RN White in 1/72?

[brentsimpson67]

Hi All,

What would be the best match for Royal Navy White in 1/72?

I am doing the Matchbox 1/72 Corvette (which is huge) and so I would prefer an acrylic rather than my usual White Ensign Paints colour.

Is RN white any different from your everyday white??

Cheers

Brent

[John Snyder]

In this case, yes, it is a different white. Western Approaches White (Colourcoats RN 10) was a warm white, not the pure white that the RN used in other camouflage applications. If you want to match it in acrylics, then you'll need the Snyder & Short RN Set 1 paint chips to match against.

[Rob]

For keeping it consistent, i would stick with the WEM colours rather than mixing and remixing batches of acylic. Otherwise you run the risk of an incosistent batch of colour if you need to do any touch-ups.

rob

[brentsimpson67]

Thanks guys,

That seems pretty clear, I guess I will be making a bulk order of RN 10 from WEM!!!

Cheers

Brent

[captain brown]

Western Approaches White was an off-white.

I have used the WEM paints on two corvettes, one built and one in progress, they work well, just make certain you shake well/stir before use.

I used two tins to paint up CHILLIWACK short focsle, and so far one tin for my long focsle version (although more is needed for the next items). That was with an airbrush, for hand painting you would likely need a doubling of the amount.

Weathered short focsle
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/C ... CK4474.jpg

Pristine long focsle
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/C ... ck0001.jpg

Cheers,

CB

[brentsimpson67]

Thanks for the great advice!!

I have purchased 5 tins of WEM white and 2 of WEM western approaches blue, so going by what you are saying that should be well enough!!

I am planning on doing Bluebell as depicted in the WEM colour guide for their 350 scale kit, I figure that this guide would be accurate as it has been produced by WEM though it differs significantly from the Matchbox guide. I would be interested to see what you guys think on this.

Beautiful short focastle kit!!!

Cheers

Brent

[WWIIshipmodeler]

I think we all have seen the many many many variations of color found in any WWII scheme be it ship, aircraft, or armored vehicle.

The thing to consider is while there was a official color, it was oft made by many different companies, and or applied by many different places.

This is key as it makes the actual definitive color now subject to variations based on the above.

Then add time, fading, weathering, and or damage would make the color completely different from what ever source it originally had.

My point is simply choose what ever color be it white, blue, grey etc that you like, seems right to you, matches what ever reference you like. Given the above variables there is no way anyone could claim it was wrong.. really.. so do not stress to hard about what white exactly is the best. use the paint you like to paint with, and go from there.

[John Snyder]

I just love how modellers who agonize over other details just blow off color. Just use olive drab for Western Approaches Green--I mean, after all, they're both green, right?

If you don't at least start from the right color, your accuracy goes right out the window.

[Tracy White]

Given the above variables there is no way anyone could claim it was wrong.. really..

I agree with John and beg to differ. If you study color and have the appropriate resources and references you can back up a statement that someone used the wrong color.

I DON'T, because it's a hobby, and mine isn't telling people how they made mistakes.

But unless the builder is willing to state that they used XX color to represent four months of fading, etc., and do the appropriate other weathering (as opposed to slapping on a wash and a rust streak or two) it will stand out as a failure or short cut to a certain group of people. The builder just has to make the call as to whether or not they care what this group thinks.

[Rick E Davis]

I agree about using the "right" color as your start, but I have too many examples of where the variation aboard a ship is quite noticeable for the "Same Color Paint" applied. This is a recent image I found at NARA, besides being one of the few Flush-Deckers completed during the war (commissioned 24 June 1918 and escorted convoys July-November 1918), I was really interested in this photo because it was obviously taken while the ship was in the middle of being either painted into a dazzle scheme or being painted out of a dazzle scheme (I suspect out(?), but don't know for sure). Look at the different "shades" of paint seen on the side of the ship and along the waterline boot. Ships that were repainted by a yard crew with spray guns from a common single batch of paint looked "perfect". A paint job applied by the ship's crew can look pretty "ragged" even when freshly applied particularly those cases where they are painting over a dazzle scheme without an "undercoat" first. I think it depends a lot on the subject you are painting and if your photographic research shows some variation "around" the basic right color was observed.

I wish I could date this undated photo as being before or after her convoy service. In any case this is one of the sharpest images I have seen of a WWI era Flush-Decker and is an interesting study in her configuration.

[Tracy White]

I would guess painting out of Dazzle, comparing the weathering on the #1 & 2 versus #3 & 4 stacks.

But that's my point about weathering; if you're going to use different colors and say it's just heavily weathered you need to provide the other aspects of that appearance; appearance of re-painting and some areas looking newer/more beat up than others chief amongst them.