Ark Royal Paint Colors

[PolarisPrime]

I have been a long time lurker on this site and decided it's time to make the leap and post something.  I have just started my Merit Ark Royal, complete with the Tetra detail set and I feel like a kid in a candy store - a candy store where all you do it tediously bend and ruin a myriad of tiny brass parts.  In preparation for this fun I started researching (yet again) Royal Navy colors from WWII.  I have found good resources in the past when I have built other projects (Prince of Wales) but this time I found a new and wonderful report done last June (2018) for the Naval Historical Society of Australia by James Duff.  If you ship modelers haven't seen it, here is the link.  It's excellent. 

 

https://www.navyhistory.org.au/royal-navy-colours-of-world-war-two-standard-camouflage-colours/

 

I will note here that James Duff may very well be Jamie from Sovereign Hobbies.  I have read things from both of them about using a spectrophotometer and visiting The National Archives at Kew and The Royal Navy Museum, but I don't know Jamie's last name so for now I will assume they are two different people.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

So let me dive right into the often turbulent waters that swirl around almost any discussion of colors (colours?) relating to any WWII vehicle.  For the past two weeks I have been pouring over every picture of Ark Royal I can find to determine what I think the proper paint scheme would be for my model - which I want to represent in the time period between the Bismarck battle and her sinking.  Sadly I can't find any pictures of Ark Royal during the time of the Bismark engagement.  If any of you know of some, please post them here.  I don't consider myself a rivet counter when it comes to paint colors, and while I would never dream of telling someone that their interpretation of olive drab was wrong I do enjoy researching these things for my own satisfaction. 

 

On another thread in 2016 Jamie made this statement - and I agree 100% with the first part of his assessment.  It's exactly what I was thinking before I read what he wrote.

 

"Ark Royal seems to have been originally painted AP507C Light Grey which was standard pre-war for ships on foreign station. The lighter colour was documented to keep the ship cooler in hotter climates. Later she may have been painted in AP507B Home Fleet Grey on her hull with AP507C upper works, then later still AP507B on all vertical surfaces, and the flight deck was very likely to have been AP631 Bronze Grey."

 

Jamie then went on to say

 

"At time of sinking, she was painted AP507C all over again but photographs show heavily distressed paintwork on the hull with large areas of Home Fleet Grey showing through again.

In around 1940 the enamel additive was deleted from the paints which reduced their cost substantially but also reduced their gloss and durability."

 

I disagree with this a little bit.  To be sure, the ship was repainted in March 1940 -  probably with 507B and that wore off rather dramatically in the next year and a half.  Photographs show that the lighter color (507C) is becoming more prominent as time passes, so 507B has to be the top color and is wearing off to show the light color underneath.  Then some time in early 1941 the lower part of the hull from the lower hanger deck to the boot strap was repainted and covered the obvious weathering that is shown in some pictures of that area, while the upper hull was left as is.  What color they used can of course never be definitively solved, but I expect it was just a new coat of 507A or 507B.  However, considering that Prince of Wales had her elaborate scheme at this time, KGV had a 3 color Polygon scheme and Mountbatten was painting his ships pink, it's not unreasonable to think that another color could have been used.  The dark band that Kagero (and Aoshima) shows was definitely there from about late 1940 or early 1941 till Ark Royal sank, the only real question is what color was it.  I will illustrate what I think in the following post - With Pictures!!! - but it is way past my bed time 😑

 

In brief my view on Ark Royals color schemes is this

• Ark Royal leaves the builders yard in 1938 painted 507C
• In 1940 while operating more with the Home Fleet she received a complete repaint in 507B
• Late 1940 to early 1941 (Maybe after the Bismarck action) the lower hull was repainted probably in 507B, but maybe something else. 

 

Sorry for being such a nerd and writing all this riveting prose...

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, PolarisPrime said:

I will note here that James Duff may very well be Jamie from Sovereign Hobbies. 

 

Indeed, @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies  will send him a notification, he has posted some very interesting information on RN colours, and long standing errors.  

Googling " britmodeller sovereign navy colours"  willl most likely bring up some relevant threads too.

HTH

 

PS this help?

 

note linked pdf

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Hi,

 

As Troy said, I am both of us... err...

 

We wrote a few of those little papers. I was contacted by Brett Morrow last year who asked if the Naval Historical Society of Australia could republish one of them. You can find the rest here if interested along with a few facsimiles of specific documents which may be of interest in their own write as they do help set a timeline:

https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/pages/british-royal-navy-colour-schemes

 

My thinking on Ark Royal has been updated; I don't mind admitting to being wrong when better evidence is found. My scepticism of the two-tone hull scheme was born from the fact that I had never seen an image which showed the two-tone demarcation carry across a flat piece of hull without a sharp knuckle to change the plane being observed. That changed last year though when I stated as much on another forum and user "iangazeley" kindly scanned a photograph from a private collection he had acquired:

Here is the source thread: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4870&start=260

 

As such, I draw your attention to C.A.F.O. 1112 - Camouflage of Sea-going Ships - June 1942 which documented a practise which I believe (and @dickrd is invited to clarify the dates) was in practise from some time in 1941. This is one of the documents I've made a facsimile of and you can download the whole thing here:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0730/0927/files/CAFO1112_Camouflage_of_Sea_Going_Ships_Policy_June_1942.pdf?11210309288652758831

 

 

"III. TYPES OF DESIGNS

14. The following classification of designs is based upon the average tone assumed by a design

when viewed at the range at which pattern becomes no longer distinguishable.

CLASS EXAMPLE OR DESCRIPTION

(a) LIGHT TONE Western Approaches type designs, vide C.A.F.O. 679/42.

(b) LIGHT MEDIUM TONE Light Admiralty type designs, vide C.A.F.O. 679/42.

(c) DARK MEDIUM TONE General tone is equivalent to Mountbatten pink or colour

M.S.3. (C.A.F.O. 679/42 does not show these designs)

(d) DARK TONE Dark Admiralty type designs, vide C.A.F.O. 679/42

See also Part V below."

 

Nothing new there really, but I've included it as it nicely defines the nomenclature used.

 

Here's some more context given (which is presented on tables in the proper document and doesn't copy/paste so well here):

16. It is recommended that all surface ships wit the exception of those described in 18 to 20

below should paint as follows:--

(a) If operating only in an area where overcast

weather predominates and where all forms of

enemy action are equally to be expected both by

day and night.

Paint with LIGHT TONE: this gives

concealment—

(i) on overcast or moonless nights;

(ii) from aircraft at long range on

overcast days;

(iii) in mist or fog and in twilight.

It also reduces visibility to surface observers on

overcast days.

light in clear moonlight, but in any one month the

number of moonless hours between sunset and

sunrise will exceed the number of hours of

moonlight, and these hours of moonlight which

occur in overcast weather will favour this form of

camouflage. It shows up down-light in clear

sunlight, but no ship can be concealed from

surface observation then.

Sub-paragraph 17 (a) above applies irrespective of area of operation.

(b) (i) If U-Boat attack is expected with aerial

reconnaissance in an area where sunlight is usual

and where a LIGHT TONE escort might therefore

show up a convoy.

Paint with LIGHT MEDIUM TONE. This shows

up less than LIGHT TONE in sunlight and is

fairly effective on a dark night when the U-Boat

attacks. (Aircraft, however, are likely to spot a

convoy no matter how the escorts are painted.)

(ii) If in an area where overcast weather

predominates.

Paint with LIGHT TONE. Which conceals against

aerial observation in overcast weather.

(c) If E-Boat attacks and night air attacks are

equally probable (e.g. in the North Sea) or if EBoat

attack alone is probable.

Paint with LIGHT MEDIUM TONE. This gives

concealment in moonlight unless the atmosphere

is very clear, and yet is fairly effective on dark

nights.

Sub-paragraph 17 (c) above applies irrespective of area of operation

(d) If air attack by moonlight or in twilight is the

most probable form of enemy action and:

(i) if night surface attack may also be expected. Paint with LIGHT MEDIUM TONE: any darker

tone may show up from the surface even in

moonlight

(ii) if no other form of attack is likely either by

day or night.

Paint with DARK MEDIUM TONE: this probably

gives the best concealment against aircraft at

night.

Sub-paragraphs 17 (d) (i) and (ii) above apply irrespective of area of operation.

 

 

And the document then goes on to this part:

V. EMERGENCY DESIGNS : CAMOUFLAGE WITHOUT PATTERN

21. In the following paragraphs instructions are given for painting a ship with a simple equivalent

of each class of design described in Section III above, using only White, Home Fleet Grey and

Mediterranean Grey.

These schemes of painting will be of about the same value for concealment as patterned designs,

but will produce less confusion. They are intended for use when there is no time to obtain or paint to a

pattered camouflage design.

Little experience has been gained with these emergency designs and the equivalent (a) of LIGHT

TONE designs should not be applied to ships larger than Destroyers, except for special operations, owing

to the increased visibility in sunlight.

(a) Equivalent of LIGHT TONE Designs. All weather work should be painted pure white except

for a band right round the ship, extending from the water-line half-way up to the forecastle

deck or half-way up to the upper deck in ships without a forecastle deck. This band should be

Light Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C and should cover the boot topping (vide C.A.F.O.

2515/41).

(b) Equivalent of LIGHT MEDIUM TONE Designs. – All weather work should be painted Light

Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C except for a band right round the ship, extending from the

water-line half-way up to the forecastle deck or half-way up to the upper deck in ships

without a forecastle deck. This band should be painted with a mixture of equal parts Light

Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C and Dark Grey Admiralty Pattern 507A, and should cover the

boot topping (vide C.A.F.O. 2515/41).

(c) Equivalent of DARK MEDIUM TONE Designs. – All weather work should be painted with a

mixture of equal parts Light Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C and Dark Grey Admiralty Pattern

507A.

(d) Equivalent of DARK TONE Designs. – All upper works should be painted with a mixture of

equal parts Light Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C and Dark Grey Admiralty Pattern 507A. The

hull should be painted all Dark Grey Admiralty Pattern 507A.

(e) In all Schemes of Painting the undersides of platforms and horizontal projections, blast

shields, etc. should be painted White. All parts of a ship which are permanently in shade or

shadow should also be painted White.

 

Of what we currently have documented, both in text and photographic form, Ark Royal was indeed wearing a two-tone scheme and that scheme was not a "proper" Admiralty Disruptive pattern one. The scheme matches the description of the emergency schemes recorded in C.A.F.O.1112 quite well however; All weather work should be painted <Lightest Tone> except for a band right round the ship, extending from the water-line half-way up to the forecastle deck or half-way up to the upper deck in ships without a forecastle deck.

Somewhat subjectively, but not without a basis for comparison, I think the contrast between the two tones whilst clear is not as distinguished as those on ships which are known to feature 507A and 507C. Therefore, I currently believe that Ark Royal may be an example of Emergency Scheme type (b) Equivalent of LIGHT MEDIUM TONE, which also corroborates well with the tactical advice to use it where aerial reconnaissance and U-boat attack is expected in well-lit conditions; this describes the situation in the Mediterranean perfectly.

[PolarisPrime]

Jamie and Troy,

 

Thanks for your input.  It is very good information.  I can't believe I didn't check Shipmodels.com already.  I am usually on there quite a bit, but I haven't done a ship model in two years so I missed all the new info.  

 

The info that the upper works were a 50/50 mix of 507A and 507C is very interesting.  I have looked at pictures of the funnel post March 1940 and thought that it looked too dark for 507C and too light for 507A or 507B.  The mix of the two seems exactly right to me. 

 

I also agree that at the time of her sinking Ark Royal was probably painted in Emergency Scheme type (b), but since the severe weathering still existed on the upper hull it was apparently a work in progress.  I knew nothing about the emergency schemes till reading your post, I only thought that the Admiralty had left camouflage up to the individual ship captains till 1942ish.  Based on examining the pictures of Ark Royal, and reviewing your work for the Australian Naval Society, Emergency Scheme type (b) matches almost exactly what I was thinking. 

 

Of course now the pictures I annotated are a little redundant, but I think I will post them anyway.  You never know who will be looking for the info and what an internet search will turn up.

 

And by the way Jamie - I was thrilled when I heard that someone was taking over the paint line when White Ensign closed their doors.  And I am please to note that you seem to be recovering from the fire you had.  So in my best Canadian/US imitation of a British accent - Cheers Mate. 

[PolarisPrime]

Here are some of the pictures I used in my research in what I think is proper chronological order.  These are the ones I feel are most relevant, from what I had available.  The additional pictures that are in the link Jamie referenced above from ModelWarships.com are top notch, and I had never seen them before or I would have included them as well.  

 

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&amp;t=4870&amp;start=260

 

 

This is Ark Royal in 1938.  You can clearly see the shadow below the knuckle, but as  you move towards the bow and mid ships the shadow gradually fades out indicating that the hull is one color - in this case probably 507-C

 

 

 

1938 or1939 - This picture is interesting.  Item 1 - which is VERY neatly circled I might point out - it is cleat that the letters "ARK ROYAL" are painted a dark color to stand out.  There are better pictures showing this but they are smaller.  Item 2 - it's interesting to note how high the ship is out of the water and how wide the boot topping is at this time.  I also just noticed that in later pictures of the ship the boot topping is much higher.  It's almost as high as the bottom of the three drain pipes or whatever they are.  I wonder why?

 

 

March 1940 - This is a still I took from the news reel "Where is the Ark Royal?  Here is the Ark Royal".  A film intended to discredit one of the many Germany claims that they had sunk the ship.  I will link the film below.  Here the letters have been painted over showing that the ship had definitively been painted.  If you watch the film you will see that the paint job is very fresh looking, leading me to conclude that this is when she was painted overall 507A.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agAivAKUUMQ

 

 

1940 - Gibraltar - I think this picture shows Ark Royal not long after she was repainted in overall 507A.  The weathering has started at the bow.  This picture is noteworthy because the chipping extends below the knuckle.  The pictures of the ship sinking don't show the chipping below the knuckle as they appear here.  This to me is evidence that the dark band from the boot stripe to the knuckle was repainted while the rest of the hull was not.  Prince of Wales, USS Hornet, and other ships show this type of weathering at the bow within a short time after a fresh paint job. 

 

 

According to the Imperial War Museum archives this is from November 1940 in the Mediterranean.  This would be 8-9 months after the ship was painted overall 507A.  Notice that the weathering is becoming extensive and goes from the boot topping all the way to the flight deck.  The dark band below the knuckle is clearly not yet present as it would cover the weathering that is apparent on the bottom half of the hull.  Also you can see that when you get to vertical surfaces away from the knuckle the pain color is uniform, indicating the hull is one color at this time.

 

 

Late 1940 - Early 1941.  This picture is from Life magazine (Correction, Associated Press, I intentionally left the logo on the picture when I cropped it and still wrote this wrong).  The only copy I have found of it is very small so I have enlarged it.  This to me is one of the definitive pictures showing that the lower hull was definitively painted as Kagero shows in their Ark Royal book.  First, there is no knuckle on the stern between the letters A and B, yet within the box I drew there is a definite demarcation.  The remaining paint above the demarcation is clearly darker that the paint below.  This could be nothing more than the higher paint is older and more weathered so looks darker than the fresh paint below the demarcation - or it could mean that the lower (and newer) paint is a different color.  As Jamie noted above, the emergency measure was a 50/50 mix of 507A and 507C and I suspect that is what was painted on the bottom of the hull. 

 

Also - since the upper portion of the hull is not nearly as weathered as it was when the ship sank, I think this picture may be close to the time of the Bismarck action. 

 

 

1941 - November (Obviously) - In this picture at A you can see that the repaint actually starts a foot or two above the knuckle - something that is not obvious on pictures that are farther away.  Something interesting I noticed at B, there is an uneven demarcation fore and aft here.  I don't think this is actually a different paint color, I just think it's probably where they ran out of paint and mixed a new batch before continuing with their work.  If you ever get the chance to take the boat tour of the Navy base at Norfolk or San Diego this is something you see clearly on almost every one of the ships where they have repainted sections. 

 

 

In this picture you can clearly see the demarcation at A and B in locations where there is no knuckle on the hull.  The knuckle on the frame at B is actually at the top of the frame.  At the bottom - where it joins the lower hanger deck floor - it is a smooth surface.  Also note the color of Ark Royal's funnel compared to the platform about halfway up from the flight deck.  The colors definitely have a contrast - who knows why though.  Maybe it's just shadows.  However, if you look at the book "Profile Morskie - 137" - on page 16 there is a picture of the funnel that shows a very dark top third of the funnel.  Then on page 18 there is a picture that shows the funnel with a light top and darker bottom.  Since maintenance painting is an almost constant job on a warship,  I suspect that for one Med convoy they had it one way, and on the next one they painted it the opposite.  The pictures are pretty clear, and all the other pictures I have seen show a uniform color of the funnel, so I suspect that this was a short lived thing - but interesting.

 

Also - it's interesting to compare the measure on HMS Legion with the paint job on Ark Royal. 

 

 

Finally (I know you are riveted by this dissertation) these are the same picture obviously, but the top one is from the Imperial War Museum, and the bottom is from Alamy.  Whatever filter or saturation Alamy did to the picture provides a much better contrast.  First, the knuckle on the bow is between point 1 and point 2, but the demarcation between the new and old paint is much higher than the knuckle - and incidentally, also much higher than on the stern of the ship.  On the stern the new paint starts at the bottom of the hangar openings.  On the bow you can see that the new paint starts almost at the top of the hangar deck openings (A) and somewhere around the hawsepipe it goes even higher as you can see at B.  At C it appears that there was a location where the new paint was applied in a block above where the rest of the lower hull was generally painted.  Maybe this was a section where the weathering had worn through the original 501C coat as well so needed a little more attention. 

 

Anyway - there is my reasoning for the two tone hull for Ark Royal.  As it seems in the past year this has become the consensus among the experts I have probably wasted my time, but I enjoyed doing it anyway.

 

Modeling, History and Computer Programming are all nerdy hobbies - and I do all three

Edited February 2, 2019 by PolarisPrime
Corrected accreditation to a picture

[PolarisPrime]

I wanted to make a quick comment about colors - a quick one I promise.  For his Australian Naval Society piece Jamie created a color table that I really like.  He mentioned how hard it was to tell the different colors when all you had to go on was a black and white picture.  It's especially difficult if you don't have the two colors side by side on the hull of the ship in question so there is not clear demarcation.  To illustrate this I took his chart and edited out the color in Photoshop.  Both of them are below.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/142115414@N06/46893809102/in/album-72157706350486424/

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/142115414@N06/32004977957/in/album-72157706350486424/

 

Edit: For some reason the images wont show so you will have to click on the links.  I will try and fix it later.

 

 

What interests me is that the different archives have such different samples of the color.  Snyder and Short and the Royal Navy samples really emphasize the grey and green  while the Kew samples are a lot more blue. and tan colored. 

 

I think for my model I am going to rely more on the Kew colors since the bluer shades are more pleasing to my eye. 

Edited February 1, 2019 by PolarisPrime

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Hi,

 

The links towards the end don't work either I'm afraid. This will be a somewhat rushed response as I have a conference call in a few minutes but just to clarify a few points which stand out:

 

I didn't intend to pass any comment on the use of a 50/50 mix of 507A and 507C on upperworks.

 

The 507 family paper was written for ourselves, not the Australian society - they merely requested permission to reprint the words. As such, I don't recall if all of the tables and graphics we made are in it. At any rate, our 1941-1943 Standard Camouflage Colours paper has a large comparative table at the back which removes all uncertainty about cameras, lighting conditions etc. Here are two derivatives from the source files that went in to it:

 

 

 

The 19.6% Light Reflectance Value "AP507B" wasn't 507B, but it is what you happen to get when you mix linseed oil samples to the Admiralty Pattern 507A (or 507B) and 507C recipes together in equal proportions by volume and the resultant measured tone is approximately equal to M.S.3.'s documented tone (20% LRV) and thus corroborates well with the 50/50 emergency mix described in C.A.F.O.1112/42

[PolarisPrime]

Jamie and Troy - Thanks a ton for the information.  I have finally found the time to review the links you sent and they are great.  Where was this info 4 years ago when I was doing my Prince of Wales model

 

In one of the papers you wrote Jamie you mentioned that the RN used much more vibrant blues than is commonly thought, and in the past few years as I have researched both RN and USN colors I reached the same conclusion.  Of course you presented solid evidence - I just had my unfounded opinions. 

 

When looking at old color pictures where the colors appear toned down it seems that people, even professional historians forget that there are other things in the picture that we know the color of, because those colors still exist today.  Things like ensigns and flags, the sea color, grass and trees, the sky, peoples skin tones, etc.  If those things seem muted in color, then obviously everything in the picture is likewise toned down. 

 

I have heard that a lithograph taken from an original Kodachrome presents the truest color for old pictures.  If you have the book "Warship Pictorial 34 - USN Battleships in Color" there is a lithograph on page 58 of USS Idaho at Guam.  The colors are very striking.  Also in the same book (page 48) there is a good picture of a church service on USS Iowa.  Even though the skin tones of the sailors are obviously faded, the Navy Blue on the ship is still a very rich color.

 

Anyway, thanks again for the info and new pictures of Ark Royal.  I'm on my way to your web site to order some paint

 

Edited February 2, 2019 by PolarisPrime
added a clarification

[PolarisPrime]

Well - now I'm depressed.  Thank heavens our respective countries are protecting aircraft from the dangers of hobby paint 🙄  My wife can carry 100ml of fingernail polish in her carry on, I can have 100ml of alcohol based mouthwash - but heaven forbid we ship little bottles of hobby paint around the world.  Whats more, I can have 10 gallons of fingernail polish in my checked bag right beside my hand gun, and no one cares - unless you are in New York - then they will arrest you for the gun.  In fact I can - and have - bought paint in Europe and just kept it in my shaving kit for the flight.  To date no one has cared.  Hopefully shipping small packages by sea becomes a regular thing again.

 

Rant aside - what I am saying is that I want to buy some paint from your web site and can't.  And it seems that no one in the US or Canada has the new NARN line. 

 

Do you have any options for getting it to the states Jamie?

[PolarisPrime]

I finally finished this model.  Sorry for the lack of updates, but I have started a thread for the finished pictures.