Reference Thread

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Post your reference information here.

 

Please note if posting artwork or photos you must either be the copyright holder or have the copyright holder's permission to post.

[Basilisk]

The quest to get accurate Russian paint.

 

Akan (Russian Web site is down at the moment) has a huge selection of colours used on Soviet / Russian / Ukraine hardware and have a reputation to be very accurate.

 

I bought some, but haven't used them yet. But read only good things about them. They make Acrylic paint (60000 range code) and a lacquer version - they call it Acrylic enamel (70000 range code).

 

Of interest is that their acrylic paint is made in Finland (I wonder who makes them) and the lacquer is made in Belgium by DuPont (at least that is what is written on the bottle)!

 

They are a bit difficult to get. I bought my selection from Hobby Colours in Greece, but they run out of stock very quickly after receiving a re-stock, so you have to time your purchase right. In the US of A, Lindeh Hill Imports is the place to get them.

 

Another great choice is Mr. Paint from Slovakia which has a very good selection (but not as extensive as Akan) and are more readily available. I use the paint and I love them. BUT they are lacquer and need a spay booth to use as they do smell. As they are already thinned for airbrush use, brush painting is a no go. But they are the perfect match with an airbrush as no tip drying happens at all and the pigment size is extremely fine - more like an ink.

 

I am sure there are others out there, but these two brands have the best reputation when it comes to accuracy.

 

Cheers, Peter

 

[fewr9fkr9595]

Russian interior cockpit colour anyone?

 

This may be of use seeing as alot of planes will be built in this GB...

 

Here's a chance to see what they look like together so you can pick/buy a shade that you like or think is best to suit your reference photos... As the brand that's recommend in your instructions may not match either to your pictures or AM etch or decals etc etc...

 There are as many out there as shades in real life. I guess each manufacturer matched  their product to the sample they had.

I have also seen changes to the colours of the supplied etch in kits , eg 2011 vs 2015 editions of the eduard profipack MiG-21 MF boxing. Also there have been a few different shades of mr hobby/color reccomended by them too over the years. So there is no definitive shade. 

 

In broad terms they all look good in their own respect and most match at least one photo I've seen whilst trawling google images. 

So I have compiled all my colours together for the benefit of everyone. Most were collected a couple years ago or so when I went through a phase of mig-21's. Some more recently... 

A nice mixture of all types so there should be something to suit everyone. 

 

Group shot. 

 

 

Close up of shades, black and white for reference/balance. Whole card sprayed with matt varnish to get rid of the variety  of sheens and get a more level comparison. Most colours are very intense on the card as they contrast strongly again the white - something to bear in mind. 

 

 

In reality the colour can be anything from a light blue down to a toxic green. I will give the name that the manufacturer gives for their colour. As some 'turquoises' as they are called are in fact more 'emerald'...

When talking about and/or describing the shades I will refer to the blue side of the spectrum as turquoise and the green side as emerald. 

 

Descriptions of rows, left to right.

 

Top row (1)

 

966 - Vallejo model color (mc) turquoise 966. Very blue and dark. 

 

838 - Vallejo mc emerald 838. What it says on the tin, a classic emerald in my opinion. 

 

808 - Vallejo mc blue green 808, To me this is more of what a turquoise colour is than 996. Too blue as it is though?

 

838/808 - A custom 50/50 mix of 808 & 838. I think this has the right balance between being neither too blue or too green.  

 

'Eduard etch match' - Last on top row is a Vallejo mc mix by eye to paint and touch up the cockpit using the eduard etch from the 'Indian service' boxing. I used some of the 996 turquoise to get towards this shade. 

 

Second Row (2)

 

AK - ak interactive Air 2301 cockpit turquoise from their soviet 1950-70 set. A proper turquoise shade, turns out similar to the 50/50 808/838 mix I made above. 

 

MIG - Mig ammo Interior turquoise. 

More of an emerald colour to me than described as a turquoise. Could be the same paint as Vallejo 838

 

Akan Emerald (faded) This is in alot of their Soviet plane sets. What it says on the tin. 

 

Hataka (orange lacquer line) cockpit blue green from the post 2000 polish AF set with the Mig-29 on the box. A nice slightly dirty/greyish shade. 

 

Revell 55 matt light green. Spotted this the other day in the off chance whilst in a hobbycraft! A very light colour, but for 1/144 could be good? Or over a dark primer in a larger scale?

 

Third Row (3)

 

MRP-1 - Mr Paint interior turquoise. 

Very bright and on the green side. More of an emerald?

 

H46 - Mr Hobby Aqueos H46 emerald. This is what eduard recommend to be used in their mig-21 bis profipack boxing - Straight H46. 

 

H46/25 - Next is a 50/50 mix of mr hobby H25 sky blue and the above H46 emerald. Supposed to be a good match for the etch and shown here on britmodeller somewhere too. Not tested it out myself yet. Seems quite dark?

 

Mr CLR Eduard - The most recent Eduard recommend mix using Mr Color lacquers that is in the majority of their mig-21 instructions now. If it is to match their latest painted etch I don't know? It is however a nice compromise between turquoise and emerald. Mix is 60% C34 sky blue, then 20% each of C66 light green & C80 cobolt blue. 

 

Mr CLR HB - The  shade suggested in the new Hobbyboss 1/48 Mig-31. Quite a greyish pale emerald green. Mr color paints. 

The mix is 85% of C74 blue and 15% C6 Green. 

 

Fourth Row (4)

 

MM - Model master Enamel soviet interior blue green. Rather dull and grey, leaning towards more emerald. 

 

TMY - A custom tamiya mix I made by eye a while back using blue, yellow and white to match the decals in a weekend edition Mig-21SMT. Very similar to the new eduard mr color shade I just mixed for this comparison. Coincidence?

 

MRP-49 - Mr Paint Light Grey Blue, Russian aircraft interiors and cockpits. Just for this comparison to what it's like. 

 

End of pallete. 

 

Ok thanks for reading all of that! 

 

Anyways, hope this is of help to someone. 

 

 

Tony

 

ps: started this post as its own thread in the paint section so more people can find it.

[Robert Stuart]

On 20/04/2017 at 03:27, Basilisk said:

The quest to get accurate Russian paint.

 

I have bought Akan acrylic paint in the UK from Coastal Craft Models

 

Here: http://www.coastalcraftmodelsuk.com/akan_paints.php

I've only dealt with them once, but they were friendly and helpful.

 

If you are going for an early WWII VVS fighter set, it's Akan set 47305 - the description on Coastal Craft's site says 1943-45, the image suggests Yak-3 1941-43, but it is appropriate for early war fighter schemes. http://www.coastalcraftmodelsuk.com/akan_paints.php?page=4

 

OT, I have no idea why we used to go for AII coded colours for early war, and now most wartime VVS colours are AMT codes.

 

 

 

[fewr9fkr9595]

My post reference cockpit colours has now been updated with a better image and description of colours 👍🏿 

[Basilisk]

Here is a swag of information on everything WW2 Russian with wings.

 

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/

 

Cheers, Peter

[Christer A]

Superb link Peter!

Much obliged!

Now, to translate the Interior Colours A-14f (Steelgrey) and A-15f (dark green) to something resembling model paints...

Maybe Foliage Green (I start to sound like a broken record with that paint!) and some dark grey like Tamiya  XF-54?

[Valkyrie]

On 4/25/2017 at 7:08 PM, Tony Oliver said:

My post reference cockpit colours has been updated with an image and description of colours 👍🏿 

The only thing I don't enjoy about this hobby is researching, finding and choosing paint, this work by Tony is magnificent..👏🏼👏🏼🇷🇺

[128fiddler]

Hello fellow modellers,

 

The picture of my subject, Mi-24W '740' on airliners shows it has armed soldiers in the back pointing out with some machine guns... Question is now, what kind of guns are these? Here's another view, it looks like it has a retractable support underneath the barrel, Anyone who knows this kinda details?

 

Thanks in advance