British World War One Green

[Vulcanicity]

OK guys, be gentle, I've never built a WW1 subject except for a less than satisfactory Avro 504 many years ago, but I decided to get an "archetypal" trio of famous British WW1 fighters from Roden, and I'm about to tackle the Sopwith 2F1 Ship's Camel. I know very little about WW1 colour schemes and modelling techniques, so please forgive me if I have a few idiot questions...

The first is this: what is the best easy-to buy paint equivalent for the green-brown colour used on the uppersurfaces of British aircraft?

Is there even an adequate paint made by easily available manufacturers (in Oxford this means Revell and Humbrol only) or should I order something?

I'd need a paint-brushable acryllic, so this may also narrow the field. I've heard Humbrol 86 and 155 quoted, and to my layman's eye Revell 68 looks fairly close, but is there an agreed "best match"?

Was the colour even standard throughout the war/across all types? I've seen representations of it on models and restored aircraft vary from a sort of olive drab to a brown bordering on mahogany.

Hope this isn't one of those "can of worms" questions, I'd be interested to hear peoples opinions though.

Thanks in advance...

[Viking]

Hi Phil,

My thoughts are based on what I have read over the years, which means that I can't remember specific references.

One thing I read from an RFC pilot was 'I never saw a green aeroplane the whole time I was on the western front, they were mostly a sort of coffee colour.'.

So I tend to mix up my own shade of what was officially known as PC10 (Protective Coating 10). I use Tamiya acrylics and mix some olive drab, red brown, and a touch of black to give a shade that I like.

I hope this shot of my Sopwith 1 1/2 strutter shows what I mean. You should be thinking 'is it green? is it brown?'

Hope this helps,

John

[Killingholme]

There is a recipie for the original paint available, but there are so many variables that it is impossible to say exactly what colour PC10 would have been (I don't want to open that can of worms though!) I only swung by to say that I use Humbrol 98 'chocolate' with perhaps just a couple of drops of olive drab or dark green depending on my mood. I've never painted any WWI model aircraft the exact same shade twice.

Will

[bilge rat]

There's really no right or wrong answer as the original colour of PC10 was so varied. I tend to go between Tamiya Acrylic XF-74 (Olive drab) or XF-51(Khaki drab) but that's just my personal choice.

Hope that helps

Mike

[pte1643]

I got a colour VERY similar (if not the same) as Vikings 1 1/2 Strutter on a Camel I'm halfway through.

Vallejo 887 Brown Violet is what I used (No mixing).

Forgive the "Shaddowy" photo...

[Jennings Heilig]

PC10 was a whole rainbow of colors. From medium green to dingy brown. Pick what you like and go with it!

[Vulcanicity]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm glad PC10 was such a variable colour and I've got such a variety of answers: this should mean whatever I decide to go with should be OK! I'll bear all the advice in mind

[JackFlash]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm glad PC10 was such a variable colour and I've got such a variety of answers: this should mean whatever I decide to go with should be OK! I'll bear all the advice in mind

Greetings all,

Just a bit of fun here. The BEF used both PC 10 and PC 12. The fellows at Hendon can be more helpful, but the 10 is more green and the 12 is more red (it has some iron oxide in it.) Most aircraft manufacturers used one or the other or both.