Tiger Moth RAF Camo Colours

[dr_gn]

Guys,

I finally bought a new Airfix Tiger Moth at Telford. I've noticed before that the earth/green camo on the top wing is standard early RAF, but the lower wings are lighter. I've not seen many (or any) built models that reflect this scheme.

Were the lower wing colours just lighter versions of the upper, and for what reason?

I use Vallejo Reflective Green and Green Brown for my early RAF types, can I just add a drop of white to them for the lower wings, or are they completely different colours?

Thanks!

[Paul J]

They were lighter. Reason being the top wing would cast a shadow over the lower wing and 'restore ' the darker shade. This idea was applied to other types too like the Gladiator for example.

Re your paints, its worth trying to lighten them with a tad of white.

Others here may suggest something different.

Nice choice of kit by the way! Enjoy.

[ben_m]

The reasoning was that the lower wing was likely to be in the shadow of the upper one, and so to prevent it the shadow appearing as a dark line, and hence reducing the effectiveness of the camouflage pattern, they painted lighter version of the brown and green that would be darkened by the shadow to 'match'. Not sure how really effective it would be at doing this job.

[Graham Boak]

The lighter colours (called Light Green and Light Earth) were also to be used on the lower sides of the fuselage, and this can be seen on the larger aircraft but not (to the limits of my memory) on the Tiger Moth. This is possibly because the initial trainer scheme had the underside yellow going partway up the fuselage sides and when such aircraft became vulnerable to German intruders the uppersurface camouflage was simply extended down the sides.

Light Earth and Light Green are available in the White Ensign range, and possibly from Xtracolour. Naval aircraft similarly used Dark Sea Grey and Light Slate Grey for their lower wings.

[dr_gn]

Thanks for the info guys.

[Robin-42]

I don't have the formula to hand, but I believe it is 1/3 insignia white to two thirds dark green and dark earth respectively.

[dr_gn]

I don't have the formula to hand, but I believe it is 1/3 insignia white to two thirds dark green and dark earth respectively.

Thanks, that's useful becasue I'll be adding white to the upper earth and green rather than buying new paints and messing about trying to match contrasts etc.

[Nick Millman]

RAE documents confirm that the lightening of the colour standards was not proportionate so the ratio cannot have been the same for Dark Green and Dark Earth.

Reflectivity of the colours was changed from 7% to 14% for the Dark Green but from 13% to 30% for the Dark Earth. The reason for this disparity is not known - other than the obvious one of an approximate doubling of the reflective value. But the result was a tonal contrast between the two colours that increased from 6% to 16% which is a bit curious.

FWIW there are two fair and approximate FS matches for the lighter colours of 34102 and 33245 respectively.

[dr_gn]

Thanks,

I'll add white until I'm happy with it and hope for the best!

[stevehnz]

The instructions for the Airfix Grandslam Lancaster give Hu 86 & 93 as matches for the Light green & Light Earth used in later versions of the Lancaster B.(I) Special used to drop these bombs. I have painted test patches of these two colours out & compared them to the colour samples of the RAF Museum book which is considered to be the bible in these matters & to my Mk 1 eyeball, in daytime lighting, they look to be a decent option. I've long thought that the 93 could go a dash of 29 in it to brown it up a bit (5-10%+/-), & maybe the 86 a dash of 116 likewise.

Steve.

[Dave Fleming]

The instructions for the Airfix Grandslam Lancaster give Hu 86 & 93 as matches for the Light green & Light Earth used in later versions of the Lancaster B.(I) Special used to drop these bombs. .

Another discussion or another time, but I have long doubted that...

[stevehnz]

Dave, I couldn't find the thread we discussed this in several years ago, I believe that the aircraft pictured are probably DG/DE uppers, but evidence was brought to bear that later on, perhaps post war, the colours were changed to LG/LE, by which time 617 had adopted LS codes. Be that as it may, Airfix believed this to be so hence they suggested 86 & 93 as options for LG/LE & I've put them forward for this thread on that basis, believing from my own tests that they are probably pretty close except the the caveats I put forward above.

Steve.

PS Found it, original thread here started by yours truly, sorry.

[dr_gn]

So, does anyone happen to know the appropriate Vallejo colours for the lower wing - if lightening doesn't give good results?

I use Reflective Green and Green Brown for my early RAF upper surfaces.

Cheers.

[Nick Millman]

So, does anyone happen to know the appropriate Vallejo colours for the lower wing - if lightening doesn't give good results?

I use Reflective Green and Green Brown for my early RAF upper surfaces.

Cheers.

Vallejo Model Air give equivalents of 71.092 for FS 34102 and 71.030 for FS 33245 but can't vouch for how close they really are to those or the MAP colours.

In Model colour 912 is given for 33245 but there doesn't appear to be an equivalent in that range for 34102.