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Paint Colour Accuracy Vallejo Model Air WW2


Ben

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I'm pretty unhappy with Vallejo's Russian & French colours, has anyone else had the same issues?

 

In all the images the dark blue grey for French fighters' upper surfaces, as part of the 3-colour scheme, is just a touch darker than the grey used for the underside. However Vallejo's 71.005 is a slate grey, giving no contrast with the green and dark brown. 

 

Again, with Soviet planes, their AMT11 and AMT12 should be mid greys? Nope! Vallejo's 71.304 & 71.308 are both really dark. In fact there's little difference between them. My Lavochkin LA-7 looks really cool, but in a Batman kind-of-way. 

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IMO their RAF and Luftwaffe colour matches are also off the mark which is why I gave up on them a number of years ago. They spray on quite well however that advantage is useless when the colour you need / want is not obtainable. 

 

Hopefully you have not invested too much of your hard earned cash so far. If you have cut your loses and sell up! 

 

I'm not sure if their newer paints are better matches, so someone else here may have a different opinion. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

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As I understand it, an original Soviet paint chart does indeed show both AMT-11 and -12 and being dark greys, and this is how they are represented in AKAN paint colours too.  There was some doubt cast over the surviving chart as it does not show the contrast between these colours as seen in wartime b&w photos, but I don't know of any further resolution of the matter.  I suggest Vallejo are just following current thinking.

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32 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

IMO their RAF and Luftwaffe colour matches are also off the mark which is why I gave up on them a number of years ago.

Many colours have been quietly reworked (and several renamed or repurposed) since then.

 

I was interested in the VVS colours (though probably I would buy individually) so I'll be sure to check them first if I use them, but Graham's comment is quite correct.

 

But I'm quite happy with almost all of the RAF, FAA, and US Navy colours in several sets and single purchases. As I've mentioned before, I try to be as thorough as possible with colour matching, although ultimately we have to accept some room for error due to so many factors. And which other paint company (certainly widely available anyway) gets it all correct?

 

With your VVS colour choices, you can only use your eye and either use them as is or adjust them as you see fit, because its your model. That may seem like a bit of a cop-out, I admit.

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Is your concern relevant to before or after it has beeen pre-shaded, post-shaded, high-lighted, filtered, toned and washed to an inch of it's life?

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18 minutes ago, Dave Batt said:

Is your concern relevant to before or after it has beeen pre-shaded, post-shaded, high-lighted, filtered, toned and washed to an inch of it's life?

Hi Dave, my 12-yo son makes the planes and I paint them to "toy" standard, ie they look smart, but I wouldn't show them to you guys (hence no photos in my thread above). So, I don't shade, tone or wash, I spray them and varnish them, then we hang them on the ceiling in one gigantic dogfight!

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I didn't know Vallejo did French colours, I've not seen them at the UK importer yet.  The one you mention is labelled as Grey Blue, maybe this is their closest match for the colour you want? Often paint companies will just tell you their closest matches to a colour if they don't do that specific colour in the range. Are you meaning WW2 French Aircraft? If so I'm pretty sure the undersides were Light Blue and the Light Blue used looked a little bit like RLM 65. If that's the case you should be able to see a difference between the Grey on top and the Blue underneath. Also after googling MS 406's and looking at pics, the Grey doesn't look that dark anyway, it's looks a bit like RAF Ocean Grey.

 

I've not tried the Russian colours as yet but you could try adding a bit of Light Grey into them to lighten them a bit, val71050 is good for this.

 

thanks

<ole

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4 hours ago, Ben said:

Hi Dave, my 12-yo son makes the planes and I paint them to "toy" standard, ie they look smart, but I wouldn't show them to you guys (hence no photos in my thread above). So, I don't shade, tone or wash, I spray them and varnish them, then we hang them on the ceiling in one gigantic dogfight!

Sounds like a good arrangement between father and son. Also one where 'perfect' colour representation is secondary to dogfight ability of the final model.

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16 hours ago, Ben said:

Hi Dave, my 12-yo son makes the planes and I paint them to "toy" standard, ie they look smart, but I wouldn't show them to you guys (hence no photos in my thread above). So, I don't shade, tone or wash, I spray them and varnish them, then we hang them on the ceiling in one gigantic dogfight!

Sounds a great arrangement to me, and I'd venture to suggest that worrying about colours too much might just trap you both in a minefield.  The fun evaporates very quickly in that environment.

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Hello Ben,

 

For smart look you can use next Model Air colours:

 

VVS:

 

AMT-11 = ModelAir 71.047

AMT-12 = ModelAir 71.052

 

French WW2:

 

Dark Brown = ModelAir 71.029

Khaki Green = ModelAir 71.016

Dark Blue Grey = ModelAir 71.047

Light Blue Grey = ModelAir 71.046

 

 

 

 

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