Russian Navy Sea Flanker. 2006 to present
The base color is Light Blue-Grey, which has the peculiarity of appearing distinctly gray in some photographs, probably due to the stronger contrast with the other brighter and darker colors when newly painted. However, many photographs show it to be closer to a pale blue. It would not be inconceivable for some Sea Flankers to have retained the older base color for the undersides, which may explain the difference. Also, one of the peculiarities of the pattern on the upper part of the Sea Flanker is that all three colors appear to be distributed relatively evenly, meaning that it could be a mistake to consider the light blue-gray as the true base. This implies that a different underside color is possible on some aircraft, not unlike some four-color Flanker demonstration patterns.
The other colors are, fortunately, less controversial. These consist of a fairly bright Medium Blue, which has been compared somewhat to the blue used in UN peacekeeping forces, as well as a Dark Blue which is the darkest colour used by either side. However, it does seem to fade somewhat as the demarcation with the other colours appears less pronounced in many photographs.
All Su-33s use Radome White exclusively for radomes and dielectric panels, unlike other Flankers which tend to blend in. This is likely due to the small number of Su-33s built (just 35).
Color camo:
Sea Flanker (Current): The current Sea Flanker scheme is much better represented, with AKAN (set no. 47326), Hataka and Mr. Paint all providing offerings. As mentioned above, there is considerable confusion regarding the light blue-grey. If you are in the camp that light blue-gray is a gray, then Hataka and Mr. Paint should be your choice. If you lean towards it being blue, then go for AKAN. If you think it is the older Light Blue, then you are in trouble, as there is no suitable match for it. Hataka’s representation of the middle color, which they call UN Blue (HTK-284), is suspect as it looks very pale even compared to the actual UN peacekeeper uniforms, much less the color of the Su-33. That leaves AKAN and Mr. Paint as the better choices.
| Sea Flanker Light Blue | Sea Flanker Light Blue-Gray | Sea Flanker Blue (2) | Sea Flanker Dark Blue (2) | |
| Schemes | ||||
| Late | Overall | Upper Camo | Upper Camo | |
| Late (Alt) | Lower | Upper Camo | Upper Camo | Upper Camo |
| Color matches | ||||
| Gunze Aqueous | – | – | – | – |
| Gunze Mr. Color | – | – | – | – |
| Humbrol | – | – | – | – |
| Model Master | – | – | – | – |
| Revell | – | – | – | – |
| Tamiya | – | – | – | – |
| Vallejo Model Air | – | – | – | – |
| Vallejo Model Color | – | – | – | – |
| AKAN | 73065 (!) | 73163 | 73164 | 73165 |
| AK Interactive | – | – | – | – |
| AK Real Colors | – | – | – | – |
| AMMO by Mig | – | (A.MIG-209) | (A.MIG-224) | (A.MIG-229) |
| Colourcoats | – | – | – | – |
| Hataka | – | HTK-285 | HTK-284 | HTK-283 |
| Lifecolor | – | – | – | – |
| Mission Models | – | – | – | – |
| Mr. Paint | – | MRP-201 | MRP-199 | MRP-200 |
| Xtracolor | – | – | – | – |
| Xtracrylix | – | – | – | – |
Soviet cockpit Colors
