English Khaki Grey

[MattQ]

I am looking for some sort of documentation (color chip, paint pigment formula etc) for a Thomas Morse Scout (US built aircraft, 1917 - 1918). Original drawings for the aircraft called for it to be painted "English Khaki Grey Enamel". I assume if the color originated in Great Britain it would have been just as Khaki Grey. Does anyone have knowledge of this color?

Many thanks, Matt

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Might this be PC.10 which was sometimes referred to as Khaki?

[Graham Boak]

I'm out of my comfort zone here, but a little surprised to see enamel paints being used on a fabric-covered aircraft. Normally this would surely be a cellulose-base paint of some kind? A grey colour of some kind was used on the metal parts of the cowling, on types such as the Camel, but whereas this would (or at least could) be enamel I don't see that as any kind of Khaki. Admittedly this term is widely used for a range of colours, and PC10 does seem to have come with a wide range which could well overlap.

[wyverns4]

Hi Matt,

In my hand I have;

Owers, C. A., 2014, Thomas Morse S-4 Scout, Centenary Datafile 166, Albatros Publications Ltd., Berkhamsted, ISBN 978-1-906798-38-3, pp. 32.

On P. 26, there is a section on colours and markings in which it states that, "The standard colouring of the Thomas Morse was Khaki enamel and Willeys Elastic gloss overall".

To me this would indicate that the fabric areas where finished in the elastic gloss and the metal/wood areas in enamel.

Looking at the images, (photos and plates by Ronny Bar), the closest match that I could find was Vallejo Model Colour 880, (113), Khaki Grey. Also there appears to be very little, if any, variation between the two colours and gives the appearance of being a homogeneous finish.

The moniker English Khaki Grey may well be a, (U.S.), informal, or manufactures description, as as far as I am aware this was not a recognised finish for UK airframes.

HTH

Christian, exiled to africa

Edited January 28, 2016 by wyverns4