RAF & FAA Colours

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I was asked on another thread how Colourcoats compared to two references. I decided to post the response in here where anyone who wishes to view it can find it, but without feeling like they're getting a sales pitch amidst WIP threads.

The references used are:

• 1996 edition BS381C; described as for identification, not matching purposes. Matching quality cards are available, but cost even more than the already very expensive booklet!
• British Aviation Colours of World War Two - The Official Camouflage, Colours and Markings of RAF Aircraft, 1939-45 published by Arms and Armour Press in association with the RAF Museum, Hendon

The two colours asked about specifically were ACRN09 Dark Green and ACRN03 Dark Sea Grey, so I'll start there. Colour chips were brushed out from Colourcoats tins onto photo-printing card segments. For these two colours alone, I have also brushed out samples of popular competing brands (who will not be named!!!) tinned and sold as being RAF Dark Green and RAF Dark Sea Grey, or are called out in kit instructions for use in these applications:

Dark Greens against Ref.1:

Dark Greens against Ref.2:

Dark Sea Greys against Ref.1:

Dark Sea Greys against Ref.2:

On to WW2 colours in general:

We already know that ACRN12 Azure Blue is wrong, and aim to have a replacement colour faithful to Ref.2 on the market by August this year. By coincidence, as I was brushing the chips for this exercise I noticed a Russian colour with more purple in it - I included it here. Another leading brand competitor sells WW2 RAF Coloursets including Azure Blue but they have made the mistake of matching to the modern BS colour of the same name. The following photograph showing Azure Blues together shows how far out it is, and why modern Azure Blue is completely unsuitable for MTO colour Spitfires, Hurricanes, Beaufighters etc.

I do have ACRN28 RAF Interior Grey-Green downstairs, but it's raining and I don't want to go outside. If there's a desire, I'll do it another day.

For post war uses, the following are the relevant greys against BS381C. ACRN02 Extra Dark Sea Grey has gone from the 1996 edition, and ACRN08 Barley Grey is matched to BS4800 / 18-B-21.

Dark Greens were shown at the beginning, but I had a tin of -220 Olive Green handy:

ACLE01 Anti-flash White doesn't appear in either reference.

ACLE02 Hemp is matched to BS4800 / 10-B-21 but happens to be fairly close-ish to a BS381C colour:

Likewise ACRN16 RAF Desert Pink / Sand is actually matched to FS595-20279 but is close to a BS381C colour:

[Darby]

That's interesting to know. I'm umming and arring about whether to use Colourcoats EDSG for my Phantom build if I can't get an Xtracolour by the time it's ready for paint.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I'll see what competing ESDGs I have knocking around and brush those out after work tomorrow

[Nigel Heath]

Jamie, your colours and paints look amazing. Who could not resist buying them.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Thanks Nigel.

I hope to be able to make the case more compelling for more people over the next quarter

[wyverns4]

Well, that,s rather tasty and exciting

The important question; are they going to be released as acrylic as well?

Christian, exiled to a land without suitable paint...

[spitfire]

Great job, it's nice to see the background work that goes on, any progress on Soviet GPW colours ?.

Cheers

Dennis

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Well, that,s rather tasty and exciting

The important question; are they going to be released as acrylic as well?

Christian, exiled to a land without suitable paint...

Hi Christian,

Although I'll never say never, there is/would be more to it than just replicating the range. I'd want a composition that actually worked well all of the time, didn't react badly or refuse to adhere etc. That would likely require alcohol or lacquer base (I hate the way water based paints tend to splash into globules on smooth surfaces) which would need careful R&D and basically investment, all in a market that is fairly saturated with brands of acrylic paints. Alcohol and lacquer acrylics are no easier to post than enamels, so I struggle to see much potential to increase sales in line with the very significant investment that would be required, which coincidently is much more than we have to spend. The investment pay back period would be a long time if it ever turned a profit at all - so for now we are sticking to what we're good at and focussing on improving the performance of the business to consolidate Colourcoats. We'd rather spend the money optimising our stock holding (something we're now getting a feel for having run for a year), optimising cost base without affecting the quality, correcting colours and marketing / advertising.

In conclusion, we have no near-to-medium term plans to develop an acrylic range.

Great job, it's nice to see the background work that goes on, any progress on Soviet GPW colours ?.

Cheers

Dennis

Hi Dennis,

We have made a little progress, but it's been second tier work to be honest. We've had some niggles to iron out of the day-to-day running of the business. I am optimistic that we will make some meaningful progress that will benefit both Sovereign Hobbies and our customers across the board as far as Colourcoats goes this summer. If the top tier stuff goes according to plan, we could be looking at new Soviet, and Imperial Japanese Army colours along with the reintroduction of Dutch colours this year.

We don't have access to vast amounts of capital to hit everything at once, meaning that investment money comes from sales, so we have spent the first year getting to know our business, its costs and its market place and now we are focusing on investing in improvements that make the biggest improvement to the company's revenue. That provides the capital to invest in research materials, trips / visits, new colours and so on.

Thank you both for your interest

[Duncan B]

Thanks for answering that question.

Duncan B

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I was going to just do the two, but got a bit carried away!

[Duncan B]

I was going to just do the two, but got a bit carried away!

I know the feeling, I was just going to have a look then.........

Db

[John]

If I could make one suggestion, it would be to take a look at DuPont 71-021 "Sky Type S Grey" for all those P-40s coming along this year - as well as the ones we've already got. I don't think anyone has ever done it as an out of the pot paint?

John

[PhantomBigStu]

Shame you won't be entering the acrylic game, would like to see the colours not covered by a well known brand in acrylics, but clearly there are much better ways of spending the capital

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

If I could make one suggestion, it would be to take a look at DuPont 71-021 "Sky Type S Grey" for all those P-40s coming along this year - as well as the ones we've already got. I don't think anyone has ever done it as an out of the pot paint?

John

Hi John, and thank you for the suggestion. I do like a topical release - the new AP631 Bronze Grey in the Royal Navy range was a happy coincidence in matching up with the Merit International Ark Royal release and as such has had a surge of sales. A flurry of P40 activity would mkae this very viable. I'll add this to the short-term to-do list. Thanks again!

Shame you won't be entering the acrylic game, would like to see the colours not covered by a well known brand in acrylics, but clearly there are much better ways of spending the capital

Hi Stu, we did look in to it at the very beginning as we had no idea what sort of costs we'd be looking at. We'd need double the storage space, and an investment close to 4 times what we paid WEM's liquidator for Colourcoats in the first place.

There's a wee bit of a challenge in that because we don't appear on any instruction sheets, most don't know Colourcoats exists. When I first joined Britmodeller Colourcoats rarely got a mention in response to a "which paint?" question, with the exception of the naval modellers for whom it's much better known. For aircraft and armour modellers, Colourcoats was only really known for having some oddball colours like Eau de Nil and Sky Blue - the kind of thing a modeller needs one tin of in their lifetime. That sadly can't support a business so we have to sell the more common colours too and in greater volumes. With the large number of acrylic brands on the market compared to enamels, it's a crowded market to compete for customers in.