Vintage pair vampire and meteor colour scheme

[TOPGUN88]

I notice that RAM models are doing a decal sheet for the vintage pair. It says light aircraft grey. Is this a correct colour because all the photos I have seen of the pair look alot brighter and lighter. Humbrol 166 looks far too dark. Any suggestions? 

[Graham Boak]

They certainly looked Light Aircraft Grey, and it's difficult to see what other colour they could have been.  Ignoring any effect of photography: I don't know quite how good a match H166 is to LAG but assuming that it is, I suspect the problem is that all colours look much more intense in the tin then they do once spread over the whole aircraft.  Yet if you paint a patch of scrap plastic and place it directly onto the skin and peer at it, it's a match. This is the modeller's controversy usually called "Scale Colour".

[TOPGUN88]

Hi graham. Thanks very much I didnt want to sound stupid. Its probobaly also the way they were taken very bright nearly off white. Thought I was going colour blind ha. 

[Paul J]

They were both light aircraft grey with the yellow T bands. I usually use Xtracrylic RAF LAG for my builds.

[TOPGUN88]

Thanks paul j. Thats brilliant. 

[perdu]

I remember the topic arising many times back in the day

 

LAG and (a) Trainer Yellow was the answer every time

[Rabbit Leader]

Gunze do a fairly good Light Aircraft Grey IMO (acrylic and lacquer based) so this may also be another option. 

I have used this paint on my Airfix Jet Provost and like a number of greys, I think that 'scale colour' plays a part as they all look a little on the dark-ish side. I have similar problems with getting a good match for Medium Sea Grey. Now I'll admit that I have not tested every brand of MSG however I am yet to find one that (I think) looks light enough straight out of the tin. 

 

Besides your LAG question, I think your biggest hurdle may be the RAM models decals themselves. 

There are numerous threads and posts on here about some issues with this supplier, so I'd be trying to obtain these decals first before committing any paint to any model. 

 

Cheers and good luck.. Dave. 

[bentwaters81tfw]

Halfords Racking Grey if you want  to use a rattle can. It's taken a long time for a sheet to come out considering how long ago they were lost.

[TOPGUN88]

I think I have 2 sets of the aeroclub decals. Will have to look them out. I was looking at the gunze colour. 

[Wez]

Bear in mind that these aircraft were kept scrupulously clean, with little or no weathering so pre-shading would be wholly inappropriate.

 

I was on a cleaning party for these aircraft during my first Space Cadet summer camp at Leeming in 1979. I can confirm, they were indeed a very glossy light aircraft grey with yellow trainer bands.

[Jabba]

8 hours ago, Wez said:

 

I was on a cleaning party for these aircraft during my first Space Cadet summer camp at Leeming in 1979. I can confirm, they were indeed a very glossy light aircraft grey with yellow trainer bands.

 

Wow wonders will never cease, a fairy cleaning an aircraft. Ha ha.

[Wez]

 

Cheeky bugger, seeing a precious bluddee rigger doing the job was rarer (although not as rare as ever seeing a sumpy on the line)!

Edited April 4, 2018 by Wez

[Truro Model Builder]

Humbrol 166 does look the part to me. My Airfix Jet Provost T.3 in that colour with the dayglo stripes seems spot on.

 

[viscount806x]

On 4/3/2018 at 9:25 PM, Rabbit Leader said:

Besides your LAG question, I think your biggest hurdle may be the RAM models decals themselves. 

There are numerous threads and posts on here about some issues with this supplier, so I'd be trying to obtain these decals first before committing any paint to any model. 

 

 

To avoid anxiety with getting the above decals and since the schemes themselves are very straightforward, an easier option might be to use generic Xtradecal  (nee Modeldecal) serials and numbers with CFS emblems from another kit which I'm sure wouldn't be too hard to find. A quick look in my own folder showed a set on the Xtradecal Jet Provost sheet and a slightly bigger version on the S&M Decals Chipmunk/Piston Provost sheet. John Adams also had sets of CFS badges on the decals sheets for his own Meteor T7 and Vampire T11 kits

Just an idea. I know it is a bit of extra work making up a code/serial sequence from individual digits but you'll have hundreds left over for other models.

[sprue]

Are these the ones in question. Taken at Biggin Hill circa 1979

 

url=https://postimg.cc/image/ce98fpwor/][/url]

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

[bentwaters81tfw]

That's them.

[Julien]

Before anyone parts with money to RAM models pls read this;

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235020953-ram-models/

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

On ‎03‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 9:25 PM, Rabbit Leader said:

 I think that 'scale colour' plays a part as they all look a little on the dark-ish side. I have similar problems with getting a good match for Medium Sea Grey. Now I'll admit that I have not tested every brand of MSG however I am yet to find one that (I think) looks light enough straight out of the tin. 

 

Cheers and good luck.. Dave. 

My edit:

 

I'd suggest taking the model outdoors to judge this. "Scale colour" gets taken to mean different things. On one hand, some people are only able to think of models like fullsize objects viewed from afar, and thus they except to see colours "scaled" by desaturating them as distance tends to do. On the other, human eyes do not perceive colours the same at wide angles as at narrow angles. The difference in angle need not be much either. A 1/48 scale single engine aircraft hand in the hands is a wider viewing angle than a tiny colour swatch - usually contrasting extremely against an unnatural background.

 

Needless to say, my Medium Sea Grey is correct, and looks dark in the tin or when painted out onto a tiny swatch and/or when viewed in artificial light (or even just indoors in day time). When used on a normal size model though, and with other colours which are also correct, it looks correct. To compare well with photos of real aircraft taken outdoors in the sun, the model needs to be taken outdoors into direct sunlight too.

 

Many modellers unfortunately believe their own eyes and try to adjust what they perceive as the problem colour and screw up a model completely. The impression of lightness or darkness is very much a second order consideration compared to getting the contrasts between ALL of the colours correct.

 

For example, the RAF WW2 Desert Scheme is one often bastardised beyond recognition by people who think Middle Stone is too dark and lighten it, resulting in a frankly awful looking result with grossly exaggerated contrasts between Dark Earth, the Azure Blue and even the roundels and propeller.

 

IMHO it's a superior model that portrays the relationships between all the colours realistically than one which has had one or two colours adjusted to someone's uncalibrated eye and ends up with the viewers' attention dominated by an unnatural contrast between those poorly adjusted shades and the remaining ones - even small things one doesn't think about, like an anti-glare panel, tyres or a jet pipe can stick out like a sore thumb if the surrounding colours have been shifted too far.