

Yeah that's very credible - nice one! 

[PR19_Kit]

How about one with the wonderful 'Cartwheel' roundel that the Indians had on their Tempest IIs, as featured on the Matchbox kit?

[AndrewF]

How about one with the wonderful 'Cartwheel' roundel that the Indians had on their Tempest IIs, as featured on the Matchbox kit?

Yes, that could be a short-lived version before the "modern" roundel - I'm not sure about the colours though; on that photo the wheel is in orange and green, but it seems as though the actual insignia was dark blue. Anyone know more about this?

[perttime]

Every "Ashoka Chakra" roundel that I can find through Google is in blue.
https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/heraldry/roundels/363-roundels47.html says it is navy blue:

"The Chakra (wheel) which is to be of specified dimensions, will be in navy blue and will be painted on the upper and lower sides of the wings in the case of a monoplane aircraft and the upper side of the upper wing and lower side of the lower wing in the case of a biplane aircraft The chakras are also to be painted on both sides' of the fuselage, just behind the trailing edge of the wings

The tricolour flash which is to be shown on the fin will be so painted that the saffron colour is towards the leading edge and the green on the trailing edge of the aircraft."

The colors of the tail flash are darker in the file at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Roundels_of_India
(wikimedia has an SVG file, which is handy if you use vector graphics)

[AndrewF]

Every "Ashoka Chakra" roundel that I can find through Google is in blue.
https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/heraldry/roundels/363-roundels47.html says it is navy blue:

"The Chakra (wheel) which is to be of specified dimensions, will be in navy blue and will be painted on the upper and lower sides of the wings in the case of a monoplane aircraft and the upper side of the upper wing and lower side of the lower wing in the case of a biplane aircraft The chakras are also to be painted on both sides' of the fuselage, just behind the trailing edge of the wings

The tricolour flash which is to be shown on the fin will be so painted that the saffron colour is towards the leading edge and the green on the trailing edge of the aircraft."

The colors of the tail flash are darker in the file at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Roundels_of_India
(wikimedia has an SVG file, which is handy if you use vector graphics)

Yes, thanks Perttime - I had a search which is why I'm doubtful about the orange/green chakras. Probably an artist 'interpreting' a black and white photo without having any colour info. I usually get my roundels in svg from Wikimedia, it's a good source of (usually) high-quality markings. And I noticed that the colours in the latest version of the IAF roundel are darker; I used the lighter version for 'scale' colour and because I reckoned that the colours on a naval machine from the 1950s would fade more than with modern paints.

[AndrewF]

Here's the version with the older Chakra roundel; when the aircraft were transferred to the Indian Navy, they were pressed into action almost immediately. The Royal Navy markings were roughly overpainted in Dark Sea Gray, Indian roundels were applied and temporary aircraft numbers were stenciled. The white undersurfaces were finally painted several months later, along with the 'correct' style of aircraft number. The Chakra roundels were replaced with the saffron, white and green tricolour in 1950.

[PR19_Kit]

MAGIC! 

That's an awesome scheme, thanks for the work you did for it.