The Ship Model Forum

Cliffy B wrote:The "official" colors are direct matches to the following Model Master paints (enamels and acrylics):

Haze Gray = Neutral Gray FS36270
Deck Gray = Gunship Gray FS36118
Flight Deck Gray = Engine Gray FS35076

The only difference being that at least for Haze Gray, the USN uses a semi-gloss paint instead of flat but you could always fix that with a clear coat if you want total accuracy.

Hope that helps.

Currently doing the 1/700 STENNIS. Glad to get the "official" colors for the flight deck. My question is about the appropriate colors for the catapults and the ramp. The photos on the calling all fans carrier part of this site show either darker or lighter catapults/covers. Realize that the lighting and and angle of the photos are a big part of the appearance, but just wonder what the should be. Fs26270 haze gray? Fs36118 dec gray? BTW, believe the flight deck gray should be Fs36076 vice what is shown above. Also, should the ramp and the barrier post covers be the 36118 deck gray or ??

Tom

Bigdaddy Mark wrote:I also used Tamiya "German Grey" and I think it came out perfect.


I sprayed German Grey, did my oil wash, then pastels, then a few coats of Future clear with Tamiya flat base.
I think it's as close as I could get.

Hi!
How did you make those little marks all over the flight deck, where they fix the planes?

Wow steve, amazing. Really, wow.

How did you plank it? Individual wood, or a plywood with clever painting or...? I am looking for a how to for my 1:144 HMS Puncher but to no avail. I'd really rather not end up photo printing it and epoxy over top because that would be...cheating in my view haha!

Vlad, your Shangri La sounds fantastic. Glad you have enjoyed the build. It is a shame that your penciling technique disappeared but "pristine during shakedown" would look great, too.

Steve, excellent work, I took the time to re-read your thread and I am impressed with the flight deck technique. Having said that, I'm building in 1/700 so masking the tie-down strips may be impractical and/or sanity-destroying.

The ship on my bench at the moment looks very similar to yours, except the pennant numbers is 38. This actually helps since Shangri-la only wore that camouflage during shakedown and transit to the Pacific so a pristine deck would be accurate for the time period I'm modelling. I did try to get some weathering down by rubbing the deck with beige and tan pencils. It actually looked pretty good right up until I coated the deck in gloss in preparation for adding the decals. The pencil didn't smudge so much as completely dissolve and disappear! A few areas of the deck do look like they have a tan "shadow" but there is no visible plank effect.

Anyway the decals are on now so it's too late to go back and change it, but as I said I'm happy with a pristine ship in this particular instance. I went for a blue somewhere between 5-O and 5-S with the excuse that the shipyard might still be using the old, lighter Stain 21 and that it would fade in the sun.

I do want to try a modified version of your technique on two future projects, a Yorktown CV-5 and Tamiya's new Saratoga. I'll go with the blue-wood-blue painting, then sand without masking, then try to pick out the tie-down strips with a blue wash (assuming the engravings on the deck are deep enough for this to work).

There are a bunch of good Navy photos of modern carier decks on the Calling All Ships: Carriers section showing various shades of dark gray. The freshness of the anti-skid coating, how the light reflects off of it, and the direction of how it was laid by the crew with rollers, makes a big difference in it appearance.

Regarding WWII flight decks,

Vlad wrote:I do like that Randolph picture, it seems the deck is almost back to bare wood. I would consider it a bit beyond my skill to replicate that level of wear but it gives me some confidence in picking a lighter and duller colour for the flight deck on my current project, to show off the deck numbers and also the planes that are also dark blue!

Give it a try. You might find it's actually a lot of fun and not as difficult as it may seem. Tedious, but not difficult. Here's some photos of my attempt on USS Yorktown CV-10 (WIP) to give it that "Randolph look":

Thank you for those contributions, that is indeed a very good article by Chris, but I wouldn't say I am in the scale lightening camp, despite the fact I build in 1:700 where in theory it should matter more. My personal choice is to have my ships looking fairly bright, especially if camouflage is involved, to show off the pattern. In a way I prefer to build models that are factually accurate but visually "idealised".

I try to colour match but not exactly, partly because I am highly averse to mixing. I do however want the colours to look right together as well as being correct individually. That's why my main concern here is the contrast and visibility of markings.

I do like that Randolph picture, it seems the deck is almost back to bare wood. I would consider it a bit beyond my skill to replicate that level of wear but it gives me some confidence in picking a lighter and duller colour for the flight deck on my current project, to show off the deck numbers and also the planes that are also dark blue!

The Lex posted above looks terrific. Great 3D CAD skills.

Vlad wrote:Going back to the WWII decks....Roughly what shade would it be when faded/weathered? I ask because photos of ships in this time period show a very sharp contrast between the deck and the black pennant numbers, but paint matches for deck blue are very dark and deck numbers on some of my models are almost invisible.

Here are some sample photos to illustrate the ideas expressed so well in some of the comments above. These samples indicate there was much variation (see below) in color and fading. And has been pointed out earlier, the chemistry of the photography of the time leaves some doubt to accuracy also. This topic always makes for interesting conversation. In the end, the choice will be yours, the modeler's.

Also, remember that on a model the exact same shade of paint will look much darker than on the real thing.
In order to get a correct scale feel, it is necessary to lighten (and de-saturate) colours on models. The smaller the scale, the more the colour needs to be lightened. And the darker the colour, the more it needs to be lightened.
A great write-up on the subject: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=154868

When lightening both the deck color and the numbers appropriately, I'm sure the latter will come out to the right amount.

Cheers,

Marijn

Here's my Lexington (just some tweaks to do to her radars and island areas).

Because camouflage. Even later, when they went back to yellow striping, it was with thin lines that could not be resolved at much distance. The Navy really didn't want to do anything that would highlight something as valuable as a carrier.

Thanks John, I did know that but for some reason my mind failed to make the connection in this context. possibly a bit off-topic, but if these numbers are presumably there for identification purposes why would the USN choose such a low contrast combination?

Remember that black & white photos of this period were largely shot on orthochromatic film, which rendered anything with blue in it as lighter than normal in the final print. That would explain much of the perceived contrast between the deck color and the pennant numbers.

Going back to the WWII decks, I remember reading somewhere (might even have been a post by Tracy on a different site) that the Flight Deck Stain 21 of 1943 was roughly matched to 5-S when fresh but ended up looking more like 5-O when faded. Then in 1944 Flight Deck Stain 21 reverted to being a close match to Deck Blue 20-B. I assume this is also "when fresh". Roughly what shade would it be when faded/weathered? I ask because photos of ships in this time period show a very sharp contrast between the deck and the black pennant numbers, but paint matches for deck blue are very dark and deck numbers on some of my models are almost invisible.

I believe the "modern" standards listed above (haze gray, deck gray) should still apply then. I don't know for sure about the flight deck color, but the Haze gray would be the same.

Wondering of some knowledgeable people can help me out for a CG modeling project I've embarked on. I'm looking for the flight deck and hull color for the Lexington (CVS-16, SCB-125 Essex-class) in the 1960's, prior to her being turned into a trainer. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hello John,

thank you very much for information, helps much.

Cheers,
Christian

USN flight decks in WW2 were not painted, but rather were stained in either Norfolk 250-N Flight Deck Stain (1941-42), or Flight Deck Stain 21 (1943-45 and on into Korea). This stain was subject to fading under the hot sun of the Pacific, and to wear from aircraft handling. It did not stay pristine for long.

Hi,

I must link into here�... not for a modern carrier deck, but the WW-2 US carrier (i.e. USS Essex) deck. I always read in sources that it is a colour called "deck blue" (FS n� I don't know out of head) and which is available from several companies in mostly same shade. But I became slowly sceptic about how this colour looks like after several months and longer on sea.
Let me first say that carriers and WW-2 ships are (beside Royal Navy) not my real area of interest, but Dreadnought and Pre-Dreadnought ships of WW-1 and earlier and here I my "library" grows slowly. But because I wanted to build 1 carrier for my collection, my choose was the USS Essex ... but for 1 ship I do not buy expensive books, so I take info's out of internet and other builds.
However, as far as I read and know, flight deck was of wooden planks which were then painted in this "deck blue" colour, but I saw now at a friend who makes planes many deck pictures of Corsairs, Hellcats, Wildcats & Co. and in several pictures the deck is much lighter as the dark blue painted planes on it. Taking my Gunze "deck blue" colour and make comparison to the photos, it really looks like another colour on the b/w photos... so could it be that deck blue becomes much lighter in service or was at least later in war another colour used on deck?

Cheers,
Christian

Thanks for the help. Very much appreciated.