Blue, Blue, My Love Is Azure Blue - and happily some of our paints are too 😀

[Daniel]

I picked up the Model Air one, as 'in the bottle' it looks ok....

Dan

[John]

I don't have that one. In spite of my self-denying ordnance on buying any more light-medium-dark blue paint, I'll pick one up if I see it.

John

[John]

Browsing the stalls at the Scottish Nats yesterday, I found a rack of Vallejo Model Air paints. In the interests of research, I bought a bottle of their Azure Blue:

Compared to the RAFM chip, it's a bit too dark and lacks the slight violet tone of Azure Blue. Not bad though, and a long way from the worst:

The best daylight eyeball match I could get against FS595 was 25240

Another model paint matched to the FS595 equivalent, perhaps?

John

Edited April 30, 2012 by John

[Smithy]

Sorry for bringing this old chestnut up again but I just picked up a jar of Model Master's RAF Azure Blue for my 112 Tomahawk and in the jar it looks great. Has the lilac tinge of the real thing.

Might be worth considering if members see it at their hobby shop.

[John]

Sorry for bringing this old chestnut up again but I just picked up a jar of Model Master's RAF Azure Blue for my 112 Tomahawk and in the jar it looks great. Has the lilac tinge of the real thing.

Might be worth considering if members see it at their hobby shop.

Check out the previous page...

John

[Smithy]

Check out the previous page...

John

Sorry John, I didn't see that, my fault.

I'm no expert in desert/Mediterrean colours (the Battle of Britain is my main interest) but I just wanted a straight colour out of a jar.

I'll use the MM version anyway as I''ll weather it fairly well. At least it's better than Humbrol's 157

[John]

Sorry John, I didn't see that, my fault.

I'm no expert in desert/Mediterrean colours (the Battle of Britain is my main interest) but I just wanted a straight colour out of a jar.

I'll use the MM version anyway as I''ll weather it fairly well. At least it's better than Humbrol's 157

The MM paint will be more than adequate for that.

Maybe my next project should be finding something that Humbrol 157 *is* good for...!

John

[bentwaters81tfw]

Umm........

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8270787@N07/5...157605269786717

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8270787@N07/4...157605269786717

The Hurricane is newly painted, look at the overspray on the tyre.

Edited June 7, 2012 by bentwaters81tfw

[Smithy]

The MM paint will be more than adequate for that.

Maybe my next project should be finding something that Humbrol 157 *is* good for...!

John

Actually I found a use for it! 157 is a virtually perfect match for the blue of a captive training AIM-9L and the blue on a TGM-65. Used it on my Kahu's missiles.

[atvd1020]

.

Edited June 12, 2012 by atvd1020

[stevehnz]

For my money #11 with the usual caveates re camera settings, monitors settings & eyeball settings.

Steve.

[BWP]

I would like the colour pundits' opinion on the following mixes

I don't think that there's much that anyone here can tell you. We can only compare the colours to each other, because you haven't provided a base to compare them to. Your camera's colour settings may not represent "true" colours. Our computer monitors may also not represent "true" colours. Between the interaction of the two who knows what each of us is looking at? You need a colour chip as a base comparison (as John uses in each of his photos).

Beyond that I'd only say: use what looks right to you.

[stevehnz]

As those who've come on the journey John started thru the world of Azure Blue will know, I've showed an interest in this all along. I think its probably fair to say that barring the Phoenix colour, no manufacturer has cracked Azure Blue in its subtleties. The standard seems to be the colour chips in British Aviation Colours of WW2 & being fortunate enough to pick one up off ebay for a decent price a while back I've been having a play. In post #26 of this thread, Nick Millman suggested using a mix of 12xh34(white) to 4xH14(french blue) to 1xH153 (ensignia red) Nick used Revell satin white in lieu of H34 & when I tried the mix with H34 & using H60 (matt red) in place of H153, I found the red overwhelmed the blue & white & gave a dark purple/grey colour. This got me thinking about using some H68 (gloss purple) to replace some of the H14 blue. I'd previously found that 5pts H34 to 1 pt H25 gave a pale blue of about the right intensity but not enough violet so decided to keep the ratio of colour to white so went for 20pts white to 3 parts blue to 1 pt purple. This was pretty much a eureka moment as I could see it was very close to what I was after. See here.

The following is a sample of some of the tries along the way

I'm not saying its perfect, but its better than most manufacturers can manage & its not too hard or too large a quantity to mix. I'm picking that 1 1/4 pts H68 would be better, slightly more violet still but then I'm looking at a ratio 85:12:5 to get full drops of colour using my pipettes & I'm too mean to go to those quantities, even when doing a model, maybe a big one like a Stirling or York in Transport Command colours would warrant that.

Lets hope that Hornby is (still) watching this thread.

Steve.

[John]

That looks good.

I'd been musing on Humbrol 68 too, but I haven't as yet done anything about it. My plan was to start with white, add a couple of spots of 68 then *very* small amounts of 15 Midnight Blue. I've got some holidays coming up...!

That H34/H14/H60 is beginning to look like the colour Humbrol call Azure Blue.

John

[Paul Wagner]

Lifecolor do a very nice Azure Blue - mine came in one of the RAAF sets. Unfortunately it (or at least mine) goes funny when glosscoated. I've also got a MM azure downstairs, and I'll be painting something in one of them very soon so I'll post the results....

Paul

[stevehnz]

Lifecolor do a very nice Azure Blue - mine came in one of the RAAF sets. Unfortunately it (or at least mine) goes funny when glosscoated. I've also got a MM azure downstairs, and I'll be painting something in one of them very soon so I'll post the results....

Paul

Hi Paul, John has already done paint matches for these, they're neither quite right, the Life colour wasn't too bad, the MM not so good, go back a page (6) & you'll see. Having said that, many of these paints taken away from a reference chip do a fine job on a model & don't look so bad at all, certainly better than the nasty dull dark greyish blue that Humbrol still keep trying to flog as Azure Blue (Hu157) & distressingly I see that Legato are using as a colour call in their very nice looking new P-40 kits.

Steve.

[John]

Confirmation today from Humbrol that they are planning to reformulate 157 into proper AMP Azure Blue!

Now, what am I going to do with all this blue paint I've collected over the last few years...?

John

[yeehah1]

20 08 2012

So, when all is said and done ... which is the closest match to Azure Blue then?

Liam

[stevehnz]

See my post above, go back to page 6 & see for yourself.

John, thats good news from Humbrol I just hope they get it right, goodness knows you've given them enough examples of how not to do it. Bits of spoil sports though, what are we going to play with now?

Steve.

[keefr22]

Bits of spoil sports though, what are we going to play with now?

Steve.

PRU Blue....??

[Chuck1945]

.... Bits of spoil sports though, what are we going to play with now?

Steve.

Well ... unless Humbrol changes the label once (if?) the new formulation takes place, there will still be a guessing game which 157 you will be getting ...

[stevehnz]

PRU Blue....??

Nah, the newish Humbrol Hu230 is near enough for me, well within the boundaries of fading & scale effect anyhow.

Well ... unless Humbrol changes the label once (if?) the new formulation takes place, there will still be a guessing game which 157 you will be getting ...

I'm sort of hoping the tin lid might be a give away, then again, if the manufacture comes back to the UK like has been mentioned, maybe the tins will have a different design, here to hope.

Steve.

Edited August 21, 2012 by stevehnz

[dekenba]

Fascinating read this thread.

[Moeggo]

interesting reading indeed!

What is peoples throughts on the Mr Color Azure Blue? # C370 that is found in this set?

[stevehnz]

Its a bit darker & a bit more purple violet than the MAP Azure Blue but having said that, its not too bad, just a bit more intense than it needs to be. I'll do a paint patch & put up a pic along side the MAP colour chart but it might take a few days to get it done, I'm off to work soon.

Steve.