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Gloss Sea Blue FAA Advice required


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I'm starting a post war Grumman Avenger in Fleet Air Arm colours from the Suez crisis. The aircraft is overall gloss Sea Blue and I would value any advice on the colour. I do appreciate with wear and tear there are variations in Gloss Sea Blue but I do want to get on the right road.

 

For late war FAA US types I've use Xtracrylix XA1121 which is Gloss Sea Blue FS15042. Would this still be the colour for aircraft delivered from Grumman in the early 50s?  Most of the AS4s were delivered 52/53 and weren't aircraft that were left over after the war.  As they were delivered from Grumman I assume the paint would be a US spec. If the GSB is a different shade what would be suitable? I brush paint with acrylics. 

 

Thanks BM'ers. 

 

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1 hour ago, 825 said:

For late war FAA US types I've use Xtracrylix XA1121 which is Gloss Sea Blue FS15042. Would this still be the colour for aircraft delivered from Grumman in the early 50s?  Most of the AS4s were delivered 52/53 and weren't aircraft that were left over after the war.  As they were delivered from Grumman I assume the paint would be a US spec. If the GSB is a different shade what would be suitable?

 

The wartime Gloss Sea Blue is ANA 623

 

This was changed around 1947 to the FS15042 color, as ANA 623 tended to weather/fade. 

 

from the man himself

 

On 31/12/2016 at 14:42, Dana Bell said:

Hi Ian,

 

I look forward to your results!

 

There are a couple of other reasons the model paint manufacturers have had problems matching the Sea Blues.  Most are working from the FS595 chips, which never accurately matched all three versions of the wartime colors.  The other problem is that the formula for ANA 623 Glossy Sea Blue changed in 1947/48.  The original color faded to quickly and was replaced with more resilient pigments.  When the US Navy gave modelers the old stocks of ANA paint chips in the 1960s/70s, some of us got the 1944 card-stock chip of ANA 623, while others got the 1948 metal replacement chips.  I can well remember the arguments back then, arguments that arose because we were working from different standards!

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

 

from https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235014486-usn-hellcat-colours-an-unexpected-query/&tab=comments#comment-2589271

 

 

I have been trying to work out decent acrylic matches,  I have some Xtracrylix GSB on some plastic card,  it's not a good match for ANA623 (I have the Monogram book with WWII USN paint chips)  So it maybe good for the post 1947 color

 

HTH

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@Jordi and @Troy Smith, thank you very much for your advice and help. And Troy the link to Dana's post is especially helpful. Although the AS4's were recycled TBM3s, there were not delivered until the early 1950s so I am assuming the best colour choice will be FS15042. The photos of post war FAA Avengers from the Warpaint book don't seem to show much in the way of fading or excessive wear, so I assume the finish was the later harder wearing version. 

 

Thanks again, as usual BM'rs come up trumps. 

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