Colours for HMS London anno 1943

[wilsan]

I'm working on a 1/700 London kit, and I want it depicted in its early 1943-stage. While the pattern itself is easy to reproduce, finding the correct colours for it is proving to be like finding a piece of hay in a stack of needles, with a lot of sources and "sources" contradicting eachother. Some say it's 507A+507C+B30, others say G10+B15+B30+B55 or white+B10+B30+G45, others say it's shades of green with grey (I doubt that though).


The pattern I'm talking about:



Anyone has some insights in this? Any sources? Thanks in advance!

[dick]

This may or may not help you. It taken from a document dated 5 Feb 1944 and the air sortie referred to was 15 Sept 1943. One of your photos above is dated later in 1943 than the air sortie.

1944 2 5 HMS London colours B55 and G10 - Copy.jpg

[wilsan]

Wow, that's some great information, and a twist I didn't expect. In the game World of Warships there is also the HMS London, so I messed with the colour-values a bit.


G10+B30+B55


G10+B30+G45

When turning those renders in B&W, and then applying some "vintage distortion" to it, both look very plausible, with the B55-kind having a tad more contrast to it than the G45 one. But those contrast-values can also be from the quality of the film.

[SovereignHobbies]

Those renders look like 20% LRV paint rather than 55%. That's a very dark impression overall.