pascalemod wrote:SovereignHobbies wrote: 507B was not in use at time of Bismarck action. By implication of the order to entirely suspend enamel use in 1940, 507B was discontinued as of the same date.
If you detach yourself from "507B" for a sec and look at the pic I posted, does that color look wrong to you? I mean Hood Association says that Hood was 507B, based on wreck and photos, and PoW pics indicate it was some medium gray similar to Hood, etc. So im going with some medium gray, call it whatever you want.
Can you post a color chip of what PoW was painted during Bismarck action? And Tamiya alternative?
I can do one better my friend
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=166889
This should clear up the matter of confused nomenclature of Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade. It also contains numerous colour renders showing how they compare. I can't help with Tamiya however because I don't own many and indeed it would be contrary to my own interests to do so even if I could because I make paint to sell. It seems a good idea to make our research conclusions available for free because it improves awareness and reduces confusion on what isn't in truth a particularly complicated subject - it has just been made confusing by incorrect information in circulation which failed to reconcile well with other types of reference material such as the Admiralty's original documentation, photographs, cine film reels etc.
I will contact Frank Allen at the Hood Association and help if I can. They've been trying to keep the site up to date off the back of tid-bits posted here and perhaps elsewhere over the past year or two but like everyone they have been victims of a few decades' worth of confusion caused by the incorrect assertion that 507A, 507B and 507C were three distinct shades. The website used to list 507A and 507B as separate shades as has been the widely understood situation until very recently. I have a personal theory on where that error originates, but will not go in to writing on that to avoid potential for litigation. Published works on Royal Navy WW2 camouflage written in the 1970s (e.g. by Peter Hodges) were better and contained fewer verifiable errors than some written more recently.
This here
https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/page ... -june-1942 is the first known reference to a "medium grey" and even the wording used here (written carefully as is the British armed forces way) leaves no room for interpretation. From 1936 to 1941 the Home Fleet used "Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade" sometimes simply called "Dark Grey" or "Home Fleet Grey". In parallel with this, ships on foreign stations used "Light Grey", sometimes called "Foreign Stations Grey" or "Mediterranean Grey". If there was a medium grey in existence, the Admiralty and DTSD were unaware of it. The context of this unnamed medium grey is also clear. It is expressly for use in emergency camouflage where there isn't time to obtain or apply a proper pattern design in the correct paints. This emergency option is republished again in CB.3098 which introduced the simplified and rationalised camouflage paints system of G5, G10, B15, G20, B30, G45 and B55 in May 1943, then again in 1945. The possibility of a who capital ship being painted in a medium grey is something which could be debated. I feel that's unlikely.
At any rate, 507A and 507B were identical save that 507B had 10 pints of Pattern 11 enamel paint (itself the colour of Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade) added per hundred weight. Enamel use was ordered to be discontinued in 1940 for war economies, but it is possible that at least some ships had their existing 507B over-painted with 507A or civilian manufactured matt paint of equivalent shade to reduce reflections and glare associated with somewhat shiny 507B which are undesirable traits in war time.
Does that help? As far as your model goes, you're probably still in the right ball-park shade wise and I am not saying you need to repaint anything. You'll see from the renders in the first linked doc above that the real appearance of Home Fleet Grey was somewhere between Snyder & Short's 507A (which is too dark) and 507B (which is too light). As a ship commissioned in 1941 many months after the Admiralty ordered the end of enamel use (although using up stocks was ok) it's almost certain that HMS Prince of Wales left to intercept Bismarck wearing a dockyard formula matt paint of Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade.
Also - the Flyhawk kit looks superb. I might get one for my wife who is enjoying 1/700. I am excited about their forthcoming 1/350 kit of same subject
