Kittyhawk colours

[mikeew]

Hi all,

I am building the Hobbyboss 1/72 P-40M .

I want to paint her in RAF colours for a P-40M Mk.III Kittyhawk., 112sqn

The destructions say upper surfaces are Middle Stone and Wood brown with undersides in Light blue

I'm no expert on these , but I reckon this is a crude approximation of the correct colours.

The brown/yellow for the top I can work out to Dark earth and Middle stone, its the undersides I need help with.

Would it be Azure Blue? or something a lot lighter than that? If so which paints are nearest the right colours?

cheers for all/any help on this quandry

Mike

Edited May 27, 2007 by mikeew

[AnonymousA667]

Quite likely azure blue, depends on the timescale. Azure blue is actually a lot lighter than Hu 157, which is a good match for light Mediterranean blue. Humbrol don't have a colour which is a straight match and the colour system quotes a mix of Hu34 x 49, Hu25 x 10 and Hu33 x 1.

peebeep

[mikeew]

Cheers Peebeep,

I was thinking along the lines of Hu48 Mediterranean Blue lightened with white or light grey.

Hmmm...Xtracolour make Azure Blue, any idea if thats accurate?

[AnonymousA667]

I don't use Xtracolour but AFAIK they usually produce good matches. Have you checked out Fredriksson's charts?

peebeep

[thx6667]

Your colour assessment is spot on Mike, Dark Earth, Mid Stone and Azure Blue.

One thing to remember is that you can't be too dogmatic with the actual shades of something like Azure Blue because it seems that the MAP weren't either and seemingly many field variations sprang up. As for the best shade, well that depends on what your take on Azure Blue is - for me, having seen some original paint samples (which are only accurate for that particular batch anyway) its a slightly duller colour than some model paints depict. BTW, don't take the colour swatches on the IPMS Stockholm site as being gospel, as the site points out they are there as a rough guide, not as accurate colour swatches.

I quite like Tamiya XF-18, but that's just a personal preference. BTw those Hobbyboss P-40s are great aren't they? Made the P-40B the other week, thought the breakdown of parts was superb.

Edited May 27, 2007 by Jonathan Mock

[PHREAK]

Your colour assessment is spot on Mike, Dark Earth, Mid Stone and Azure Blue.

One thing to remember is that you can't be too dogmatic with the actual shades of something like Azure Blue because it seems that the MAP weren't either and seemingly many field variations sprang up. As for the best shade, well that depends on what your take on Azure Blue is - for me, having seen some original paint samples (which are only accurate for that particular batch anyway) its a slightly duller colour than some model paints depict. BTW, don't take the colour swatches on the IPMS Stockholm site as being gospel, as the site points out they are there as a rough guide, not as accurate colour swatches.

I quite like Tamiya XF-18, but that's just a personal preference. BTw those Hobbyboss P-40s are great aren't they? Made the P-40B the other week, thought the breakdown of parts was superb.

Hi Jon

I seem to remember you fondling a few of the Hobbyboss kits at the nats last year.....have you built the P-47?

I've got one, not my usual bag (or box in this case) and fancy a quick weekend bash together to get me refocussed!

Any comments or big pitfalls to be aware of?

Hope all is well in your world, coffee will have to be in Swindon now!

Regards

Rich

[mikeew]

Thanks to a trip to Bill Clarks modelshop, I got the Xtracolor enamels, thinned with cellulose they sprayed on beautifully.

X26 Azure Blue undersides

X2 RAF Dark Earth & X9 RAF Middle Stone upper sides camo.

[desmojen]

Ooooh, that looks nice Mike

Jen.

[mikeew]

Cheers Jen.

Its nearly done. Just wanted to show off the decals. Hobbyboss decals are great, this is the second time I've used them and must say I'm impressed. The sharks mouth didn't fit perfectly under the chin intake, but I can touch it up with some paint easily. Otherwise I just need to weather it and add some matt cote.

[AnonymousA667]

Sharkmouth =

Nice.

peebeep

[Mike]

Nice... and very bright at the moment too. Should look the duck's danglies once you've weathered it down though

[thx6667]

Hi Jon

I seem to remember you fondling a few of the Hobbyboss kits at the nats last year.....have you built the P-47?

I've got one, not my usual bag (or box in this case) and fancy a quick weekend bash together to get me refocussed!

Any comments or big pitfalls to be aware of?

Hope all is well in your world, coffee will have to be in Swindon now!

Regards

Rich

The P-47, FW 190D9 and Spitfire are still in primer, waiting for me to fix power back to the workshop.

The FW 190 is very, very nice, perhaps the best of the bunch - while the Luftexperten will no doubt pick holes in it, as a kit is falls together in minutes and it lokos like a Dora.

That's a nice P-40 Mike, I'm going to have to add one of those to the list now. Quick question though, have you fixed the exhausts in place yet? They seem to be sticking out a tad on your photo.

Edited June 6, 2007 by Jonathan Mock

[Oliver]

That looks really nice mike. Can't wait to see it finished, the paint came out really well.

[mikeew]

That's a nice P-40 Mike, I'm going to have to add one of those to the list now. Quick question though, have you fixed the exhausts in place yet? They seem to be sticking out a tad on your photo.

Yes Jon they are fixed, not happy with them myself, but being that its a one piece moulding fuselage; not a lot I could do about it!. They were a tight fit as it was, the photos do seem to emphasisie it though. It looks better on my workbench I must say. In hindsight I could have filed them down a the back, but the glue has cured now, so they will stay.

Gotta agree that these little Hobbyboss "Easy Builds" are great fun, I built the Yak-3 a couple of months back and it was just what I needed to get out an AMS induced modelling rut.

I think I'll get them all eventually, they are cheap as chips too!

Mike

Edited June 6, 2007 by mikeew

[thx6667]

Yes Jon they are fixed, not happy with them myself, but being that its a one piece moulding fuselage; not a lot I could do about it!. They were a tight fit as it was, the photos do seem to emphasisie it though. It looks better on my workbench I must say. In hindsight I could have filed them down a the back, but the glue has cured now, so they will stay.

Gotta agree that these little Hobbyboss "Easy Builds" are great fun, I built the Yak-3 a couple of months back and it was just what I needed to get out an AMS induced modelling rut.

I think I'll get them all eventually, they are cheap as chips too!

Mike

I'll watch out for those exhausts when I get around to having a crack at that kit. The P-40B BTW is a lovely kit to built.

When I first saw some of Hobbyboss's stuff 18 months back I commented that "the plastic kit has been reinvented" and while I don't think its the way forward for every kit, as far as entry level stuff goes, its just perfect, while for modellers like me who find assembly gets in the way of the fun part (painting) they are simply brilliant.

They are obviously on a learning curve and as innovative as some of their engineering is, sometimes its also a little clunky as well (the Wildcat in particular) but like you I'll be collecting most of them because they are great fun.

Edited June 6, 2007 by Jonathan Mock

[John]

Humbrol Azure Blue is a very good match for BS381 Azure, which is a lot darker than the MAP colour and fuels my suspicion that Humbrol may have matched the wrong standard when they originally intorduced this colour in the old Authentic range. My current favourite Azure Blue out of the bottle is LifeColor, which has that slight violet tinge I associate with the colour. Humbrol have corrected their overly dark Middle Stone but not their Azure Blue, which is a shame.

If you want to use Humbrol something like 48 Mediterranean Blue with a very slight touch of red and a bit of white is going to get you pretty close.

John