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RAF Roundel paint colours


snapper_city

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I am looking to paint the roundels on my Spitfire and wonder what colours you all think will be the best match.

The scheme I'm doing is below

25036760209_22916d8521_h.jpgDSC_6673 by Mark Inman, on Flickr

200px-RAF_roundel.svg.png

Both the instructions and the above image are both much lighter blue than the decals.

26174788085_0c3a7d8dec_h.jpgIMAG0179 by Mark Inman, on Flickr

The instructions say Gunze H5 for the blue which I think is quite close but possibly too light. I would need to order a bottle to see first hand.

My conversion sheet states the following as alternatives.

Xtra color roundel blue. It just looks the wrong shade on screen and I would like to stay away from enamels.

Model Air 88 & 90. These both seem too purple on the screen.

Model Color 899, 925, 930 & 965.

899 seems the wrong shade like a grey blue.

925 seems a close match but like the Gunze H5 possibly a shade too light.

930 looks a really too light.

965 is just not close at all.

I know looking at colours on screen isn't the best way of doing things so wondered what you lot think and has anyone done this before??

Next up will be the red when I have a moment to check.

Edited by snapper_city
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If I were you I'd repost this in the Cold War section, that being the period relevant to these particular roundel colours and the home of many people who use them a lot.

Meanwhile here is what transpired when someone else asked in 2010:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/52790-cold-war-raf-roundel-colours/

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Of course I'm only watching the decals through my most likely uncalibrated monitor, but to me the roundels in the decal sheet don't look too bad. I compared them with pictures of early '50s aircrafts, that were supposed to use the same colours, and they compare pretty well. Mind, there is the possibility that different colours were used, like the earlier pre-war tints but should not be too likely (paint expiry dates and so on)

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Don't ever rely on kit instruction sheets for accurate colours of any sort. These are printer's inks and are intended only as a guide as to what goes where and broadly what it should look like. The wartime MAP series had by 1947 been withdrawn as far as markings colours go. The red was Bright Red, later BS. 381C 538 Post Office Red now Cherry. Blue was Bright Blue, later identical to BS. 381C 110 Roundel Blue. There was no White in the BS.381 range. Be aware too that kit instructions to use certain paints are often not accurate either. The company simply advise you to use a particular paint because they think that will be suitable or, as in the case of Airfix/Humbrol, company association. best use the decal in the kit in this case.

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Might have to do some mixing to match the decal/illustrated examples. It could be the colours chosen were based on a photo where atmospheric conditions have altered the true colours?

I imported the isolated roundel sample from the first post to the Corel paint program to find their hex numbers. Those numbers were then placed into this paint program:

http://scalemodeldb.com/paint

The results give no exact match to available hobby paint brands.

red hex #CE1126 = Pantone 186 is an exact match, but no paint brand remotely close
blue hex #00247D = closest match Pantone 280, but has a measurement of 7.87 distant from exact match (2 or less is considered good).

regards,
Jack

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Or just go to any competent car paint factor and get them to do you some BS381C 538 red and 110 blue. They are readily-available catalogue standard colours, that's the whole point of BS381C

Edited by Work In Progress
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I imported the isolated roundel sample from the first post to the Corel paint program to find their hex numbers. Those numbers were then placed into this paint program:

http://scalemodeldb.com/paint

The results give no exact match to available hobby paint brands.

red hex #CE1126 = Pantone 186 is an exact match, but no paint brand remotely closeblue hex #00247D = closest match Pantone 280, but has a measurement of 7.87 distant from exact match (2 or less is considered good).

regards,

Jack

Slightly OT I'm afraid but those Pantone colours are the ones approved by the Flag Institute for the Union Flag:

http://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/british-flags/union-flag-bill-2008/

Phil

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Or just go to any competent car paint factor and get them to do you some BS631C 538 red and 110 blue. They are readily-available catalogue standard colours, that's the whole point of BS631C

BS 631 was the standard for crude rape seed oil from 1967 until 1990.

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Hi guys

Thanks for all your replies on this matter. I have tried a simple option of taking the decal sheet to SnM Stuff today and comparing bottles against the decal colours. These seem not a bad place to start. I had a few numbers to check out anyway (listed above) and found a couple of others off the shelf. In the end I brought it down to two bottles of each the blue and the red.

In the Blue corner:

Model Color 899 Dark Prussian Blue

Model Air 090 Deep Sky

In the Red corner:

Game Color 106 Scarlett Blood

Model Color 957 Flat Red

26169556156_f9e585a1af_h.jpgIMAG0405 by Mark Inman, on Flickr

I hand painted each onto a bit of scrap plastic card.

Under LED light

25592815723_f3dcaac339_h.jpgIMAG0401 by Mark Inman, on Flickr

Under normal ceiling lights

26169559196_f6602b78bd_h.jpgIMAG0402 by Mark Inman, on Flickr

26195479075_1b886b62a3_h.jpgIMAG0403 by Mark Inman, on Flickr

I personally think the Model Air 090 Deep Sky is a very good match for the blue. The red on the other hand Game Color 106 Scarlett Blood looks almost flawless.

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