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Does anyone know what color of paint to use on this model?


Speedbird 48

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I'm not a Humbrol user, but from what I read in other threads, 116 US Dark Green 34079 is well thought of to use for RAF Dark Green, better than 30. As for the other colors, under surfaces would be Sea Grey Medium (165), and the other upper surface color would be Ocean Grey (106). Others will undoubtedly know better than I how accurate Humbrol's renditions are.

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The green never changed throughout the war, but the composition did; in August/September 1942, Supermarine (and others eventually) went from cellulose to synthetic paint.

This was because the latter was matt and smooth, something which had never been properly achieved with cellulose.

The problem was the tendency for the paint to fade and chalk during service; Aircraft Finishers were supposed to keep the finish pristine, by regularly sanding down, with a form of wet-and-dry paper, then a wash with clean water.

Just to make things even more difficult for modellers, the paint faded more in areas which received no heating, e.g. rear fuselage and wing extremities (as on the E wing,) so the finish could look rather patchy, in fact it has fooled some into thinking Supermarine painted Spitfires in various non-standard greys and greens.

Of course, during a major service at an M.U., or C.R.O., the airframe was likely to be freshly painted, ready for the cycle to start all over again.

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Humbrol106/163/165 are the correct colours. Personally use Xtracrylics/xtracolour versions of the 3 colours, RAF dark green, raf ocean grey and raf medium sea grey

as for the 2nd spit the green/grey scheme is the same colours but the other one is in the desert theme of humbrol 225 Mid Stone, Hum29 Dark Earth, and Humbrol 157 Azure Blue which are also all available in Xtracolour and Xtracrylix, though Humbrol 157 is enamel only

heres 2 of mine in xtracrlix colours, look much light in the flesh

also for both the spits the spinners are RAF sky (which is also in Xtracolour/xtracrlixs) and is Humbrol 90

762368D4-1E08-4F10-A675-B8F1EF7FEE4C_zps

Edited by PhantomBigStu
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Both Humbrol 116 and 163 look good to me for RAF Dark Green. Jessica makes a good point about 163 looking a bit too dark on a small model, so a slightly lighter colour may look better even if it's not actually the correct colour.

Where personally I'm not happy is with Humbrol 106 for ocean grey, unless Humbrol changed the formula recently I've always found this too dark. The Xtracolour/Xtracrylics version is IMHO much, much better

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It will look a little brighter while it's wet, yes. Have you stirred it well? I use an old small screwdriver and give it a slow but careful stir getting all the sticky stuff up from the bottom. Just be careful not to slop it all over the sides!

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Follow Doug's lead, and use something metal, and flat, for stirring paint.

1/. The metal will break up the lumps, at the bottom, much more quickly than wood.

2/. Unlike wood, metal does not soak up any of the liquid, so your paint constitution stays the same.

3/. A flat item "persuades" the paint to mix, while a round item just pushes it out of the way.

Although it certainly isn't cheap, I find that Tamiya's paint stirrer is ideal for Humbrol's tinlets.

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