Camouflaged A-1J

Camouflaged A1-J Skyraider, VA115 Arabs USS Constellation 1966

The Navy experimented with camouflaging some aircraft in Vietnam. It did not last long as the water base paint was applied over the gull gray and weathered quickly, it made deck handling at night more hazardous. One of the schemes was dark green FS34079 with dark gray FS36081 retaining the white FS17875 undersides.

Using an old HobbyCraft AD-6 kit and CtA No3 Welcome to the jungle kit I built an A1-J in this scheme. I used Vallejo Air matching the FS numbers the best I could. Since FS34079 was also used on the SEA scheme it was readily available, I used dark sea gray for the FS36081 as a close match. I built the kit out of the box. It's not a bad kit but lacks detail in the cockpit and the wheel wells.

I used Hasegawa and Kit weapons for the ordinance loadout. I understand Navy A-1 usually did not carry this full load but I wanted to show one with a heavy loadout. There is a fuel tank on the centerline, with 2 BLU-27 Finned Napalm on the inboard pylons which were rated for up to 2000 lbs. The outer pylons are rated at 500 lbs and carry pairs of LAU-3, Mk82 Snake Eyes, Mk81 Daisy Cutters, and 2 prs of MK57 White phosphorus bombs.

I weathered the aircraft with flory grim and dirt and exhaust stains with black pastels. I also used winton oils to show lubrication stains. I purposely removed parts of the overcoat with alcohol and fine sandpaper to show the gull gray underneath in areas of the fuselage and wings and tailplanes,