by Urban Fredriksson & Martin Waligorski
Aircraft Colours of the Soviet Air Force
World War II colour matches have been based on the material from Modeling the Aircraft of the Soviet VVS, 1930-45 site .
Colour names are arbitrary. Those from the WWII period conform to names originally used by Erik A. Pilawskij in his book The Aircraft and Markings of the Soviet Air Forces of the Great Patriotic War.
This chart has been last revised in September 2006
World War II VVS colours | ||||||||
Colour name | Comment | FS | Humbrol | Tamiya | Xtracolor | Polly S | Gunze Sangyo | Model Master |
Brilliant Medium Blue | Underside standard colour used throughout the war period 1937-1945. | FS:25466 | ||||||
Olive Green | Upper surface overall colour, used throughout the war. Also used together with Dark Green in two-tone green scheme. The paint darkened with age to to FS:34151. | FS:14257 | 6*Hu:83 + 2*Hu:80 + 3*Hu:34 + 1*Hu:99 (151) | |||||
Medium Forest Green | Factory-applied overall top colour, typical for Petlyakov, Tupolev and MiG aircraft between 1940-1942 | FS:34058 | 7*Hu:88 + 3*Hu:190 + 2*Hu:32 + 2*Hu:34 | T:XF-17 | ||||
”Tractor” Bright Green | Used together with Camouflage Black in the oft-publicised ”tractor” scheme. 1941-1943 | FS:14524 | ||||||
Camouflage Black | Used together with ”Tractor” Bright Green in the oft-publicised ”tractor” scheme. 1941-1943 | FS:27038 | Hu:85 (33) | T:X-18 | GS:H2 | |||
Dark Green | Alternate colour to ”Tractor” bright green in the green-and-black scheme. Also used together with Olive Green in two-tone green schemetroughout the war. | FS:24062 (24524) | 4*Hu:3 + 1*Hu:131 (3) | T:X-05 | ||||
Olive Green 2 | A variation of Olive Green used in Black-and-olive scheme on on early Il-2s etc. 1940-1943. Also part of 3-tone scheme with Ochre Brown and Light Sand-Brown, alternatively Dark Earth Grey-Brown. | FS:14257 | 6*Hu:83 + 2*Hu:80 + 3*Hu:34 + 1*Hu:99 | |||||
Ochre Brown | Used with Olive Green 2 in standard Il-2 factory camouflage from 1943. Also part of the later Southern Front standard scheme. | FS:30111 | Hu:70 | T:X-09 | ||||
Dark Earth Grey-Brown | Used with Olive Green 2 in alternate Il-2 factory camouflage from 1943 | FS:20099 | 8*Hu:110 + 2*Hu:113 + 1*Hu:33 | |||||
Light Sand-Brown | Used together with Camouflage Black in standard scheme for the Southern Front 1941-44. Later (1943-45) also used together with Ochre Brown, or in 3-tone scheme with Ochre Brown and Olive Green 2. | FS:30480 | ||||||
Medium Grey | Part of standard topside scheme for all single-seat fighters from 1944 onwards. | FS:26493 | 9*Hu:34 + 2*Hu:28 + 1*Hu:156 | X:X214 | ||||
Dark Sea Grey | Part of standard topside scheme for all single-seat fighters from 1944 onwards. Also used for single-colour winter schemes on fighters from late 1943 onwards. Also used as primer colour. | FS:26270 | 1*Hu:156 + 1*Hu:34 | T:XF-53 | ||||
Winter White | Standard winter upper colour throughout the War | FS:20000 | Hu:34 | |||||
Medium Blue-Green Primer | Standard metal primer colour used from the 30’s until mid-50’s. | FS:24585 (24664) | ||||||
Modern Soviet AF colours by aircraft type | ||||||||
Su-17M-4 | ||||||||
Colour name | Comment | FS | Humbrol | Tamiya | Xtracolor | Polly S | Gunze Sangyo | Model Master |
Blue Grey | FS:26493 FS:26270 |
7*Hu:87 + 3*Hu:34 | T:XF-66 | |||||
Dark Green | FS:34102 | Hu:117 | T:XF-61*2+65*1 | P:500815 | GS:H303 | |||
Light Brown | FS:30372 | 7*Hu:187 + 3*Hu:129 | P:PCI879 | |||||
Sand | FS:30450 | 4*Hu:250 + 1*Hu:148 | ||||||
Su-24MR | ||||||||
Colour name | Comment | FS | Humbrol | Tamiya | Xtracolor | Polly S | Gunze Sangyo | Model Master |
White | FS:27886 | 3*Hu:34 + 2*Hu:41 | ||||||
Grey | FS:36375 | Hu:127 | X:X136 | P:500836 | GS:H308 | MM:1728 | ||
Su-25K | ||||||||
Colour name | Comment | FS | Humbrol | Tamiya | Xtracolor | Polly S | Gunze Sangyo | Model Master |
Light Blue | FS:25450 | 19*Hu:47 + 1*Hu:147 | P:PCA800 | |||||
Dark Green | FS:24086 | Hu:108 | T:XF-62/13? | X:X144 | GS:H319? 1 | |||
Dark Brown | FS:20059 | 19*Hu:10 + 1*Hu:61 | ||||||
Sand | FS:30313 | Hu:250 | ||||||
MiG-23UB | ||||||||
Colour name | Comment | FS | Humbrol | Tamiya | Xtracolor | Polly S | Gunze Sangyo | Model Master |
Blue Grey | FS:26329 | 7*Hu:87 + 3*Hu:34 | T:XF-66 | |||||
Light Brown | FS:30219 | Hu:118 | T:XF-52 | X:X102 | P:PCA816 | GS:H310 | ||
Green | FS:24138 | Hu:131 | P:PF51 | |||||
Brown | FS:20111 | 1*Hu:180 + 1*Hu:177 | T:X-09 | |||||
MiG-25RBK | ||||||||
Colour name | Comment | FS | Humbrol | Tamiya | Xtracolor | Polly S | Gunze Sangyo | Model Master |
Grey | FS:36375 | Hu:127 | X:X136 | P:500836 | GS:H308 | MM:1728 | ||
Dielectric panels | ||||||||
Grey | FS:36231 | Hu:140 | T:XF-54 | X:X131 | P:PCA824 | GS:H57 | MM:1740 | |
MiG-29 | ||||||||
Colour name | Comment | FS | Humbrol | Tamiya | Xtracolor | Polly S | Gunze Sangyo | Model Master |
Light Grey | Entire aircraft | FS:36495 | Hu:147 | GS:H338 | ||||
Blue Grey | Topside camouflage | FS:26329 | 7*Hu:87 + 3*Hu:34 | T:XF-66 | ||||
Mi-8MTB | ||||||||
Colour name | Comment | FS | Humbrol | Tamiya | Xtracolor | Polly S | Gunze Sangyo | Model Master |
Blue Grey | FS:36329 | 7*Hu:87 + 3*Hu:34 | T:XF-66 | |||||
Grey-green | FS:34424 | 9*Hu:90 + 1*Hu:31 | T:XF-20 | |||||
Light Stone | FS:36400 | 1*Hu:121 + 1*Hu:90 | ||||||
Mi-24D | ||||||||
Colour name | Comment | FS | Humbrol | Tamiya | Xtracolor | Polly S | Gunze Sangyo | Model Master |
Blue Grey | FS:36329 | 7*Hu:87 + 3*Hu:34 | T:XF-66 | |||||
Green | FS:34098 | Hu:150 | ||||||
Light Stone | FS:36415 | 3*Hu:121 + 2*Hu:84 |