flight deck color

[coachhrt]

What is the proper color for the flight deck. I've seen them done in black and varying shades of gray.

[sgtryan13]

That depends on what nationality the carrier is, what era, what carrier, etc.

If you are looking at doing a modern US Navy Carrier, then in my opinion, you can not beat Tamiya "German Grey" for the flight deck. I have used that color on 7 1/350 carriers, and absolutely love it. Many of those carriers have been for commission customers, and they have all been very happy with the color as well.

[coachhrt]

It is for the mid 70's era Enterprise.

[Cliffy B]

The "official" colors are direct matches to the following Model Master paints (enamels and acrylics):

Haze Gray = Neutral Gray FS36270
Deck Gray = Gunship Gray FS36118
Flight Deck Gray = Engine Gray FS35076

The only difference being that at least for Haze Gray, the USN uses a semi-gloss paint instead of flat but you could always fix that with a clear coat if you want total accuracy.

Remember those are for 1/1 scale. Plenty of people like to paint their ships with "scale appropriate" colors IE lighter versions of the real shades. Light Ghost Gray for example, is often used in lieu of Neutral Gray.

I do remember hearing though for a time (post war-Cold War) CV flight decks were painted solid black and that it "rapidly weathered to a dark gray". I have no idea if that's true or not though and haven't been able to verify it.

Hope that helps.

[Bigdaddy Mark]

I also used Tamiya "German Grey" and I think it came out perfect.


I sprayed German Grey, did my oil wash, then pastels, then a few coats of Future clear with Tamiya flat base.
I think it's as close as I could get.

[coachhrt]

Thanks for the help. Very much appreciated.

[Christian M.]

Hi,

I must link into here�... not for a modern carrier deck, but the WW-2 US carrier (i.e. USS Essex) deck. I always read in sources that it is a colour called "deck blue" (FS n� I don't know out of head) and which is available from several companies in mostly same shade. But I became slowly sceptic about how this colour looks like after several months and longer on sea.
Let me first say that carriers and WW-2 ships are (beside Royal Navy) not my real area of interest, but Dreadnought and Pre-Dreadnought ships of WW-1 and earlier and here I my "library" grows slowly. But because I wanted to build 1 carrier for my collection, my choose was the USS Essex ... but for 1 ship I do not buy expensive books, so I take info's out of internet and other builds.
However, as far as I read and know, flight deck was of wooden planks which were then painted in this "deck blue" colour, but I saw now at a friend who makes planes many deck pictures of Corsairs, Hellcats, Wildcats & Co. and in several pictures the deck is much lighter as the dark blue painted planes on it. Taking my Gunze "deck blue" colour and make comparison to the photos, it really looks like another colour on the b/w photos... so could it be that deck blue becomes much lighter in service or was at least later in war another colour used on deck?

Cheers,
Christian

[John Snyder]

USN flight decks in WW2 were not painted, but rather were stained in either Norfolk 250-N Flight Deck Stain (1941-42), or Flight Deck Stain 21 (1943-45 and on into Korea). This stain was subject to fading under the hot sun of the Pacific, and to wear from aircraft handling. It did not stay pristine for long.

[Christian M.]

Hello John,

thank you very much for information, helps much.

Cheers,
Christian

[lexington1709]

Wondering of some knowledgeable people can help me out for a CG modeling project I've embarked on. I'm looking for the flight deck and hull color for the Lexington (CVS-16, SCB-125 Essex-class) in the 1960's, prior to her being turned into a trainer. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Tracy White]

I believe the "modern" standards listed above (haze gray, deck gray) should still apply then. I don't know for sure about the flight deck color, but the Haze gray would be the same.

[Vlad]

Going back to the WWII decks, I remember reading somewhere (might even have been a post by Tracy on a different site) that the Flight Deck Stain 21 of 1943 was roughly matched to 5-S when fresh but ended up looking more like 5-O when faded. Then in 1944 Flight Deck Stain 21 reverted to being a close match to Deck Blue 20-B. I assume this is also "when fresh". Roughly what shade would it be when faded/weathered? I ask because photos of ships in this time period show a very sharp contrast between the deck and the black pennant numbers, but paint matches for deck blue are very dark and deck numbers on some of my models are almost invisible.

[John Snyder]

Remember that black & white photos of this period were largely shot on orthochromatic film, which rendered anything with blue in it as lighter than normal in the final print. That would explain much of the perceived contrast between the deck color and the pennant numbers.

[Vlad]

Thanks John, I did know that but for some reason my mind failed to make the connection in this context. possibly a bit off-topic, but if these numbers are presumably there for identification purposes why would the USN choose such a low contrast combination?

[Tracy White]

Because camouflage. Even later, when they went back to yellow striping, it was with thin lines that could not be resolved at much distance. The Navy really didn't want to do anything that would highlight something as valuable as a carrier.

[lexington1709]

Here's my Lexington (just some tweaks to do to her radars and island areas).

[marijn van gils]

Also, remember that on a model the exact same shade of paint will look much darker than on the real thing.
In order to get a correct scale feel, it is necessary to lighten (and de-saturate) colours on models. The smaller the scale, the more the colour needs to be lightened. And the darker the colour, the more it needs to be lightened.
A great write-up on the subject: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=154868

When lightening both the deck color and the numbers appropriately, I'm sure the latter will come out to the right amount.

Cheers,

Marijn

[ModelMonkey]

The Lex posted above looks terrific. Great 3D CAD skills.

Going back to the WWII decks....Roughly what shade would it be when faded/weathered? I ask because photos of ships in this time period show a very sharp contrast between the deck and the black pennant numbers, but paint matches for deck blue are very dark and deck numbers on some of my models are almost invisible.

Here are some sample photos to illustrate the ideas expressed so well in some of the comments above. These samples indicate there was much variation (see below) in color and fading. And has been pointed out earlier, the chemistry of the photography of the time leaves some doubt to accuracy also. This topic always makes for interesting conversation. In the end, the choice will be yours, the modeler's.

[Vlad]

Thank you for those contributions, that is indeed a very good article by Chris, but I wouldn't say I am in the scale lightening camp, despite the fact I build in 1:700 where in theory it should matter more. My personal choice is to have my ships looking fairly bright, especially if camouflage is involved, to show off the pattern. In a way I prefer to build models that are factually accurate but visually "idealised".

I try to colour match but not exactly, partly because I am highly averse to mixing. I do however want the colours to look right together as well as being correct individually. That's why my main concern here is the contrast and visibility of markings.

I do like that Randolph picture, it seems the deck is almost back to bare wood. I would consider it a bit beyond my skill to replicate that level of wear but it gives me some confidence in picking a lighter and duller colour for the flight deck on my current project, to show off the deck numbers and also the planes that are also dark blue!

[ModelMonkey]

There are a bunch of good Navy photos of modern carier decks on the Calling All Ships: Carriers section showing various shades of dark gray. The freshness of the anti-skid coating, how the light reflects off of it, and the direction of how it was laid by the crew with rollers, makes a big difference in it appearance.

Regarding WWII flight decks,

I do like that Randolph picture, it seems the deck is almost back to bare wood. I would consider it a bit beyond my skill to replicate that level of wear but it gives me some confidence in picking a lighter and duller colour for the flight deck on my current project, to show off the deck numbers and also the planes that are also dark blue!

Give it a try. You might find it's actually a lot of fun and not as difficult as it may seem. Tedious, but not difficult. Here's some photos of my attempt on USS Yorktown CV-10 (WIP) to give it that "Randolph look":