Finding the right color

[Bullet175]

Is there a chart somewhere or a conversion where I can find out the FS numbers on some paints. For example NAVY BLUE 5N, HAZE GREY 5H, DECK BLUE 20B Where can I find the FS numbers for these colors.

[Timmy C]

You won't find FS equivalents for WWII paints because the FS system had not been developed at the time. The best you can do is look at a chart of FS colours and try to match it as close as possible with a paint chip of the WWII colours - these chips you can get via Shipcamoflage.com.

The chips are reviewed here:
http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/bo ... usn-1.html
http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/bo ... usn-2.html (you won't need most of this one unless you're doing amphibs)
Why can't you just match your paint to what you see on the screen? Because the colours gets shifted through all the scanning and displaying.

Easier would be to buy WEM's Colorcoats or Model Master Marine Acrylics (OOP, unfortunately) which are matched directly to these chips.

Of course, you can just go with what looks about right to you and arrive at a colour that's explainable through reasons such as scale effect, weathering, etc.

Edited by Tracy - Added ShipCamo Link
Reply by Timmy - Good call Tracy
Reply-reply by Tracy - Thanks. Any warmer up there?
3Reply by Timmy - warmer than last year - we're just having our first real snow today

[NukeMM]

I don't know if this will help, but Testors' web page lists their paints (and other brands) and when you move your cursor over the color, a window appears and lists the FS number of that color.

http://www.testors.com/category/135243/ ... amel_Paint

[aleccap]

Cor am I gona get in trouble for this - why bother with correct (100%) colours on any model that's being built ? And no I don't mean paint the darn thing bright green with blue strips, maybe pink, but not green. Seriously though, most IJN ships were built in the same location and using the same colour 'Kure' wack this ship out in the sunshine for a few months and bang goes that lovely colour, look at it this way, you're building a real surface combative ship and run out of PP-33 blar blar paint, is that it ? Do you down tools and say sorry can't finish this, or do you colour match the next best thing ?
I brought 3 rattle tins of kure (grey) paint, in my stash I had 2 pots of matt 27 Humbrol paint, does a great job.
Colour match by dabbing a drop of 'almost the same colour' paint on plastic and allowing to dry, once you're happy find another colour that's 90% the same, and this will do for shadow painting.
There is nothing wrong in wanting to paint something 100% as it should be painted, anyone that has ever owned an old car, that's had a knock/scratch and tried to match that paint, you'll know (if you're honest) you can even get the correct code for the paint and you'll never perfectly match the rest of the body work, same for ships, brand new slip way and already full of rust, check Youtube, books ask people, correctly painting is honestly great, I believe its not having to be 100% that people should worry about.

[Timmy C]

Alec, it depends on what type of model you're building - if you're doing a diorama of a ship that's been on the seas for a while, yeah, you're not going to need exact accurate colours. But if you're putting your ships in a museum-type display where it's meant to represent the ideal/theoretical version of the real ship, then getting the correct colour would be more important.

[Bullet175]

I have WWII battleships in mind to start collecting. 1/350 scale. And I do plan on doing some weathering such as sun fade and such so I dont really want them to have the pristine fresh of the slipway look to them. I realize I dont have to have the exact color. Just get it close. My biggest concern is that I am going to have to order all my stuff. The closest hobby store to me is Hobbytown and its a hours drive. They used to carry the full line of Testors paint and an awsome model selection, almost anything you wanted. But now they are primarily just an R/C store. Very few plastic models or supplies. Mostly cars. My local walmart for a time carried some Model Masters paints! But not anymore. So I have to order all my paints and I just want to be sure Im getting colors that are usable to my application when I place an order. I hate buying paint that I cant actually look at. Thats why I was asking about the FS numbers. Ive seen the Testors website and Ive saved some of the color discs they have but its hard to compare those to a color chip held up to the screen.
But the above posts have made this a lot easier to deal with. I think Ill just order a selection of blues and then I can always darken or lighten them to get them closer to what I need if I have to.

Thanks yall