The story of RAN ship colours at Guadalcanal
As I explained already in the writeup of my USS Chicago build in my opinion it�s quite likely Chicago still carried 5-S Sea Blue (instead of the then already standard 5-N Navy Blue) while stationed in Australia and into the Battle of Savo Island. Michael Brown (medway), a well-known RAN expert and enthusiast who sadly passed away in February 2023, cited Commodore Dacre Smyth mentioning to him that Australia had got some paint from Chicago to use and that the odd thing was that USS Chicago was lighter than the other USN ships around. This only supported my suspicion that Chicago carried 5-S and that RAN ships used a similar paint at the beginning of the Guadalcanal campaign. It�s known that RAN introduced a paint called Chicago Blue, but that only happened much later. As far as we know there was no official designation of that RAN paint at the time of the Battle of Savo Island, so both Brett and I agreed that we�ll refer to the paint used by Australia, Canberra and Hobart there as �RAN Sea Blue�.
It is noted in correspondence by Rear Adm Crutchley that he issued instructions for cruisers of the Australia squadron to be painted with a lighter colour for upperworks, followed by a Feb 43 memo that he was happy with the results. Examination of images shows no discernible difference in tone between hull and upperworks, it therefore cannot be definitively proven that the instruction was ever implemented. If it was, the difference in shade/tone was so minimal as to be undetectable in images.
Regarding the light paint used on the foremast Michael Brown made a comment long time ago that Professor William Dakin, Technical Director of Camouflage during the war, had noted RAAF Sky Blue as the paint used on ship�s mast tops at that time.
Although not relevant for my waterline model, it was proven by Brett from examination of HMAS Australia`s AD495 Docking Reports that Majors Grey was applied as antifouling below the waterline. Major`s Grey is considered to have been BS381C 31 or something very similar, no records exist of its formula. Boot topping was black.
The colour used to paint RAN ship�s decks at Savo is also a mystery of its own, it�s unknown. A dark mid-grey paint might have been used for the decks and horizontal surfaces but no documentation has been found thus far to definitively pinpoint what it was. According to Brett�s research the deck paint might have been similar to BS381C 31 & 32 (renumbered to 631 & 632 after WW2).
Big thanks to Brett for allowing me to publish his excellent and accurate profile of Australia at Savo he created based on our research:
Being a happy user of Lifecolor paints I used their 5-S Sea Blue for the vertical surfaces and RAAF Sky Blue for the upper foremast. The closest match for the BS381C 32 for decks and horizontals I found in Vallejo Basalt Grey 70869, but it turned out not the best choice, as its colour value was too close to Lifecolor 5-S so it came out almost indistinguishable after some weathering. I decided to support the difference a bit by overpainting tops of main turrets, TT mounts and some other metal surfaces with dilluted Vallejo Dark Grey 70994 while leaving the decks as they were.
The story of choosing the right Walrus representation for my build is explained in 1/700 Supermarine Walrus: Yao's Studio vs. Flyhawk.
Its camo and other details are described in the corresponding profile by Brett:
I had to modify decals provided by Flyhawk to correspond to the version of roundels used by RAN at the time. Like in case of my Canberra build, it turned out the best to use a set of modelling punchers (Suder Tools ST 001) to punch out the red centre of upper wing roundels and replace them with white (punched from a blank white decal sheet). Similarly, I punched out the blue/white/red centre out of the yellow-outlined roundel originally intended for Fairey Seafox on the Flyhawk decal set.
Photos show two grilled platforms used by the crew to gain access to the wings undersides for hanging ammo and maintenance. Also, the front of the fuselage on the catapult was usually supported by a �box� to provide more stability as the cradle attachment points were located aft on the a/c. It�s interesting that this support box apparently remained in bare metal, unpainted, over an extended time period till early 44 when the catapult was removed. I tried to replicate these features in my build.
