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Color reference for British Navy aircraft carrier paint schemes (1950's)?


slava_trudu

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Looking for FS Standard number for flight deck Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the British Royal Navy for the 1950's (Korean war period). Dark grey + white markings? Any FS number info would help. Any ship: HMS Colossus, Glory, Ocean, Venerable, Vengeance, Pioneer, Warrior, Theseus, Triumph, Perseus, Majestic,Terrible, Magnificent, Hercules, Leviathan, Powerful... Thanks.

 

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Instead of seeking an "FS Standard number" for a British aircraft carrier, you should be seeking a British Standard number. The abbreviation "FS" (as in FS 595, which I presume is what you meant) refers to a U.S. Federal Standard. The most widely used British Standards for colors are BS381C, BS2660, BS5252, and BS4800. Unfortunately I have none of these or I would be happy to provide you with a reference.

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BS381C 640 Extra Dark Sea Grey would be standard top dark colour with BS381C 210 Sky as the underside colour. For Korean war aircraft those are your colours.

 

if you want approximate FS references then FS34424 Light Grey Green would be close to sky, and  FS36118 seems to crop up for Extra Dark Sea grey in various  refs.

 

if you want more matches then this is useful

 

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_uk.htm

 

 

Cheers

 

Jonners

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I recommend that you contact Sovereign Hobbies, for the colours you require are included in their range linked here https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/collections/modern-naval-colours?page=1.  The link will give you at least a close idea of the colours themselves.  As said above FS numbers only apply to specific US Government colours, it is not a universal system than can be applied anywhere else (unless you are very lucky).  The various British Standards can be seen elsewhere - I find the following site a useful guide (although commercial and not official) http://www.e-paint.co.uk/

 

I believe that the colours you require are RN Light and Dark Admiralty Grey, RN Deck Grey and RN Deck Green.  I don't know the use of Weatherworks Grey. but I'm sure that Jamie will be able to assist you.

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I was looking through some files at the Admiralty Library at Portsmouth on Monday afternoon, and they have a 1954 copy of CB3098.

 

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The RN was between the WW2 Admiralty Pattern number paints and standars BS381 shades in this period.

 

This page was new compared to the wartime versions of CB3098 that I've seen before and the shades/ pattern numbers are not wartime colours either

 

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There were no painted samples of these in the file but the printed pages at The National Archives at Kew, London tended to compare well with the physical samples. I therefore measured these two colours with my spectrophotometer and the deck colour as printed there is pretty close to BS381C-638 Dark Sea Grey which happens to be the colour used on RN ship decks today.

 

Just to add - this time period really isn't something I've researched much at all. I know the colours available during WW2 and I know the colour of flight decks from the late 70s onwards - the above is a bit of an educated guess on my part. I've found no additional colours on my travel that might have been used on flight decks in the 1950s.

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The same inquiry, with same photos, was posted on Hyperscale. Can't blame a fellow (and a "newbie") for seeking assistance on such a technical matter (and a foreign one at that) wherever he may find it; I've done the same thing myself. I tried to be as helpful as I could without giving him the brushoff, and I hope my response was not too brusque.

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Not wishing to stir things up but as they RAN followed RN practice I dug into the Australian archives. The same CB 3098(54) is listed for post war camouflage. I have seen references from the 60s which talk about Pewter Gray for decks generally and Brunswick Green for flight decks which can be seen in colour photos from at least the late 1950s into the late 60s or early 70s. But at the time of Korea, Dark Sea Grey would seem the best colour match for Non-slip dark grey. I have seen some references also cite US Neutral Grey (which is cited as a match for EDSG) as a good colour for RN flight decks.

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9 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Yes,  and posters could have read his title and his text.  Given that English is probably not his first language, I think you could draw him some slack.

That's why I had a smiley next to my reply - to illustrate it was a light hearted comment - I don't think "floaty thing" is really a term of anger is it now? 
But thank you for becoming offended on his behalf - it's what the world needs :)

NB - smiley to indicate its a  J O K E

 

Jonners

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2 hours ago, Biggles81 said:

Not wishing to stir things up but as they RAN followed RN practice I dug into the Australian archives. The same CB 3098(54) is listed for post war camouflage. I have seen references from the 60s which talk about Pewter Gray for decks generally and Brunswick Green for flight decks which can be seen in colour photos from at least the late 1950s into the late 60s or early 70s. But at the time of Korea, Dark Sea Grey would seem the best colour match for Non-slip dark grey. I have seen some references also cite US Neutral Grey (which is cited as a match for EDSG) as a good colour for RN flight decks.

 

Certainly the Ark Royal IV had lots of green on the flight deck when it was flying Phantoms and Buccaneers. :)

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HMAS%20MELBOURNE-2.jpgYes Melbourne did too - though interestingly it seems the landing area retrained the non-slip gray whilst the remainder of the flight deck was Brunswick Green (I think the RN might have called it Deck Green?? but I cannot located my references related to this, I think they are so old they are hardcopies.

 

Source of image: http://www.nepeannaval.org.au/Museum/Aircraft-Carriers/Images/HMAS MELBOURNE-2.jpg

 

Late edit - Another forum had the references (although this does not answer the specific question re Korean War era decks but later 1960s and 70s deck colours): The deck green was BS4800 14C39 (no name) and the alternate BS381C 226 Medium Brunswick Green.

 

Interestingly the same forum also quotes "Dark Admiralty Gray and Dark Sea Gray" as flight deck colours although these seem on further reading to be post the green deck period.

Edited by Biggles81
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Many thanks for the valuable information and help! Yes, English - is not my native language. And I ask you to excuse me for spelling mistakes. 

This information was necessary for me for making a base (printed on cardstock) for the Sea Fury plane. This is closer to the aviation than to the fleet, in my opinion. Therefore, I wrote in this section of the forum.

 

My previous works in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/35:

 

11195042016_8c0f95d22e_b.jpg 14616806444_f26413a270_b.jpg 17905413273_89346343e7_b.jpg 22717500711_989b3f88eb_b.jpg

26174610559_e7df06c140_b.jpg 26986615464_4117c14755_b.jpg 31550629192_f3a5486d62_b.jpg 32547594193_3222f7c9a5_b.jpg

33199184153_772ec7a90e_b.jpg 9453244924_212793c2ee_b.jpg 

 

 

 

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