Neutral Grey (here we go again)

[PhantomBigStu]

Not wanting to open a can of worms but suspect I will anyway, my understanding is there was a darker shade used pre 1943called Neutral Grey 43 which is similar to the postwar FS36173, which is what I've been using as a NG43, however I'm led to believe there was lighter shade used for the rest of the war similar to RAF medium sea grey? Am I correct as I may be doing an operation overlord C-47, and if so what brands out there are suitable for this lighter grey? 

[Jure Miljevic]

I have a couple of Jeffrey Ethell's books, which include some C-47 photos from 1945. NG on this type (and on any other type for that matter) looks pretty dark to me. Will try to find these photos on the web.

I do not know it this helps, but the old recipe for NG is to mix equal parts of black and white as it has been said FS 36173 leans slightly towards blue. Cheers

Jure

[Work In Progress]

1 hour ago, PhantomBigStu said:

 there was a darker shade used pre 1943 called Neutral Grey 43

No, but there was one called Neutral Gray 43. 

Have you read this thread frrom three weeks ago? We got into that lighter colour, and there are some decent colour pics of contemporaneous examples

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Work In Progress

[PhantomBigStu]

31 minutes ago, Work In Progress said:

No, but there was one called Neutral Gray 43. 

Have you read this thread frrom three weeks ago? We got into that lighter colour, and there are some decent colour pics of contemporaneous examples

 

Ah so I've got things a bit wrong, so I can be happy painting mine with Xtracrylix 16173 or perhaps going with @Giorgio N suggestion of vallejo 992 as I'm out of XA 

 

of course its the olive drab I have to worry about instread, though I think I'm happy with either XA OD or even going back to Hum155 now they seem to have a handle on the acrylic production 

[Jure Miljevic]

Unfortunately I could not find any of the photos from Jeff Ethell's books on the web. However, while searching for genuine WWII vintage C-47 colour photos (one has been posted here) I came across Paul Lucas PDF article here titled Shades of drab. While focus is on Olive Drab (differences between early OD 41 and later ANA 613 OD) it also deals with NG 43 (and later ANA 603 Sea Gray) and Medium Green, all three colours of basic C-47 WWII paint scheme. Cheers

Jure

[Dana Bell]

Neutral Gray was adopted for undersides as a high-altitude camouflage.  Above 10,000 feet, the earth's atmosphere reflects enough light to make most aircraft appear silvery - the dark gray helped make AAF aircraft appear smaller and farther away.

 

The standard never changed, but some folks applied a much lighter gray than specified.  I'm not sure if some Neutral Grays 43 were produced as lighter colors, or if some aircraft manufacturers used a lighter color thinking it seemed preferable.  As noted above, photos are your friend...

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

Dana

[Antti_K]

Hello guys,

 

here is a couple of my photos of an P-39Q Airacobra still in it's original paint.

 

Look at the wing underside only; the fuselage between MLG wells has been repainted.

 

 

And another one showing the NLG door. This time original paint. NCS number for the Neutral Gray in this specimen is S5502-B.

 

 

Kind Regards,

Antti

[Giorgio N]

20 hours ago, Jure Miljevic said:

I have a couple of Jeffrey Ethell's books, which include some C-47 photos from 1945. NG on this type (and on any other type for that matter) looks pretty dark to me. Will try to find these photos on the web.

I do not know it this helps, but the old recipe for NG is to mix equal parts of black and white as it has been said FS 36173 leans slightly towards blue. Cheers

Jure

 

Neutral Grey 43 was not the result of mixing black and white. The pigments used are mentioned in Archer's"USAAF Aircraft Markings and Camouflage 1941-47" as titanium dioxide, yellow iron oxide and lamp black.

 

[Dana Bell]

Hi Giorgio,

 

I'm  not sure where Archer came up with his formula for Neutral Gray 43, but there was no such formula in any of the AAF's specifications or tech orders.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

[Giorgio N]

5 hours ago, Dana Bell said:

Hi Giorgio,

 

I'm  not sure where Archer came up with his formula for Neutral Gray 43, but there was no such formula in any of the AAF's specifications or tech orders.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

 

Hi Dana

no detail is given in the book. I know that Nick Millman also mentioned the same pigments in the recent AK book on aircraft camouflage in WW2, he may have the relevant documentation.