British Airways Landor scheme - Midnight Blue

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Whilst not much of an airliner modeller I have dabbled now and again. I've noticed a reasonable number of queries about the colours used on the Landor scheme and realised I might have something to add.

 

I have this wooden box made for carrying fuel and tools for control line and/or radio controlled flying models. It was made, I think, some time between 1990 and 1992 and came into my father ( @skyscooter) and my possession around then.

 

 

The box is a very heavy plywood beast of a thing but it was made by a colleague of dad's and painted at work (British Airways Helicopters at Sumburgh, Shetland). Checking my facts, Heathrow supplied the paint and after completing a substantial skin repair to a Super Puma there was some paint left over so it was used to paint up the wooden box.

 

Using my portable Nix Pro Color Sensor on D65 illuminant / 10 degree observer angle setting, I cleaned up 3 patches from smoother areas around the box and took 3 digital colour measurements. The Nix isn't as accurate as a full desktop industrial spectrophotometer calibrated annually, but generally it's very, very good and I've yet to find cause for actual debate between results from it as compared to the Colourcoats factory desk mounted machine which is somewhat less portable. For the purposes of this exercise, the Nix readings can be taken as reliable and representative of the physical sample. I've then averaged the coordinates from the 3 samples. The results are as follows:

 

[Black Knight]

So what does this tell us?

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

1 minute ago, Black Knight said:

So what does this tell us?

 

So far, only that it's darker than any of the various blues I already make including US Navy Insignia Blue which I initially thought might be a candidate for a match, but it's a fair bit lighter at L27.43 a-1 b-6.88 - so it's roughly correct in saturation but the blue for Landor schemes needs a touch of black compared to that. Practically, were I to branch into airliner paints it would be a bespoke new colour. I don't have e.g. Xtracolor's Landor Blue to compare.

[Black Knight]

Might there be a market for you to make it, with Airfix re-issuing various airliners in BA schemes, eg the Concorde

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Technically there's nothing stopping me, but it would seem to only make a whiff of sense if I could nail down Pearl Grey also. I've put out a few enquiries. Unfortunately I don't personally own a sample of that. Any reluctance to do so would be borne out from the compound issue of my perception that a large number of the already small number of airliner modellers want the stuff in a Halfords aerosol can, and that my brand is pretty much invisible to the airliner community so it would be a whole new BD/marketing effort to break into it.

[Abandoned Project]

7 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

from the compound issue of my perception that a large number of the already small number of airliner modellers want the stuff in a Halfords aerosol can

I am sure that I could live with airbrushing a paint that is spot on

[Skodadriver]

21 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

 

.... I don't have e.g. Xtracolor's Landor Blue to compare.

 

Jamie, Xtracolor don't make Landor Blue. Any time I need it I mix 50% Xtracolor X23 Oxford Blue and 50% X357 US Airways Dark Blue. That recipe was given to me by a fellow modeller who was a BA dispatcher at Glasgow in the Landor era and it's as close as I've ever seen. Xtracolor make Landor Pearl Grey but to my eyes it's a bit dark and I usually add about 30% white.

 

19 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Technically there's nothing stopping me, but it would seem to only make a whiff of sense if I could nail down Pearl Grey also. I've put out a few enquiries. Unfortunately I don't personally own a sample of that. Any reluctance to do so would be borne out from the compound issue of my perception that a large number of the already small number of airliner modellers want the stuff in a Halfords aerosol can, and that my brand is pretty much invisible to the airliner community so it would be a whole new BD/marketing effort to break into it.

 

I wouldn't want to discourage you and I know nothing about the economics of model paint manufacturing but I think your caution is wise. The staple colours for airliners are white, grey and natural metal all of which are well catered for. A few livery colours are available from Halfords, notably Fiat Capri Blue for current BA blue, but otherwise most colours which aren't available from Xtracolor can be mixed from existing paint ranges. I'm in the process of painting a model in Brussels Airlines livery which required me to mix and airbrush the dark blue and pale grey, good fun and part of the job description. It's purely my own personal opinion but as a fairly prolific airliner builder I regard specialised airliner paints as a "nice to have" rather than an essential. 

 

Dave G

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Thanks Dave,

 

I think that a very reasonable and balanced view and it reaffirms my suspicion that there isn't much of a market for it. I thought the objective colour data might be interesting to some though and it costs nothing to tabulate a few measurements on an Excel sheet after all 

 

I'd be interested to get reliable data for the Pearl Grey. That's a colour I remember well from Brymon's fleet of Dash-7s and Dash-8-300s as well as BARegional's ATPs and it always looked quite dark in the hangar but quite light outside.

[PhantomBigStu]

Interesting to see the actual colour, going to be starting a Landor 747 soonish so good to have actual photo reference for the colour, looks like Humbrol 15 won’t cut it, cheers for posting that @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies

Edited March 31, 2021 by PhantomBigStu

[Turbofan]

1 hour ago, PhantomBigStu said:

Landor 747

Hi Stu,

I'm nearly finished my Caledonian 757 and I have used Revell 371 for the Pearl Grey and Tamiya X-3 Royal Blue. I'm pleased with how these colours look on the model.

The grey is spot on in my opinion and the blue is, for me, about as close as I'm going to get. Landor Blue seems tricky to nail down as it looks almost black in some images but far bluer in others.

 

The model should be in RFI soon so you can judge for yourself if these colours work for you.

 

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Ian

[PhantomBigStu]

11 minutes ago, Turbofan said:

Hi Stu,

I'm nearly finished my Caledonian 757 and I have used Revell 371 for the Pearl Grey and Tamiya X-3 Royal Blue. I'm pleased with how these colours look on the model.

The grey is spot on in my opinion and the blue is, for me, about as close as I'm going to get. Landor Blue seems tricky to nail down as it looks almost black in some images but far bluer in others.

 

The model should be in RFI soon so you can judge for yourself if these colours work for you.

 

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Ian

Look forward to seeing it, indeed already set on 371  for the grey, just the blue to decide th ask for the Tamoyabshout out but will be brushing the blue and ive heard brushing Tamiya is like trying to herd cats 

Edited March 31, 2021 by PhantomBigStu

[Skodadriver]

1 hour ago, PhantomBigStu said:

Interesting to see the actual colour, going to be starting a Landor 747 soonish so good to have actual photo reference for the colour, looks like Humbrol 15 won’t cut it, cheers for posting that @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies

Humbrol 15 isn't really very close to Landor Blue. It's a better match to the earlier Negus blue although not 100% correct for that either.

 

As I said in my earlier reply to Jamie, the closest match I know to Landor blue is 50% Xtracolor X23 Oxford Blue plus 50% X357 US Airways Dark Blue, a recipe which came from a BA employee.

 

Dave G

[PhantomBigStu]

16 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

Humbrol 15 isn't really very close to Landor Blue. It's a better match to the earlier Negus blue although not 100% correct for that either.

 

As I said in my earlier reply to Jamie, the closest match I know to Landor blue is 50% Xtracolor X23 Oxford Blue plus 50% X357 US Airways Dark Blue, a recipe which came from a BA employee.

 

Dave G

Thanks Dave, dreaded enamels, maybe I’ll have to play with some Humbrol 15 & 33 acrylic. 

[PhantomBigStu]

Discovered my pot of humbrol 15 is not suitable for mixing being off what its supposed to look like (supposed to be too light and warm for Landor but mines darker and to cool) but based of the first image and photos of the real aircraft 899 Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue looks actually decent match, I have a pot of that already so I that will be my first port of call when it get to the blue 

Edited April 2, 2021 by PhantomBigStu