Darren,
Actually, the commercial paint companies are very helpful this end and have emailed me their paint lists on an excel spreadsheet which, once sorted into RGB, makes it very easy to find a match assuming there is a close one.
Neither US Federal nor RAL colours are made by our commercial paint companies, only British & Australian Standard colours. No real call for them as nobody uses them. We can get RAL colours in car paint spray if we want as German car companies colours quite often are/were a RAL colour especially the 1970s cars where grey was popular. I discovered the current German Weather work colour was used on an Audi, so easy to get. “Normal” enamel RAL coloured paint in a can we can’t get.
We only have one marine paint manufacturer. The paint used on RAN ships is made here by AkzoNobel and it is made to the colour of 26270 but is matt. I have a contact in there and what I said about the paint is a straight lift from one of his emails. That is why it is known as RAN Haze Grey, a different finish using a different type of pigment. AkzoNobel also supply the RNZN.
I’d never heard of Metamerism until it got quoted to me in one of his emails along with a couple of nice pdfs showing some examples. Can’t seem to post pdfs to this forum though.
If you want French or Italian, I have the colours for them. AkzoNobel happen to paint the Pacific based French warships in Brisbane's dry dock. The French use their own standard which nobody seems to know much about. So, the French ships, much to their dismay, are painted in the nearest British BS381C colour which matches their standard.
Sorry, we are going to have to disagree on the close enough is close enough. I figure if you are going to make the model as accurate as possible, why not paint it in the right colours if you know them?
I hope you aren’t related to Mal from Adelaide.
It is rather nice at a Regatta or normal run to see the various ships of the RN or whatever navy in the same colours. We tend to pass the can around or dole out paint to whoever wants it. A litre or two of paint goes a long way. The 3 ships in the photo attached used the same can and are the same colour despite appearances as you said, the varying light changes the look of the colours as does the angle. So far 2 others have used that can.
Anyway, the answer to my question has been resolved 595 26270. This has been fun and educational
Michael