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RAF Dark Green - which colour is the best match?


Toryu

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Dear Brit fans at Britmodeller,

My apologies that I ask this question that I'm sure has been answered a million times. Problem is, that I have very little knowledge of RAF colours (shame on me!), and for once I would need it.

Revell, Humbrol and/or Tamiya, if possible. If there's any better product from somebody else I'd be interested, too.

Many thanks, Michael

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What era? AFAIK there was a tonal shift somewhere in the late 60s / early 70s.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

edit: never mind, I thought I was in the Cold War section...

Edited by Hook
Personal Stupidity
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1 hour ago, Toryu said:

Revell, Humbrol and/or Tamiya, if possible. If there's any better product from somebody else I'd be interested, too.

worth stating  if you want acrylic or enamel?

 

Colourcoats are the way to go for enamel BTW.   for this

1 hour ago, lasermonkey said:

though my preference is for Sovereign Colourcoats, as I implicitly trust their research and commitment to accuracy. Plus they give a beautifully smooth finish.

 

XF-81 is rated well for acrylic. 

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Hello Toryu,

 

I use Humbrol 75 for RAF Dark Green. Here is a comparison against the colour chart published in "WWII British Aircraft Colours and Markings":

 

spacer.png

 

I found that tins of Humbrol 163 I bought a year ago are almost a perfect match for discontinued Humbrol 108 (RFC Green?); far too brown to match "fresh" Dark Green.

 

Kind Regards,

Antti

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1 hour ago, Antti_K said:

Hello Toryu,

 

I use Humbrol 75 for RAF Dark Green. Here is a comparison against the colour chart published in "WWII British Aircraft Colours and Markings":

 

spacer.png

 

I found that tins of Humbrol 163 I bought a year ago are almost a perfect match for discontinued Humbrol 108 (RFC Green?); far too brown to match "fresh" Dark Green.

 

Kind Regards,

Antti

For me it has to be Humbrol 108, but suspect I will turn to 163 when my newly discovered final tin of the former runs out.

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Thank you fellers for the quick response. So, either XF 81 or HUM 163, I guess.

 

@Troy Smith @lasermonkey

I use either, Enamel and Acrylics. Colourcoats is indeed very good but extremely difficult to obtain in Germany since Royal Mail has decided not to permit any more orders with colours inside. I can get them in Denmark, for a single colour mailing it's too expensive though.

 

Cheers, Michael

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Honestly Rev68 is not a good raf green, it’s noticeably lighter shade than either the ww2 or modern shade, personally I used xtracrylix untill I ran out of it when stocks were low and switched to mission models which I’ve not yet finished the larger pot for all eras 

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  • 6 months later...

Does anyone have advice on the Vallejo range. I have variously seen the following:

  1. Vallejo Model Air 71016 US Dark Green
  2. Vallejo Model Color 70975 89 Military Green
  3. Vallejo Model Color 70893 95 US Dark Green
  4. Vallejo Model Color 70980 100 Black Green
  5. Vallejo Model Color 70970 72 Deep Green  
  6. Vallejo Model Color 70920 85 German Uniform

advised, depending upon which chart you consult.

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5 hours ago, Ratch said:

Does anyone have advice on the Vallejo range. I have variously seen the following:

  1. Vallejo Model Air 71016 US Dark Green
  2. Vallejo Model Color 70975 89 Military Green
  3. Vallejo Model Color 70893 95 US Dark Green
  4. Vallejo Model Color 70980 100 Black Green
  5. Vallejo Model Color 70970 72 Deep Green  
  6. Vallejo Model Color 70920 85 German Uniform

advised, depending upon which chart you consult.

 

At the risk of adding another option to your conundrum, check out Vallejo Model Colour Olive Grey (70.888). Despite the name, it's a good match for the Mr. Colour RAF Dark Green lacquer I'm using on my Mossie at the moment, and I've been able to use it for small touch ups. It has the olive undertone which I feel that many Dark Greens lack.

 

J.

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I have used Vallejo Air 71.324 British Standard Dark Green several times and its a nice solid green. Applied with an airbrush.

 

I have also used Tamiya XF81 RAF Dark Green and I thought it was too light and not green enough shading slightly to Grey. Applied with a manual brush also known as a hairy stick.

 

Really the thing about colours is we all see them differently what I think is perfect others will laugh and call me an idiot. The only way to do it for yourself is buy 2 or 3 different makes and do test runs and see what your eyes see not what someone elses eyes tell you.

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A while back, I tested Tamiya acrylic  XF81 Dark Green  and this was the result ...

 

Tested against the color card in the RAF Museum's "British Aviation colors of WW2"  (top is under a coat of Future, lower is brush painted, of note after a matt coat, the futured section lightens to match the un-coated section)

 

Cover

 

 

Incandescent light ...

Incand2

 

Bright sunlight ...

 

greensun

 

Edited by Tail-Dragon
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I go from one scale model website to another schilling for Xtracolor. I think their RAF colors run pretty true but moreover gloss enamel has benefits. First they spray like nothing else and produce super well blended borders. They dry super smooth and hard. Decaling, weathering and masking are made easier. Oh, and when dry they can be wet sanded. The downside is enamel smell and drying time.

 

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20 hours ago, stevehnz said:

I'm a fan of Vallejo Model Colour 70893 US Dark green, to my eye it is a good match for Humbrol 116 which in turn is a good match for the RAF Dark Green chip in the RAF Museum book.

Steve.

Really? My 893 is more like Humbrol 117, 892 is better to my eye

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We used to have separate WW2 and BS381C-241 products, but in practical terms they were the same colour.

 

I'd counsel to treat some things with caution. There are separate colours in BS381C today which are given distinct numbers and names, but they are so close to one another AS A STANDARD that someone at the BSi really should have been quizzed as to the wisdom of doing it. Those are Dark Green and NATO Green. Their published colourspace coordinates are within a very small Delta E value of each other. Manufacturing tolerances for commerical paints will mean they overlap one another in practise. In practical terms they are identical and there should only be one or the other in the standard. Now I'm sure some ex-oik will swear blind that an RAF LandRover was noticably different to a Jaguar GR1 or whatever but that's the variance in paint manufacture, applied film thickness and primer talking, not the result of Dark Green and NATO Green being meaningfully different as a colour standard.

 

It's the same story with WW2 Dark Green and modern BS381C-241. The formula and composition changed. Any change in actual colour is absolutely minimal and entirely unintentional. Changes in how the paint was applied to aircraft will have changed. By the time you've pre-shaded the model in lovely uniform thick black panel lines and applied a translucent coat of paint then filled all the model surface detail with panel line wash, any supposed practical difference between 1940 Dark Green and 1970 Dark Green is pretty academic.

 

Put another way - the difference between US Navy ANA607 Non-Specular Sea Blue and ANA623 Glossy Sea Blue is numerically orders of magnitude bigger than any creep in the intended colour coordinates of RAF Dark Green, but that in no way hinders my competitors in flogging FSx5042 for both by the lorry load.

 

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Well, quite. I currently have a dark green/earth and a dark green/grey hurricane on the bench, and even though the dark greens both came out of the same tin they look different, simply due to the colour they’re alongside of.

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