GrahamB

Thanks Dave, I probably go along with the DE/DG combination too - but have some patches showing repaints. Sky/"Duck-egg Green/blue" for the undersides too.

Happy New Year! Finally couldn't resist ordering the VALOM DH.91 Albatros - such a beautiful aircraft. I'm wanting to do one of the mail-planes impressed into service with 271 Squadron RAF, ex G-AEVW 'Franklin", and used on the Preston-Iceland route. as BJ-W/AX904. The better of some images of this aircraft show it with a highly repainted/retouched scheme on upper surfaces, and with what I assume are Medium Sea Grey codes and the name Franklin still in the BOAC blue? More importantly, would this aircraft be in the Temperate Sea Scheme (Extra Dark Sea Grey/Dark Slate Grey) with perhaps Sky (or a duck-egg blue-green substitute) as it was mostly flying over water, or did it retain a previous Temperate Land Scheme finish (Dark Earth/Dark Green)? Perhaps impossible to tell. Cheers GrahamB

Pale colour could be Light Stone, an army colour in widespread use in Middle East at the time.

Hi Jamie, this is all very well and good and I'd really like to have these new RN colours in my collection. However, with the extreme clampdown on mailing enamels, lacquers etc (anything inflammable or marked toxic/poisonous) I cannot order these, even from Australia (I live in New Zealand). Have you considered producing these in water-based acrylics or, in lieu, providing accurate colour matches across other paint ranges so that we can find alternatives? Cheers GrahamB

If you are considering painting a Fokker E.II then you should certainly consider painting at least the wings (both surfaces) a brown colour, as in many photographs these show a darker tone than the fuselage (possibly a dye or coloured varnish). This may have extended onto the upper surface of the fuselage and the tailplanes on some airframes according to photographic evidence. This has been documented by Ian Huntley and others, as part of early German camouflage practices during 1915-1916. I can PM articles about this (by IH and one by me) if you are interested. Cheers GrahamB

Hi Mick, some years ago I messed around with converting quoted Methuen values (in Windsock Datafiles etc) into colours from a commercial paint range (Resene) that provides good colour chips and RGB conversions. Here are a couple of examples. I think the darker and saturated version/s of the purple were (17F8 and 16F5) are applicable to the DV. You can try any of your UK brands (Dulux etc) if they have a colour finder and get in-the-hand chips, rather than work off screen LGB values. Cheers GrahamB

Excellent build. I did the same with the Airfix kit about 40 years ago as my father also served on her during the Korean War. He still meets up occasionally with the decreasing number of crew mates and has visited the Belfast in London several times. Cheers GrahamB

Congratulations on getting this beast of a kit finished and with a cracking result. I'm still fiddling with the floatplane/MS version but am inspired to get on with it now, having seen your effort.

Many thanks to all. I'll go for the yellow (training codes) for this subject - and night-fighter camouflage (not EDSG/DSlateG/Sky) - as per the photos seen on the web (as per your link, Jure) also showing AI aerial fit. I might get the Warpaint book as well - the kit looks very nice and another model with the squiggle camouflage beckons (as per my 1/72 version posted on here a year or two ago). Paul Lucas is suggesting that DR726 may have been finished according to a 1943 CAFO ordinance for FAA nightfighters with Sky Grey overall, with Green-Grey disruptive on upper surfaces, with a mirrored pattern in Sky on the undersides. Cheers Graham

Hi Britmodeller collective brain. A nice project in front of me is a 1/48 SH Fulmar Mk.II to be built as DR726/BO-X, 784 Squadron, as depicted in the recent May issue of SAM. I don't have the NF version of the kit and am a little confused about the squadron codes - they are depicted variously as red, yellow or white (?). There are a couple of photographs of DR726 (in NF form) crash-landed on HMS Ravager but I'm not clear if the codes are visible. Any help much appreciated. Kia ora! GrahamB

Absolutely first class! A great looking aircraft in a spectacular colour scheme.

fwiw Warren Russell's book on NZPAF and RNZAF colour schemes shows this (NZ1318) as a yellow/black striped Oxford. Cheers GrahamB

Just got back from the show. The figures that will accompany these kits are exceptional, especially when painted by a maestro - the facial likenesses are incredible given the scale. Release date may be this year. Might try and get photos tomorrow unless someone else posts. Picked up a postwar DH9 kit for less than half price because the box lid was knackered.

Many thanks for pointing this out. It's interesting about the confusion about the Deltic Blue. The colour of the prototype Deltic does look completely different in that photo - a more pastel or or violet hue (more Methuen 20-21). It guess it can't be determined what colour the original match was intended to be (the colour of BR Deltics or that of the prototype) but the alternative Methuen match 22(C-D)7 is more like the BR colour than the true Deltic Blue. On the other hand.........if Culley's blue was mixed from roundel blue (VB2) and white - and the VB2 was purely ultramarine - then a Methuen of 21 would be appropriate and we would be back to the original Deltic Blue! Oh well - it leaves a bit of flexibility for the modeler, but a good RFC VB2 blue should be probably be the starting point and the result should be a fairly dark/saturated colour. GrahamB

Thanks Jack. Anyway, here's a picture of a Deltic diesel locomotive robbed off the interweb. I'll have a play with some Vallejo mixes (Prussian Blue looks a distinct possibility for tinting). The Stockholm IPMS site list of Humbrol Authentics (with FS. matches) annoyingly doesn't include 133 Deltic Blue. Cheers, Graham_ P.S. Forgot to mention that one of the matches with Culley's blue was Deltic Blue or the Methuen value. Deltic Blue is an obsolete railway colour in the Humbrol Authentics range and does not feature in the IPMS Stockholm paint lists.

Hi, I've just got a copy of Ray Rimell's excellent "Building the Wingnutwings Sopwith Camels (& LVG C.VI). What a standard to live up to! In the text, Ray mentions some Methuen matches, based on comparisons with surviving relics - these for the VR3 red in its red-orange vermilion versions, and the "bright sky blue" of Culley's 2F.1 N6812. This last colour was surprising in its relatively dark and saturated appearance. I've used my usual method of translating the Methuen values to a local paint company (RESENE) chips, but this is possible with other ranges of course (Dulux, Berger etc). The RGB values are those given for the paint colour by Resene. The resulting RGBs on the screen may look different to the actual solid versions but you could use colour finders to get commercial matches. I'll have a look to see if there are any Vallejo matches. Cheers, GrahamB

BE.2C, a Morane of some sort, Phoenix C.1, Bristol Scout.

I'll be going to this show as usual. Probably spend a bit of pocket money at the WNW stand - hard to resist when they are right in front of you.

Hi, just thought this might be useful for prospective builders of the upcoming WNW Junkers D.1. It is a chart that was originally posted by me on the Aerodrome site a few years ago, using my local Resene (NZ) household paint chips to get reasonable in-the-hand matches to published Methuen values. The resulting RGB values can be used to search your local paint brands. The pale blue in the chart is still a touch too blue and dark. A 1/48 D.1. model of mine was highly praised by the late Dan-San Abbott for the colour scheme, using these matches (his). Cheers, GrahamB

Many thanks! This is possibly what I can get hold of -Stynylrez/One Shot. I'll give it a try. Cheers GrahamB

Thanks Matt, this is useful information. I remember trying an acidic primer some years ago but it was rather thick and powdery on application but I probably didn't have a thinner. One can also get fixated on the need to prime everything. Cheers Graham a Flyhawk SMS Derrflinger on the stocks, with all the the etched "bells & whistles'.

Hi Dave, many thanks for this info, and - going a little off-topic - but I'm near to finishing a Valom Fokker T.V. - essentially a very nice kit (as is the Bombay as you describe it) but needing some work on getting things to fit properly and refining some trench-like panel lines in a few places. Cheers graham

Perhaps. I'm not entirely convinced that this is Night/black on the undersurface of Bishopsgate but maybe I should go and look at some more photos of unquestionably Night-camouflaged aircraft. Interesting though and I'm tempted to get the Valom kit now. Cheers Graham

Are we sure that black is the underside colour in some of the photos above (especially that last one of Bishopsgate)? To me the tone looks just lighter the the dark roundel blue. Perhaps Dark Mediterranean Blue?

Many thanks for the suggestions. I guess my only no-no is using acrylic based primers (Vallejo etc) that are just too fragile to stand much handling. One problem I have in NZ is getting solvent-based paints/primers because of the severe restrictions on airmailing these things from abroad. I've just tried decanting from the Tamiya spray-can - make you realise just how little paint there is in there! Happy New Year. GrahamB