Back to ships after 50 years

[Spitfires Forever]

Hello

It's been many years since I last built a ship model and have been building mostly WWII aircraft models ever since but as I study the Guadalcanal naval actions I have become interested in building some of the ships involved. I currently have an old Revell kit of the USS Helena but have no clue as to the type of grey and hull red used at the time by the USN. I primarily use enamels and after all these years will continue to do so. The options I have are either Revell or Humbrol. Would anyone who uses enamels kindly let me know which colors to use? Also, were the decks always a wood tone color or did they darken with age? Back in 1968 my dad took me on a tour of the USS New Jersey but only remember it was grey and how incredible the interior of the 16" turrets were. Anyway, any help would be appreciated because I only have aircraft greys to work with at this point and I don't think gull grey is dark enough to be convincing.

Cheers

[Alan P]

In WW2 the US Navy used a specific set of colours and instructions called Measures. The basic patterns and explanations can be found here:

https://www.shipcamouflage.com/camouflage_database.htm

 

The deck colours varied according to which measure was applied, but it would be extremely unusual for a ship not to have a fully painted camouflage deck (usually 20-B Deck Blue, a very dark shade of blue).

 

At Guadalcanal, most USN ships were either painted:

 

Measure 12 (Modified), a blotchy camouflage pattern of 5-O Ocean Gray, 5-N Navy Blue and 5-H Haze Gray on all vertical surfaces and 20-B Deck Blue on all horizontal surfaces, with some deck areas painted with Ocean Gray;

 

Measure 22, Navy Blue from the waterline to the lowest horizontal of the weather deck, and Haze Gray above that line with Deck Blue horizontals;

 

Measure 21, all over Navy blue with Deck Blue horizontals. (USS Helena was painted in this measure when sunk at Guadalcanal)

 

As for Humbrol and Revell colours, I'm afraid the only enamel paint worth using is Sovereign Hobbies Colourcoats. These are meticulously matched to actual naval paint chips and are perfectly mixed to provide excellent results whether brushed or thinned for airbrushing.

 

https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/collections/colourcoats

 

Glad to see you back at the ships, but you'll find it's just as confusing as WW2 aircraft!

[Adm Lord De Univers]

What @Alan P said, heartily recommend the colourcoats too. New Jersey looks considerably different as a museum than in her WW2 guise, so I wouldn't worry too much about your memory of her (or what her contemporaries looked like)!

 

David