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Modeling in General: Advice on...
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Paint colour charts for warships
ron_harris
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Manitoba, Canada
Member Since: February 10, 2002
entire network: 32 Posts
KitMaker Network: 10 Posts
Posted: Monday, June 16, 2008 - 02:51 PM UTC
Hello and help;
I am branching out from armor and trying my hand at ship building. So far i'm into 1/700 scale W W II types. The question I have is, is there a web site that gives the paint colours for the various countries ships. I thought that it would be a simple task to just go to my local shop and look at the paint racks. But, no that would be too simple. There are more different greys than you can shake a stick at and they don't seem to have a country name attached to them. They are just various shades of grey. I guess after a while one will get to know which is which but until that part of the learning curve is committed to memory could someone give me a hand and recommend the correct greys to obtain so I can get on with building.
Thanks very much for any help offered.

Kindest regards;

ron
milvehfan
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North Carolina, United States
Member Since: June 26, 2007
entire network: 2,116 Posts
KitMaker Network: 1,015 Posts
Posted: Monday, June 16, 2008 - 04:14 PM UTC
You might try Model Shipwrights, I'm sure there is someone there who could help you out . Go to Top of the page to the switch sites section and you should find Model Shipwrights. Good Luck
redshirt
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United States
Member Since: January 26, 2007
entire network: 270 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Posted: Monday, June 16, 2008 - 04:16 PM UTC
www.shipcamouflage.com/camouflage_database.htm" TARGET="_blank">http:// www.shipcamouflage.com/camouflage_database.htm

Or you might try
USN
http://www.navsource.org/
http://www.navyhistory.org/
http:///www.hazegray.org/
http://www.destroyers.org/
http://www.destroyerhistory.org/

RN
http://www.navyphotos.co.uk/
http:///www.royalnavalmuseum.org/
http://www.royal-navy.org/
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/

Just for fun
http://www.boat-links.com/boatlink.html

if you have a specific ship or time period try modelshipwrights
Gunny
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Pennsylvania, United States
Member Since: July 13, 2004
entire network: 6,705 Posts
KitMaker Network: 1,084 Posts
Posted: Monday, June 16, 2008 - 11:03 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hello and help;
I am branching out from armor and trying my hand at ship building. So far i'm into 1/700 scale W W II types. The question I have is, is there a web site that gives the paint colours for the various countries ships. I thought that it would be a simple task to just go to my local shop and look at the paint racks. But, no that would be too simple. There are more different greys than you can shake a stick at and they don't seem to have a country name attached to them. They are just various shades of grey. I guess after a while one will get to know which is which but until that part of the learning curve is committed to memory could someone give me a hand and recommend the correct greys to obtain so I can get on with building.
Thanks very much for any help offered.

Kindest regards;

ron



Ahoy, Ron!

Welcome to the salty side of the hobby, mate!

As you have found, there is no one specific site where you will find the answer to your question, my friend...the best advice that I can give you is to decide on which ship you are going to build, and then set out to researching said ship, get as many images that you can find (color images, if possible!), and then start the search for the correct paint colors...Redshirt has posted many of the best links for helping you on the way in his previous post, and at the present time, one of the best (and only specific) lines of maritime specific paints are WEM's Colourcoat enamels...this line of paints host dedicated colors for most of the common ship models that you may wish to build, and shipcamouflage.com has all of the WEM line listed, as well as a forum for additional help on color questions that you may have.

Also, John Snyder, of WEM, is only an e-mail away, and he will gladly point you towards the proper Colourcoats for your particular build....BUT, if you wish to paint in acrylics, things get a bit more difficult, as there presently is no dedicated line of maritime acrylic paints on the market (Testors, Model Masters had a dedicated line, now defunct, but many of the colors are still available), and you will have to match up the specific colors to the best of your ability...LIFECOLOR acrylic paints have started to release a few dedicated maritime paints available in specific naval/country sets, but a full line has not been established from the company...and to this day still, there is much debate on many of the colors of ships paint schemes in history, so again, proper research and reference will benefit you maximus in the long run...and when you do get rolling, come on over to Model Shipwrights, the sea-faring side of KitMaker, and share your build(s) with us!

Cheers,
~Gunny
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